I found this article by David Isenberg over at HP and thought it was something we all should be aware of. Mr. Isenberg has written extensively on private contractors in Iraq.

Yes, KBR, Congress is Talking About You

“Although it was not mentioned by name there are some provisions in the FY 2010 Defense Appropriations bill which are very clearly aimed at KBR, the former Halliburton company. These are not the sort of provisions that will be making KBR officials happy.

Consider Sec. Sec. 8116, “Limitation on Availability of Funds for Execution of Contracts Under LOGCAP.” It says:

No later than 90 days after enactment of this Act none of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be obligated or expended for the execution of a contract under the Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP) unless the Secretary of the Army determines that the contract explicitly requires the contractor….”

Read the rest of the article here.

Books By David Isenberg
Friendly Fire
Shadow Force
Lupus (The Facts)

The war profiteering by Halliburton/KBR is one of those subjects that should have the big, bright light of Congress shown into its dark corners! Literally billions of taxpayer dollars have been doled out to this company during the past 8 years with apparently no end in sight.

I recently viewed a documentary “Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers” that shot my blood pressure through the roof. If any of you have not seen this, it is certainly worth obtaining a copy. The documentary highlighted the back-room deals of Cheney and the shoddy work done at the expense of the American taxpayer and our bravest and best. For instance, Halliburton/KBR was responsible for building water treatment facilities for the use of our troops. It was reported that they built some 66 of these treatment plants. It was found that 63 of them provided contaminated water for our troops to drink and bathe in! Of course, the contracts held by that corporation were “no-bid”, thanks most likely to the office of the former Vice President who continued to receive a large amount of money each year from Halliburton while he was in office.

As Americans, we should all be outraged! Is it not bad enough that our sons and daughters were used in Iraq as cannon fodder for Cheney’s illegal, immoral oil war? And then we are faced with knowing that these private contractors were much more interested in their bottom line than in the safety of our troops, never mind the billions of dollars they robbed from our Treasury!

We may never see the prosecution of war criminals from the previous administration that were guilty of devising and carrying out torture against detainees. There seems to be little stomach in Washington to do so. But this is one area, in my opinion, that should be rigorously investigated and charges brought against those responsible! We owe that much to the families of the troops who died unnecessarily for Halliburton’s bottom line!

46
Leave a Comment

Please Login to comment
8 Comment threads
38 Thread replies
0 Followers
 
Most reacted comment
Hottest comment thread
12 Comment authors
AdLibTiger99choiceladyescribacatQuestinia Recent comment authors
  Subscribe  
newest oldest most voted
Notify of
choicelady
Member

The fury I feel at this – and hope that Congress is finally exerting the strength over these despicable contractors – is compunded by emails that get forwarded to me from Military Religious Freedom Foundation. Whether the assaults on women come from contractors or within the military, too often they and soldiers in general get sent to RW chaplains rather than qualified psychologists. One anonymous report from a rape victim reported that when she went to talk to said chaplain, he told her that it was God’s judgment on her for not being a good “Christian” (wrong denomination apparently) so she should suck it up and live a better life.

The rates of suicide among our troops can be tied quite directly to the sources of their “counseling”. I’ve had some very serious discussions with veterans’ advocacy groups that showed me the men and women most likely to commit suicide are those counseled by chaplains from the RW fundamentalist, End Times view of Christianity. The troubled troops are also told that if they had been “good Christians” they’d not be bothered at ALL by the deaths around them, the actions they saw and took, the horrors of war. So it’s all THEIR OWN fault that they are traumatized by the killings of civilians, children, women – those were just Muslims, so God wanted them dead. Trauma, guilt, horror – those are “unChristian” emotions.

The disgust I feel about this nation’s unrelenting march toward fundamentalism in our military – and even our civilian world – cannot be articulated. I fear that as the phony progressives, in both the secular and faith communities – hold Obama to an impossible standard, and as they revile Congress for trying to balance the disparate wants of a diverse nation – failure to vote will allow these people to return. This morning’s paper said that the bright star of Congress, Republican Keven McCarthy, is rallying his troops to bring about a Republican majority in 2010. It’s not that independents and progressives will vote for that – it’s that they won’t vote at ALL allowing the Palins and their ilk to return to dominate Congress.

I blame HP in large part for this. The failure to keep the eye on what is really being achieved, what a horrendous mess Obama has inherited, and how measured and LEGAL he has been in his responses – all that has been dismissed by the progressives who rely on hype and simplistic analysis. We live in a world where “God ain’t it awful” and “they’re all alike” are our only interpretations of actions.

If we let the RW come back into power, it will be horrid. I fear the progressive and even liberal part of our nation’s inability to understand how hard governance is. Too many of my allies would rather just curse the darkness. We’re simply too used to it. I am truly scared for the nation and therefore the world.

nellie
Member

Another mind bending comment, choicelady. All I can do is nod in agreement. Let’s hope PPOV will have a positive impact on the broader progressive community and get us focused on the real dangers in our society and the real threats to progress.

escribacat
Member

Thanks, Emerald. Now my blood pressure is going up up up !! These companies and the people who work for them are the lowest of the low. War profiteering is supposed to be illegal, isn’t it? They should be taken over by the state and disemboweled. Call me a pinko.

SueInCa
Member

Frontline is such a wealth of information. It is too bad more people do not use it instead of the mainstream media hype. I had seen or actually read this story about Halliburton leaving supplies out in the desert when they broke down on Global Research. Some of their blogs are sometimes on the “conspiracy” side, but I have found alot of very insightful articles using actual “investigative journalism” there as well. One I read about H1N1 said the hype was all about selling vaccines, well it appears the flu virus never did manifest like we were all told it would, but big pharma did sell it’s vaccines. You just have to pick through the fact and fiction and check on facts. There are a few bright stars still on HP but they are being overshadowed by the “hype, sensationalized headlines” of the rest.

Questinia
Member

I got turned on to FL after seeing “The Betrayal of Democracy”.

Uniformly excellent.

SueInCa
Member

I saw that one as well. There is no “fantasy” journalism in their pieces and they have retained their standards while others go down the tubes.

nellie
Member

Emerald, this is such an important story. Not only do contractors operate outside the code of military conduct, they cost us three times what the same work costs when done by our military forces.

If our military responsibilities can’t be handled by our military, then maybe that’s a sign that we can’t afford the military action. Either that or pay our troops more so we can recruit more people.

SueInCa
Member

They also damage our reputation worldwide with the shenanigans they pull. Xe/Blackwater is a good example. You cannot use a contractor whose mission in life is to rid the world of muslims in the middle east or for that matter anywhere. But it was a Crusades per Rumsfeld so they logically would think Xe was the company for the job. What a bunch of mixed up, angry right wing fundamentalists.

nellie
Member

Emerald — I’m going to link back to HP for the bulk of your article. We need to be careful about reprinting entire articles because of copyright issues. One or two paragraphs shouldn’t be a problem.

boomer1949
Member

Good Morning Everyone!

“Bad Voodoo’s War” aired on Frontline almost two years ago.

If you’ve never seen this documentary, you should. The men of Bad Voodoo Platoon (National Guard) brought Iraq into living rooms around the world, and KBR was called out then for not doing its job.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/badvoodoo/

whatsthatsound
Member

This is meant as a reply to Kalima, below.

That’s the question: how can one possibly be “compensated” for this? It’s a sick, sick story. Taxpayer money, filtered through a lawless company, was used to harm this woman, and others.

Kalima
Admin

We should never forget this. Has she been compensated and how do you compensate?

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?t=125741

javaz
Member

There can be no compensation for rape.
Sadly, this type of behavior is common in our military as well.
The recent articles about Major Anthony Cucolo and his desire to jail pregnant women service members is outrageous, and shows the military’s attitude towards women.

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/12/24/military-pregnant-end/

There have been numerous articles about women in the military who become pregnant whether it is by rape or accident.
If a military woman chooses to abort due to rape, she must pay for the procedure herself at an outside clinic.
Plus, the military refuses to provide emergency contraceptives.

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/rights/144775/commander_changes_tune%2C_says_he_won%27t_court-martial%2C_jail_pregnant_soldiers

And then here at home for civilian women, things aren’t much better when it comes to HCR.

http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/144690/health_care_reform_is_not_reform_if_it_denies_women_coverage/

http://www.alternet.org/reproductivejustice/144329/how_our_health_system_screws_over_women/

(good morning everyone)

Kalima
Admin

javaz, that broke my heart. The thing I ask the most of these men is, was your mother a woman?

SueInCa
Member

I believe Debbie Stabenaugh asked that of either Kyl or Cornryn?