NetRootsMass » Iraq

378. KBR and forced labor in Iraq

Hugh — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 05:08:22 +0000

13 Nepalis were recruited by a company Moonlight and charged substantial amounts for them to work abroad. Most were told they would be working at a luxury hotel in Jordan or at an American camp which they took to be in the US. They were told they would be paid $500/month. In Jordan, they were turned over to Daoud and Partners which contracted with KBR to provide workers in Iraq. Daoud took their passports, charged them extra fees, and told them that they would be working in Iraq for 3/4 the promised wages. On August 19, 2004, they were forced to travel into Iraq in an unprotected convoy along a dangerous highway. Twelve of the 13 were kidnapped en route by Iraqi insurgents and subsequently executed. Of the 13, Buddi Prasad Gurung alone made it to the Al Asad base where he was turned over to KBR. He told his KBR managers that he “was very scared for his safety and wanted to leave to return to Nepal” but was told he could not leave until his contract was completed. During his stay he was repeatedly exposed to mortar fire but never afforded a protective vest such as his KBR managers wore. After 15 months and the completion of his contract, he was allowed to return to Nepal. KBR supervisors were told by Gurung and other employees that they had been trafficked to Iraq but KBR took no action.

In spring 2008, an administrative law judge in the Labor Department ordered Daoud to pay $1 million to the families of 11 of the 12 slain Nepalis.

On August 27, 2008, a civil suit on behalf of Gurung and the families of the deceased workers was filed in the federal district court for Central California against Daoud and KBR alleging trafficking, racketeering, extortion, peonage, involuntary servitude, forced labor, vicarious violation of RICO, and negligence. The suit claimed US jurisdiction under the Alien Tort Claims Act and contended:

Defendants’ actions as set forth above constitute the torts of trafficking in persons, involuntary servitude, forced labor, and slavery.

161. Trafficking in persons in [sic] a modern day form of slavery, and along with involuntary servitude and forced labor constitutes a tort in violation of the law of nations and/or in violation of treaties of the United States.

162. Defendants’ actions as set forth above constitute the torts of prolonged detention, and/or false imprisonment, which also constitute torts in violation of the law of nation and/or in violation of the treaties of the United States.

KBR was spun off from Halliburton, the company that Dick Cheney used to run. Its government services contracts have exploded under the Bush Administration, despite providing expensive, shoddy services for our troops. Its two main goals are to make as much money as possible anyway possible and in furtherance of this to avoid taking responsibility for any of its truly reprehensible actions.

375. The Hubbush letter and a forged justification for war

Hugh — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 05:02:03 +0000

On December 14, 2003, London’s Sunday Telegraph ran a story about the discovery by Iraqis working under Paul Bremer’s Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) of a memo in two parts dated July 1, 2001 written by Iraq’s head of intelligence Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti to Saddam Hussein. The first part describes how the operational leader of the 9/11 attacks Mohammed Atta spent 3 days in the summer of 2001 training in Baghdad with the Palestinian terrorist leader Abu Nidal. The second reports on a “Niger Shipment”, an apparent reference to uranium, and its transport to Iraq through Libya and Syria. The authenticity of the memo was vouched for by Iyad Allawi, an American ally who became Interim Prime Minister the following year. As subsequent events have shown the memo was a forgery.

An August 4, 2008 article in the Politico on a soon to be published book by Ron Suskind “The Way of the World” alleges that the White House ordered the CIA to create the memo to link Saddam Hussein to al Qaeda and the 9/11 attacks and so justify Bush’s invasion of Iraq. The order was transmitted by the DCI George Tenet to Robert Richer, then deputy director of clandestine operations, and Robert Maquire, then head of the Iraq Operations Group. All involved issued non-denail denials. The problem was that Suskind had Richer on tape and released a transcript of their discussion of the memo:

Rob: To characterize it right, I would say, right: it came to us, George had a raised eyebrow, and basically we passed it on–it was to–and passed this on into the organization. You know, it was: ‘Okay, we gotta do this, but make it go away.’ … It was: ‘This is unbelievable. This is just like all the other garbage we get about … I mean Mohammad Atta and links to al Qaeda. ‘ Rob,’ you know, ‘do something with this.’ I think it was more like that than: ‘Get this done.’ […]

Rob: What I remember is George saying, ‘we got this from’–basically, from what George said was ‘downtown.’

Ron: Which is the White House?

Rob: Yes.

It is illegal to use the CIA to deceive the American people. But with this Administration what is one more criminal offense? Who will hold them to account? Besides they lie to us for our own good because just like Colonel Jessep in A Few Good Men they feel that we can’t handle the truth.

369. Pentagon General lies to Congress about KBR Iraq water contract

Hugh — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 04:46:03 +0000

On July 9, 2008, Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) accused Major General Jerome Johnson (see item 360) of lying to Congress. Johnson who was head of the Army Field Support Command from June 2004 to July 2007 testified in April 2007 that there were no widespread problems with water not for drinking but for hygienic purposes supplied by the contractor KBR to troops in Iraq when, in fact, a March 31, 2007 letter informed Pentagon officials the Inspector General had found that there were. The DOD IG has also opened an investigation into the general’s remarks.

367. War, oil, oil companies, and Iraq

Hugh — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 04:43:03 +0000

In 1971, Iraq nationalized its oil industry. It replaced the Iraq Petroleum Company which was made up of the precursors to BP, Total, Shell and a consortium of American oil companies including what was to become Exxon Mobil and folded their assets into the Iraq National Oil Company. On June 30, 2008, the successor companies were allowed back into Iraq receiving no bid contracts to modernize production in Iraq’s oil fields. The contracts were structured to circumvent the absence of a Petroleum Law, much sought after by the Bush Administration but stymied by conflicts between the central government and the regions, most notably the Kurds. The oil companies would be paid for their work in oil, currently a rapidly appreciating commodity. They would also get a chance to match the bid of any other companies on future contracts. The Bush Administration has said that it did not influence the award of the contracts although officials from the Departments of State, Commerce, Energy, and Interior work in Iraq’s Oil Ministry. USAID also has a contract with Management Systems International to advise the Ministry. Clients of MSI’s parent company Coffrey International include BP and Shell, so no conflict of interest there. Bush has said his invasion of Iraq was never about oil. But does anyone seriously think that Iraq would have been a target if it’s major export had been oranges?

362. KBR exposed US soldiers to a carcinogen in Iraq

Hugh — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 04:29:26 +0000

KBR allowed around 250 soldiers guarding the Qarmat Ali water treatment in Iraq to be exposed to sodium dichromate, a powerful carcinogen. Soldiers also presented acutely with nosebleeds, spitting of blood, cough, shortness of breath and eye, nose, and throat irritation. Dichromate at the site was used in anti-rust coating for water pipes used in oil field production. It was left strewn on the ground after the plant was looted following the 2003 US invasion. KBR knew about the dichromate but initially described it as only a “mild irritant”. Early testing by the military showed that soldiers did not have high levels of chromium but it is unclear if the right test was used and performed within the proper timeframes. In addition, cancers related to a past exposure can take years to develop. KBR said it did nothing wrong. Apparently it views putting the lives and health of US service men and women as a normal cost of doing business.