Poop the Troops

Knowing Halliburton's past performances and their unbridled disregard for contracting propriety and the safety of their own employees in Iraq, it comes as no surprise to learn that they may have covered up a contaminated water condition for more than a year.

Troops and civilians at a U.S. military base in were exposed to contaminated water last year and employees for the responsible contractor, Halliburton, couldn't get their company to inform camp residents....

Responsible contractor, Halliburton,... I think the author might be working in a few yucks with that one.

But this is par for the course, really. Apart from fuel pricing scams, food service contract scams, The Bonehead Compendium previously noted a Halliburton scam that had endangered lives:

The latest ill-conceived scam has drivers driving around the Iraqi desert in empty trucks and charging this against their lucrative Pentagon contracts. Of course, this might seem like typical Halliburton swindling but, in fact, has a much more dangerous element since the trucks are traversing a war zone where drivers are routinely shot at and dodge bricks and homemade bombs. Many drivers have been injured while driving empty trucks.

Then there was the prickly and deadly attitude Halliburton adopted after the Iraqi government awarded the fuel contract that had been abused by Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR) to a British firm, also noted by The BHC:

KBR's behaviour, which has apparently been directed by Halliburton managers, has become so churlish that when LOI convoys arrive at military sites and have suffered insurgent attack, KBR staff have refused to help the survivors. KBR claims that LOI does not have a contract with the US military, which is true, and so KBR is under no obligation to provide assistance.

And now comes the relevelation that KBR exposed civilians and troops at Camp Junction City, in Ramadi, to untreated water containing raw sewage. The allegations are coming from one of KBR's own employees, William Granger.

An Halliburton spokesperson of doubtless redoubtable integrity has assured all parties that nothing of the sort happened and even military officials are saying that the "allegations appear not to have merit." Such claims are apparently belied by internal KBR memos, which say things like,

I don't want to turn it into a big issue right now....

Nope. The last thing a war contract profiteer needs is bad publicity like poisoning the troops, doing nothing about it and then attempting to cover it up. That would be bad.

Although, frankly, just how bad could it get? Halliburtion is under any number of investigations right now and nothing has happened nor does it appear that the DoD will ever mete out any "accountability." They must know that they have immunity with this administration.