"KBR Inc. was paid $83.4 million in bonuses for electrical work in Iraq.... At least three troops have been electrocuted while showering in Iraq.... No criminal charges will be filed.... KBR did not ground equipment during installation or report improperly grounded equipment during maintenance"
They are then given MORE CONTRACTS and TAX LOOT!
"KBR won bonuses after US soldier died; Work eyed amid electrocutions" by Kimberly Hefling, Associated Press | May 21, 2009
WASHINGTON - Military contractor KBR Inc. was paid $83.4 million in bonuses for electrical work in Iraq - much of the money coming even after that work was declared to be shoddy, a senator said yesterday.
Senator Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, said he learned of the bonuses from Pentagon documents. Dorgan chairs the Democrats' Policy Committee, which examined at a hearing the electrocution deaths of US troops in Iraq.
At least three troops have been electrocuted while showering in Iraq, and others have been injured and killed in other electrical incidents. KBR, which has the responsibility of maintaining electrical work in tens of thousands of US facilities in Iraq, has denied any responsibility in the deaths.
But Dorgan said evidence suggests KBR's work was involved in some of the deaths. He said $34 million in bonuses was paid three months after Green Beret Staff Sergeant Ryan Maseth, 24, was electrocuted while showering in his barracks in Iraq on Jan. 2, 2008. Maseth's family has sued KBR, alleging wrongful death.
KBR was once a subsidiary of Halliburton, the oil services company headed by Dick Cheney before his two terms as vice president.
Jim Childs, an electrical inspector hired by the Army to help inspect US-run facilities in Iraq testified that 90 percent of the wiring done by KBR in newly constructed buildings was done improperly. He said that means that an estimated 70,000 buildings where troops live and work in Iraq were not up to code.
Heather Browne, a KBR spokeswoman, said in a statement that the company is cooperating.--more--"
Related:
Iraq for Sale
The Pentagon Spending Sprees
Occupation Iraq: KBR'S Chemical Killings
Occupation Iraq: KBR and the Indiana Guard
Occupation Iraq: KBR and the West Virginia Guard
Of course, this comes as no surprise (as the military pays the overcharges, too):
"No charges in soldier’s electrocution" by Associated Press | August 8, 2009
WASHINGTON - No criminal charges will be filed against military contractor KBR Inc. in connection with the electrocution of a Green Beret soldier who died while showering in his barracks in Iraq, the Defense Department said yesterday.
Investigators said there was “insufficient evidence to prove or disprove’’ that anyone was criminally culpable in the January 2008 death of Staff Sergeant Ryan Maseth, 24, of Pittsburgh. The uproar over his death triggered a review of 17 other electrocution deaths in Iraq and widespread inspections.
Maseth’s death was at first ruled an accident. But later, an Army investigator called the death a “negligent homicide,’’ caused by Houston-based KBR and two of its supervisors, and said it had failed to ensure that qualified electricians and plumbers worked on the building where Maseth died, according to an internal document obtained by the Associated Press.
Yesterday, the Defense Department said that while both contractors and government employees “breached their respective duties of care,’’ the US Army Criminal Investigation Command determined that none of the breaches alone were “the proximate cause of his death.’’ Army criminal investigators also concurred that the manner of death was accidental.
Maseth’s mother, Cheryl Harris, said the findings were heartbreaking and disappointing.
“According to the CID, there were so many failures on KBR’s part that they couldn’t assign all of the blame to any one person and therefore told us they were not going to file charges, which tells me that the CID doesn’t know or is ignorant [of] the evidence I do know exists,’’ said Harris, who met with Army criminal investigators yesterday afternoon.
My heart goes out to this women.
Is she ever getting a full dose of the lying war looting first hand.
They ROBBED HER of her SON!!!!
Last week, the Defense Department’s inspector general said that Maseth died when he came in contact with an energized metal shower and hose caused by the failure of an ungrounded water pump located on the roof of the building installed by KBR. The inspector general said KBR did not ground equipment during installation or report improperly grounded equipment during maintenance, nor did it have standard operating procedures for inspections.
But they aren't responsible for anything.
A REAL PROFESSIONAL outfit, huh, Americans?
Certainly deserving of $84 MILLION in BONUSES, no?
--more--"
Of course, it is not like YOU have ECONOMIC PROBLEMS at home or DEFICTS SHOOTING through the CEILING, 'murka.
