An important victory for two lone IVAW members in Texas, Bryan Hannah and Greg Foster, who were able to get Hays County, Texas commissioners to reconsider doing business with former Halliburton subsidiary KBR. See second article for the latest from CNN on the way KBR fulfills its federal contracts in Iraq, in case you have somehow missed it.
And here is a link to a longer and more detailed article from San Marcos, that includes some of their testimony: http://www.newstreamz.com/2009/03/25/county-delays-kbr-pact-after-vets-protest/
Good work, Bryan and Greg!
Jeri
Iraq vets may sink KBR contract in Texas county
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?feed=AP&date=20090327&id=9736204
SAN ANTONIO (AP) – A small Texas county is rethinking a $617,000 contract with KBR Inc. to build a rural, mile-long road near the home of two anti-Iraq war veterans trying to stop the deal with the defense contractor.
KBR is the lone finalist for the Hays County project, but former soldiers Bryan Hannah, 22, and Gregory Foster, 28, helped put the approval in doubt after criticizing the company’s battered image at a commissioner’s court meeting in San Marcos this week.
That led a KBR official in attendance Tuesday to deny allegations of exposing U.S. soldiers to toxic chemicals and deadly showers in Iraq in order to save a contract for a small, four-lane road leading to a new suburban high school near Austin.
Commissioners say they’re now weighing KBR’s record and have delayed their decision until next month.
“I didn’t have a lot of faith going in,” Hannah said. “But I saw how genuinely open and concerned they were.”
Houston-based KBR, which oversees maintenance at most U.S. facilities in Iraq, has been criticized after soldiers there have been shocked or electrocuted while using showers or appliances. The family of one electrocuted soldier has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against KBR, which denies responsibility.
KBR, a popular target for opponents of the war, also faces a lawsuit from soldiers who allege the company knowingly exposed them to carcinogens while guarding an Iraqi water pumping plant.
Marit Babin, director of government relations for KBR, told the Democrat-controlled commissioner’s court the allegations were false.
“I would remind everyone that there are two sides to every story,” Babin said. “Just because you read something on the Internet doesn’t mean it’s true.”
Babin was partly addressing an article by a local news Web site, newstreamz.com, which had laid out allegations against KBR in a lengthy story about the county’s road project last month.
Hannah said he served with the 1st Calvary Division in Iraq for 15 months before his tour ended in January 2008. He is a self-described activist who proudly said he heckled John Ashcroft when the former U.S. attorney general spoke in Austin earlier this week. Hannah told commissioners he put his life on the line in Iraq to escort empty KBR trucks. Foster said the county shouldn’t give its money to KBR because of the way the company does business.
Commissioner Jeff Barton said the veterans made a powerful case.
“Firms should be held accountable,” Barton said. “I don’t want to prejudge, but I take very seriously the concerns that were raised.”
Commissioners probably will decide whether to award KBR the contract April 7. KBR spokeswoman Heather Browne said in an e-mail that the company is following up with the county and that KBR is “proud of the work it performs in Iraq.”
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Shoddy wiring ‘everywhere’ on Iraq bases, Army inspector says
WASHINGTON (CNN) – Thousands of buildings at U.S. bases in Iraq and Afghanistan have such poorly installed wiring that American troops face life-threatening risks, a top inspector for the Army says.
“It was horrible — some of the worst electrical work I’ve ever seen,” said Jim Childs, a master electrician and the top civilian expert in an Army safety survey. Childs told CNN that “with the buildings the way they are, we’re playing Russian roulette.”
Childs recently returned from Iraq, where he is taking part in a yearlong review aimed at correcting electrical hazards on U.S. bases. He told CNN that thousands of buildings in Iraq and Afghanistan are so badly wired that troops are at serious risk of death or injury.
He said problems are “everywhere” in Iraq, where 18 U.S. troops have died by electrocution since 2003. All deaths occurred in different circumstances and different locations, but many happened on U.S. bases being managed by various military contractors. The Army has has reopened investigations in at least five cases, according to Pentagon sources.
Of the nearly 30,000 buildings the Army’s “Task Force Safe” has examined so far, Childs said more than half “failed miserably.” And 8,527 had such serious problems that inspectors gave them a “flash” warning, meaning repairs had to be completed in four hours or the facility evacuated.
He said the majority of those buildings were wired by contractor KBR, based in Houston, Texas. KBR has faced extensive criticism from Congress over its performance in the war zone. KBR has defended its performance and argued it was not to blame for any fatalities.
Military electrocutions became a national issue about a year ago, after the January 2008 death of Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A decorated member of the Army’s Green Berets, Maseth was electrocuted in his shower at a U.S. base in Baghdad that once served as one of Saddam Hussein’s palaces.
His death was blamed on improper grounding and dangerous wiring on his living quarters. Soon after that, the Army asked Childs to help create “Task Force Safe,” a team of master electricians assigned to inspect Army posts for electrical dangers.
Childs said the “large majority” of the buildings the task force examined in Iraq had been wired by KBR, which he expected would follow American standards. But the results, he said, were “just horrible.”
In one building, “I had them pull a switch out of the wall to look at a switch, and when they pulled it out of the wall, the wires fell out of it,” Childs said. Thinking that was an exception, “We pulled the one next to it. They fell off,” he said. “It was just very, very poor quality work.”
Much of the work was done by crews from countries beyond Iraq, “with very little supervision by anybody.” And many of the problems involved improperly grounded systems that allowed plumbing to conduct electricity, which he said could lead to electric shocks such as the one that killed Maseth.
Childs said service orders on at least two occasions warned of the hazard in Maseth’s quarters, and “two simple electrical 101s” should have been checked out by electricians.
“A competent electrical contractor and electrician would have gone to that job site and tried to discover why pipes could have been energized,” he said. If they had been, “then Ryan Maseth would not have been electrocuted, in my opinion.”
Maseth’s family is suing KBR. An Army investigator has recommended that his cause of death be changed to “negligent homicide,” accusing the company of failing to properly supervise or inspect its work. The Army has yet to accept the recommendation.
KBR has repeatedly said it was not responsible for Maseth’s death or for any of the others and defended its work.
“KBR has worked diligently to address electrical issues when asked,” the company told CNN in a written statement. “What is important to remember is the challenging environment in which these issues exist.
“The electrical standards in Iraq are nowhere near those of Western or U.S. standards. Add to this the challenges that exist in a war zone. We have been and remain committed to fully cooperating with the government on this issue.”
But Childs said the majority of buildings on U.S. bases were built and wired by KBR since the U.S. invasion.
“They installed the housing units, they installed the electrical, they installed the wiring. They installed it all. And it’s wrong,” he said. “It’s all put in wrong.”
KBR was not alone, however. He said the Army survey found problems with every contractor whose work it inspected.
Task Force Safe has yet to inspect another 70,000 buildings in Iraq and has just begun its review of bases in Afghanistan, where contractors have raised similar concerns. In written answers to questions from CNN, Pentagon spokesman Chris Isleib said, “We are correcting hazardous conditions every day.”
“This is a huge undertaking but absolutely necessary for the life, health and safety of our service members and civilians,” he said. “When we find a defect, we put in an emergency work order and take action immediately to protect the people working or living in those facilities.”
But Childs told CNN he is surprised more Americans have not been hurt.
“All the potentials are there,” he said. “It just hasn’t happened.”
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I can remember my time in the Navy after ship overhaul in the yards, we’d head out to sea and turn on the water and pipes would go flying and the HT’s would be working all night reworking everything the yard birds (contractors) did. And this was common – does it ever change?
