KBR Will Go To Trial For Human Trafficking

The image to the left, and this story in general, are due to the efforts of fellow blogger Ms. Sparky (who is one of the best internet sources on the malfeasance of American corporations who made billions off the American invasions and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan).

While it is public knowledge now that Vice-President Dick Cheney helped the company he once headed, Halliburton, to get government contracts to provide services for the troops in Iraq, it may not be widely known just how low the company and its divisions stooped to make  that money. There is currently a lawsuit in federal court accusing KBR (which was a division of Halliburton until 2007) of trafficking in humans.

KBR and its subcontractor, Daoud & Partners, have been accused of promising 12 workers from Nepal that they would get safe hotel work in Jordan. These workers paid money for those jobs, but when they arrived in Jordan (in 2004) their passports were taken and they were threatened. They were then (without their consent) transported to Iraq to work for KBR, where 11 of them were killed by insurgents. Their families have now filed suit in federal court, accusing KBR of human trafficking, and seeking unspecified damages.

Of course, KBR tried to get the case dismissed. They told the court that there was insufficient evidence of any wrongdoing by the company. But they got a surprise. U.S. District Court Judge Keith Ellison ruled that sufficient evidence has been presented, and set a trial date of April 14, 2014. In his ruling, the judge wrote:

“. . .the proffered evidence shows that each man was deceived about his promised job; each man was promised a hotel-related job in Jordan; each man’s family took on significant debt in order to pay recruitment fees; when the men arrived in Jordan, they were subject to threats and harm; their passports were confiscated; and the men were locked into a compound and threatened. . .”

“Plaintiffs have presented evidence that could lead a jury reasonably to find that the passport holding was coercive. Because this proffered evidence raises a genuine issue of material fact as to the existence of forced labor or trafficking, it is an issue of fact that should be submitted to the jury.”

If this accusation is true, and it looks like there is evidence that it is, then this represents a new low in ethical conduct for an American corporation -- the trafficking of humans to turn a corporate profit.

Army Repeats A Bad Mistake

It looks like the United States Army is incapable of learning from past mistakes. On Tuesday, the Army awarded defense giant KBR (once an affiliate of Halliburton) a new contract for support work in Iraq. The contract could be worth as much as $2.8 billion for the Houston-based company.

KBR was quick to jump on the new contract saying, "The award demonstrates that the government recognizes KBR's ability and expertise in delivering high quality service in challenging contingency environments." Despite their bragging, the record shows that KBR has definitely NOT shown "ability and expertise" in its Iraqi operations. Let me remind you of just a few of KBR's screw-ups in Iraq.

First, consider the death of Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, a 24 year-old Green Beret. Maseth was electrocuted while taking a shower in 2008. It turned out that his death was due to faulty electrical work done by KBR. An investigation then found 17 other deaths due to faulty electrical work, most of it done by KBR. The company was denied $25 million in awards for this shoddy work.

But this was not all. Earlier, it had been discovered that KBR had been selling the Army contaminated water. The water caused our soldiers to experience skin abscesses, cellulitis, skin infections, diarrhea and other illnesses. Instead of fixing the problem, KBR covered it up and continued selling the contaminated water to the Army for THREE YEARS (from January 2004 thru December 2006).

And it goes on. In 2005, a young woman named Jamie Leigh Jones was working for KBR in Iraq when she was raped by several male employees of KBR. Did KBR report this to the proper authorities? Of course not! When the young woman tried to go to authorities, they had her kidnapped and held in a shipping container with no food, water or medical help.

Thank goodness for a single KBR employee with a shred of a conscience, who allowed her to use his cell phone. She called her father in the United States, who then called Rep. Ted Poe. Poe contacted the State Department and demanded her release. The State Department sent investigators, who rescued Ms. Jones and got her medical help.

Ms. Jones sued KBR, and instead of doing the right thing, the company is fighting the case tooth-and-nail. They even tried to get the case thrown out of court, claiming that her contract with the company denied her the right to file suit. Fortunately, the court did not buy this feeble argument and ruled she had the right to sue.

These are just some of the more well-known examples of KBR demonstrating its "ability and expertise" in Iraq. I'm sure there are more. KBR has not only not shown a level of excellence, it has not even shown a basic level of competence in Iraq. They have also shown they care little about our soldiers or even their own employees.

But the company did make billions of dollars from the Iraqi war, and now it stands to make billions more. How can the Army reward this incompetence with a new multi-billion dollar contract? Even the dumbest individuals know better than to touch a stove a second time, after being burned the first time. Why can't the Army learn from its past mistakes?

There are those who think our government is broken. Things like this make me think they could be right.

Senate Approves "KBR Assault" Amendment

In 2005, Jamie Leigh Jones was an employee of KBR/Halliburton and was working for them in Iraq. One night, she was attacked and raped by several of her co-workers. When she tried to report it to the company, she was locked in a shipping container for several hours before a sympathetic security guard released her.

The company was at fault for failing to provide proper security safeguards for Ms. Jones, and again for locking her in a shipping container to try and prevent the story from getting out. She quit the company and filed suit against them in a federal court. Instead of admitting their wrongdoing, the company has been fighting for sever years to quash the court case.

The company claims that according to Ms. Jones employee contract, the case should have been referred to the company's arbitration process. If this had been a disagreement over pay or normal working conditions, they would have been right. But this was a case with extraordinary circumstances, and a federal appeals court has ruled that Ms. Jones has the right to take the case to the federal court.

Yesterday, the United States Senate entered the fray by passing an amendment by Sen. Al Franken to the pending defense spending bill. The amendment easily passed by a 68-30 vote. It would prohibit the Defense Department from contracting with companies that require matters like sexual assault to be submitted to arbitration.

Sen. Franken (pictured) claimed, "Companies are using fine print to deny women like Jamie Leigh Jones their day in court." I applaud Sen. Franken's actions. He's turning out to be every bit as good a senator as I thought he would be. It's about time someone stood up to companies like KBR/Halliburton and protected the rights of American citizens.

The amendment must still survive the Senate/House conference committee and then be approved by the full House and Senate. But the large margin of the Senate victory, along with the huge majority of Democrats in the House, makes me think the amendment will probably survive and become law.

Court Says Halliburton And KBR Can Be Sued

Halliburton and KBR have just lost a decision in federal court that could cost them dearly. U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison ruled on Friday that one of their female employees can sue the companies. The companies were trying to force her to agree to binding arbitration, citing the contract signed when the woman was hired.

Back in 2005, Jamie Leigh Jones worked for KBR in Camp Hope in Baghdad. At that time, KBR was a subsidiary of Halliburton. Ms. Jones was living in a company-provided co-ed dorm, and suffered daily harrassment from some of the men living there.

On 07/28/05, Ms. Jones was drugged and raped by several firefighters working for KBR. She was then kidnapped and falsely imprisoned in a shipping container by KBR employees, so she couldn't report the crime. After being imprisoned for a day, an honest employee released her. To this day, none of the firefighters have been convicted of any crime.

Ms. Jones then filed suit in federal court against KBR and it's parent company, Halliburton. Lawyers for Halliburton and KBR filed their own suit, saying that Ms. Jones had signed a contract when she was hired that said disagreements between her and the company would be settled in private with binding arbitration. They contended the court had no juristiction because of the contract.

They were wrong. The judge agreed that matters such as salary must be handled in arbitration, but the rape, kidnapping and imprisonment went far beyond the terms of the contract. The judge gave Ms. Jones permission to proceed with her court case on those grounds.

Now, all of the charges will be aired in open court (as they should be). After they hear the horrible facts in this case, I'll bet a jury will be much more generous in their verdict than an arbitrator would have been.

I wish Ms. Jones and her attorney luck. She deserves every penny she can squeeze out of Halliburton and KBR.

KBR Sells Contaminated Water To Troops

When Bush and Cheney started their ridiculous misadventure in Iraq, they gave a bunch of lucrative no-bid contracts to their corporate friends to provide goods and services for our troops. The company that received the majority of these rewarding contracts was Dick Cheney's old company, Halliburton and its many subsidiaries.

Now we learn of another instance in which these companies are failing our troops while making themselves rich. KBR, a subsidiary of Halliburton until recently, has been selling our troops contaminated water. This water has been making our troops sick.

Our soldiers have experienced skin abcesses, cellulitis, skin infections, diarrhea and other illnesses from using smelly and discolored water provided by KBR. It was not drinking water, but water provided for laundry and personal hygiene.

A Defense Department Inspector General's report was obtained by the Associated Press, which shows there have been water contamination problems in Iraq by KBR between January 2004 and December 2006 -- a full three years!

The report said KBR's water quality "was not maintained in accordance with field water sanitary standards" and "exposed U.S. forces to unmonitored and potentially unsafe water". The delivery of contaminated water continued for three years, because Halliburton and KBR tried to cover up the problem rather than fix it.

The Bush administration has done a very poor job of taking care of our soldiers. They have allowed second-rate protective vests, poorly-armored Humvees and substandard veteran's care. They have also done a poor job of overseeing the contractors who are supposed to be taking care of our troops.

We not only need to end this war and bring our troops home, but we need to get a whole bunch of congressional investigations going. Our troops have been short-changed by the Republicans and their corporate cronies for far too long.

The Criminal Side Of KBR/Halliburton

It's been obvious for a while now that many corporations don't care about people, laws or anything else -- except money. That is especially true of Halliburton and its subsidiaries like KBR. Halliburton got a sweetheart deal from the White House to reap windfall profits from the Iraq war, and they're not about to let anyone or anything interfere with those profits.

In 2005, a young lady from Conroe, Jamie Leigh Jones, was working for KBR in Iraq. At that time, KBR was still a subsidiariy of Halliburton. In July of that year, Ms. Jones was drugged and raped repeatedly by a group of KBR and Halliburton firefighters.

When she tried to go to the authorities, the company locked her in a shipping container without food, water or medical help. Who knows what would have happened to her if one of the company guards hadn't felt sorry for her and let her use his cell phone.

She called her father, who called his congressman, Ted Poe. Poe called the State Department and demanded they rescue her. The State Department sent investigators, who rescued her and got her medical treatment, where a doctor verified she had been raped.

Now, Halliburton could have done the right thing. They could have reported the crime and gotten Ms. Jones medical help. They could have seen the rapists were apprehended and punished. But they chose not to do that. They were afraid that might interfere with their windfall profits.

In May, Ms. Jones filed a federal lawsuit against Halliburton and KBR. These companies are still acting to protect their unending supply of government money. They are now trying to force her to submit to a secret arbitration hearing, rather than an open trial in federal court. They claim her contract calls for arbitration. I have a feeling that arbitration for was civil disputes with the company -- not criminal action by the company.

I hope Ms. Jones has an excellent attorney. An attorney good enough to get this case into open court where the truth can be heard, and where she can be adequately compensated by a jury for the companies' actions.

And where has the federal government been for the last two years? They know who the rapists are, so why haven't they been arrested and punished? The companies are also guilty of crimes -- kidnapping and trying to cover up a crime. Why hasn't the government taken action against Halliburton and KBR?

Is the Bush administration trying to protect Halliburton and KBR?