KBR managers at their worst
In Feb 2003, KBR was awarded a $7 billion no-bid contract in Iraq called Restore Iraqi Oil (RIO). In short…the contract was for putting out oil well fires and getting the oil fields back to production. Because water was used to pressurize the wells, part of the contract included restoring water to the oil fields. Water that was normally pumped through the Qarmat Ali water plant near Basra in Southern Iraq. This plant had been chemically sabotaged by Saddam loyalists and was in need of repairs before water could flow. It was at this water plant that 100′s of US National Guard soldiers, British soldiers, US civilians and Iraqi civilians were exposed to toxic levels of sodium dichromate. Sodium dichromate is a well known carcinogen and it’s dangers were brought to the public’s attention in the movie Erin Brockovich.
Many US Army National Guard soldiers have already died and others suffer from a myriad of conditions from what is believed to be exposure to toxic levels of sodium dichromate. US Soldiers testified before the Senate Democratic Policy Committee in August that the orange dust was everywhere. They ate it in their food, drank it in their water and slept in it. In some places it was reported to be “feet” thick. The remaining unopened bags (which were labeled in Arabic) were used as sandbags for bunkers and protection.
When KBR’s own Safety Coordinator Ed Blacke, who also testified at a Senate DPC hearing in June 2008, requested information on the red/orange substance, he was told by his own HSE Manager “it is a non-issue”. Even though soldiers and civilians were experiencing symptoms consistent with sodium dichromate exposure. Soon after he was terminated for pressing the issue.
In the last year there have been numerous law suits filed against KBR by US Army National Guard soldiers from several states for knowingly exposing them to sodium dichromate. KBR employees can not sue KBR for not providing them when a safe work environment. They are held to secret binding arbitration. Below are clips from sworn depositions of five key witnesses in the chemical exposures. Please pay close attention the testimony of the KBR Operations and Safety Managers. Unbelievable arrogance and what I believe to be negligence.
Below is a portion of the sworn deposition of Johnny Morney KBR Health Safety & Environmental Manager at Qarmat Ali in 2003. (3:01) Click HERE to watch it on YouTube. This is just unbelievable ignorance!
Below is a portion of the sworn deposition of Doug Fletcher KBR General Program (Operations) Manager in Iraq (2:26) Click HERE to watch it on YouTube. Mr. Fletcher is just not sure if he had a “meeting” about the hazards of sodium dichromate with his employees or not.
Below is a portion of the sworn deposition of Charles “Chuck” Adams KBR Health Safety & Environmental (HSE) Manager for Iraq in 2003 (4:11) Click HERE to watch it on YouTube. How many HSE managers would be allowed to get away with this in the States?
Below is a portion of the sworn deposition of Dr. Sudhir Desai KBR Industrial Hygienist (3:52) Click HERE to watch it on YouTube
Below is a portion of the sworn deposition of Dr. Robert Conte, KBR Medical Director (4:34) Click HERE to watch it on YouTube
I can’t even think of anything else to say except “what the hell!” And we wonder why KBR is having problems on LOGCAP. Why they are electrocuting people. Making contaminated water. Exposing people to dangerous toxins. Either they are just plain stupid or just don’t care or both! Regardless, murder charges need to be filed for those who have died and assault or attempted murder for those who are still suffering from this negligence. AT THE VERY LEAST…TREASON!
Am I being to hard on these losers? And don’t even try to use the “it’s a war zone” excuse. That’s BS!
Just before I hit the “publish” button this came out from the Associate Press. click HERE
Ms Sparky
Tuesday, October 13th 2009 at 3:22 pm |
The attitude of the Ops Project manager and the two HSE managers does not surprise me. I have watched it for over two years. The shear conceit and over the top arrogance. They expect to be treated like some kind of royalty. There is a safety manager right now that is not certified for anything. But he evidently has something on someone. It would be hard to say how many people KBR mangers have killed and injured. If something bad does happen they all band together and cover it up. There is no real reporting system and zero oversight. And your right. If this isn’t grounds for treason nothing is.
Tuesday, October 13th 2009 at 3:47 pm |
Here are some of KBR’s Heather Browne statements that I would like to add to this post. I actually call them “Heatherisms” among other things!!
“We remain proud of the work we have performed and we are humbled to serve our troops.”
“KBR’s commitment to the safety of all employees and those the company serves remains unwavering.”
“KBR remains committed to providing high-quality service to our customer and conducting our business with ethics and integrity.”
“KBR is a leader in workplace safety, and maintaining that commitment is the company’s top priority,”…
I think the videos above have shot a big ole hole in those statements!
Tuesday, October 13th 2009 at 4:04 pm |
Doug Flecther: Took lessons from Clinton trial as in describe the word “Penis”
Chuck Adams: Typical KBR Boss Hog of “I seen it with his eyes.”
Johnny Morney: Forrest Gump “Stupid is as Stupid does.”
Ms Sparky’s Response:
I thought Clinton said …..”Please define sex.” or was it both. Maybe Clinton’s attorney is now working for KBR!
Tuesday, October 13th 2009 at 4:04 pm |
Well I guess this proves that you can dress ‘em up and take ‘em out and promote them to manager and have the best attorneys, that money can buy, prepare them to testify but you just can’t fix stupid. It was nice of them to leave their spit cups out of camera range.
Tuesday, October 13th 2009 at 4:17 pm |
KBR has what they have always deemed as their ACE-IN-THE-HOLE – We all see what “BINDING ARBITRATION” , means now. KBR planned this from the very beginning. They knew there might be difficulties down the road – Well, we’ve been down the road – and have gotten run over by “BINDING ARBITRATION”. What’s the difference in what Bernie Madoff did (Pre-meditated) and the Pre-meditation of KBR Corp. executive criminals,treasonistic modes of operation. Why don’t they just hire Al-Quieda, Taliban, and all the other anti-American haters in the world. I thought we were fighting the enemy – and we can legitimately call KBR(FOR the MOST PART)(NOT ALL) call them anti-American.
The former President didn’t waste time in going after them either – guess the current administration is not interested in helping all of us that were injured,killed, maimed, lost everything. Military and Civilian alike.
I put down KBR every time I have the opportunity.
Tuesday, October 13th 2009 at 6:03 pm |
I agree with what everyone has posted. KBR,have the most incompentent people in the wrong places working. They know nothing and care about no one but themselves.I say put them on the frontline to work.
Wednesday, October 14th 2009 at 8:00 am |
It should be asked, what was the job of thease guys before KBR, are they even qualified to be HSE or enviromental managers? It’s been a long road and at times i sit and wander how some got promoted to the jobs they have, that should explain much of the problem we all face daily. I am at times ashamed to be working here (still) and if ya think the grass is greener with another contractor..think agian…
Wednesday, October 14th 2009 at 10:05 am |
Can anyone tell me if:
Doug Fletcher
Chuck Adams
Johnny Morney
still work for KBR or now work for Fluor and if so in what positions.
Thanks
Wednesday, October 14th 2009 at 12:51 pm |
I have worked with KBR in Iraq and have just returned two months ago. Unfortunately the problems stem from Supervisors, senior management and the women themselves. Aside from some senior managers moving their wives and other family members to their site which is a whole different set of problems. I can tell you for a fact that many of these guys engage in sexual relations with female members in their direct and indirect chain of command. I have been to sites where all the better looking women all work in one building. To be honest, most women catch on pretty quickly that they can use their looks to get promoted. The women to men ratio assures that this will happen. Those that engage in this sort of thing make it bad for those that don’t, but many do use it to their advantage until it gets out of hand. I know of many women that even engage in open relationships even though they are married to someone back home. The number is very high for both married men and women. I am not guessing this. I personally know many people who are doing this – married people, with both military and non military personnel. I would never let my wife or husband head to Iraq based on what I know. This is the truth and it is even known that the married people in Iraq are way more aggressive when it comes to doing or saying whatever to get the person that they have eyes on. My direct supervisor was one of those people. He was married with three kids back home. When I ran into him leaving a female’s room at four-thirty in the morning on my way to the gym he tried to justify it to me. I told him that It was not my business and that it was between him and his wife which did not go over too well. Other people were talking about his extra marital activity including one of the women who he was sleeping with – making comments about his size. Thinking that I was the only one that actually saw him in the act, he tried everything in his power to have me fired. Believe me when I tell you that these guys are experts on covering their ass and because most of the management engage in this sort of thing themselves, getting justice is almost impossible. I got so tired of going to HR and trying to avoid situations that I had nothing to do with, that I just decided to leave. LOGCAP needs to be restructured with clear rules on how senior managers and supervisors are supposed to behave. Too many problems originate from these guys abusing their so called power and their need to either control people or to be promoted. KBR needs and Independent party investigating these things.
Wednesday, October 14th 2009 at 1:23 pm |
“For what it’s worth” said KBR has binding arbitration as their ace in the hole. Well, that is not entirely true. If you read the Sabine Pilot Doctrine you do have an ace yourself. It takes team work on your part. In it, you have to prove fraud was done on your part my your employer ( by let’s say your foreman ) telling you to do do. How many of us have turned in timesheets early like an hour or so so Payroll can catch up? What about falsifying work performed by others. If the emplyee can prove fraud then the arbitration clause in null and void according to the Sabine Pilot Doctrine. It is just like the arbitration clauses in homeowners contracts that they sign. If you can prove fraud on the part of the builder then you can sue instead of mandatory arbitration.
Wednesday, October 14th 2009 at 3:33 pm |
gungho said – I am glad that you said it is partly true, as I would entertain you the idea of searching the legal definition of the phrase – “Laying-In-Wait? I will read your response when you reply. THX for utilizing this very important blog.
Thursday, October 15th 2009 at 5:52 am |
I found this information in a post done by DC Bureau.
Military Exposure Guidelines permissible exposure limit for chromium: 5,700 parts per million.
Chromium soil concentrations found by KBR samples at Qarmat Ali on August 7, 2003: 16,459 parts per million.
http://www.dcbureau.org/20091008277/National-Security-News-Service/no-contractor-left-behind-part-iii-just-suck-it-up-and-move-on.html
Thursday, October 15th 2009 at 9:48 am |
There is a Chuck Adams listed as the HSE Manager in Luanda. I think that is our Lobito Refinery project in Angola. I am not sure if it is the same one but it fits.
Monday, October 19th 2009 at 6:39 am |
Is this the same Johhny Morney as the the “Motivational Speaker and Best Selling Author”?
http://www.justastepaway.com/7/
From his website. “My journey has taken me from unemployment to a 1.2 billion dollar project in Iraq and onto a 20 billion dollar project in Qatar. I went from broke to blessed! From dope to hope!”
http://www.myspace.com/johnnymorney
From his MySpace blog
“When I was in Iraq during
Operation Iraqi Freedom we
trained the newcomers how
to drive in that dangerous
environment.
One thing we would always
drill into their minds was
to never stop moving.
Because once you stop
moving you would become
an easy target for the
enemy.”
Ms Sparky’s Response:
How many Johnny Morney’s could there have been that worked in Iraq? Can anyone confirm?
Tuesday, October 20th 2009 at 2:47 am |
This is for “for-what-it’s-worth said”, the bottom line is this. Where are peoples ethics? What about principles? Why walk away and empower someone? If more people have stood up to KBR legally and went all the way through a trial instead of a cash settlement then they would have made it easier for the rest of us. The man who invented the automatic car wipers sued Ford for principle. Ford danced aound him with lawyers. It was a 12 year fight on his part. He turned down a 30 million offer just to see what a jury would say. He was awarded around 12 million. He had principles. What has happened to America?
Tuesday, October 20th 2009 at 4:50 am |
gungho said -
It takes all view-points of concerned people who have been injured or harmed by another, and take those many view-points (combine them) in a court room with the best lawyer one can find and go after the guilty party. A guilty person knows they are wrong – it”s just the money, power, control that builds up in front of these types of people (Like Bernie Mafoff). Look at all the people he took down, and scarred them for life. KBR and AIG/AIU are the equivalent of the Bernie Madoffs of the world. They often times are only sorry – when they get caught.
Friday, February 5th 2010 at 2:52 pm |
2007, while working at Log Base Seitz near Camp Victory in Baghdad, two of us brought to our supervisor’s attention at our morning meeting, that just a few feet away from the warning sign posted over the pallet of water bottles that the military signage referred to–that that sign cautioned against drinking the very same water that was in the box. Our supervisor told us that he refused to get us any of the “safe”/authorized potable water because “…nobody had become ill from it” or words very similar. When I said “yet” and that we didn’t know why the water was being recalled, we were then told we had a choice to either drink or not drink the water. I brought up the fact that there was no other water available in the work place except for in the DFAC at lunch (and we were permitted two bottles removed from the DFAC–in 12 hour work days at 122-137F we were drinking one bottle approximately every 40 minutes). We were again told that we had a choice. When one of us again mentioned that there was no other water available, our supervisor dismissed the concern with a shrug and stated that we had to drink all the water first before he would get any of the other (safe) water. We had approximately 24 pallets of 64(?) bottles in each pallet of the military-posted-caution water to imbibe before we were permitted safe water brought to the work site. What was in that water at Log Base Seitz?? Is that what caused some of my continual illness since returning from Iraq? Is it why I had to have surgery? Is it why I had to have so many medical tests (and am awaiting results)? I went to Iraq in superb health, rarely ever a doctor’s visit. I returned physically impaired. Was it that water?? Is that why all the nosebleeds, infections, etc?
Friday, February 5th 2010 at 3:18 pm |
I don’t think we will ever know everything we’ve been exposed to while working for KBR in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know I was brushing my teeth and drinking Baghdad City water (virtually equivalent to Tigres River water) for weeks before I was told what it was and was advised by a co-worker that I shouldn’t be doing that. When I addressed the issue with the Camp Manager and HR I was patronized. When I made my own signs, simply stated “non-potable water-do not drink or use to brush teeth” and hung them in the bathrooms they were removed! They really don’t care. And they wonder why so many people are angry with them and are tripping over themselves to tell government investigators everything they know!
Friday, February 5th 2010 at 9:03 pm |
If they had attempted to quantify the qualitative analysis and implemented safety procedures, these issues wouldn’t of happened. KBR breakdown of standard’s and safety procedures.
Saturday, February 6th 2010 at 4:04 am |
I didn’t realize you went through it first-hand, too, Debbie. It’s so good you have this website for lots of reasons. It’s beneficial to “piece it all together”. It’s good for the individual, too. You had mentioned earlier that you understood–it was going through it all alone. That’s exactly it. It feels like the whole world has gone stark-raving mad, when you run into a good ol’ boy system filled with people who truly do not care about safety of others, only their cushy office, their bonuses, and their “perimeter guard” protecting their jobs… It’s so nice seeing the comments of people who do intend to make the world a better place.
Saturday, February 6th 2010 at 6:39 am |
Yes ma’am. I spent two years in the Green Zone. July 2004-July 2006
Thursday, April 22nd 2010 at 9:30 am |
Hmm..I remember Qarmat Ali. I was there a few times in 2004 before it completed. I wasn’t privy to all the goings on, but when I came to theater in 2004, they were doing a lot of stuff to promote safety at the site. A lot of the RIO /PCO guys are lying in wait thinking they will become zillionares with thier CA lawsuit. Good luck with that and tell me how that works out 4 ya. Overall, I agree with a lot of the comments here on this post. There are a boatload of managers in positions they should not be in. Supervisors have been ingrained for so long that you could not work them with Castor Oil. Safety tries to do the right thing for the most part, but when the supervisors only pay lip service, therein lies your problem.
Thursday, April 22nd 2010 at 9:42 am |
many employees with KBR are good friends of mine. Some I have known my whole KBR career. Some of them are steadfast and hold safety as a true value and some of them are air breathers and take up space someone else should occupy. A KBR dinosaur (RE McMillian)once told me: Lead em by example and show them the way. If they don’t want to listen, show them the gate. I have lived by that statement for a while now and it is true. There are a lot of supervisors and workers who have breathed good air long enough and need shown to the gate. To much political correctness now and you have to document everything 3 times and baby sit and councel till you are blue in the face. Show them the light of safety….if they choose the dark side- fire them.
Thursday, October 14th 2010 at 9:32 pm |
In the 60′s Vietnam soldiers came home diseased, then the Gulf War Syndrome of the 80′s and now the Iraq war! What will they call this one? Our soldiers go overseas to fight for their country and then come home only to have been treated like the enemy. Even worse, shot from the back. The rest of their lives is a fight, not against Vietnam, Afghanistan or Iraq, but their own government they served. KBR can speak so arrogantly because they know they will get away with all their criminality. How could they feel so secure except they might have worked for their government. The question we need to address is, were any of the soldiers over the past 50 years shown justice? Can we call each war mere mistakes done to our soldiers, or were they intentional? These are honest questions. If Vietnam were mistakes, why then have they only been repeated with other experimentation? What good government ever exposes their loyal soldiers repeatedly to such harm. And not only the soldiers themselves, but their wives and children become infected as well. America has some serious questions to ask and answers to obtain. We need to stop arguing over the issues, and develop questions and demand answers. If we don’t get answers we need to reread our Declaration of Independence and do our duty. Is this the meaning of a cold war, and if so who are we truly fighting? BTW, one more interesting point. History reveals that diseases were brought in and wiped out populations. Bubonic plague, yellow fever, small pox, just to name a few. We could argue the culprits, but the fact is, they were brought in by something or someone. So this is not a new problem, but a historical one. We need to do more than make excuses for their lies and murder, but start calling things what they are, just as would happen if you or I had knowingly endangered lives. My, we can’t even sell our own canned foods for fear of botulism! But they can endanger us, not once, not twice, but over and over and over and over and . . . De Ja Vu oh and don’t even get me going on the pharmaceutical drugs that have endangered and killed our loved ones, only to be pulled off the shelves and then new ones brought to the shelves; then pulled off the shelf, then a new one, then . . . De Ja Vu When we begin to make them responsible for what they do THEN we will begin to get our answers, and only then. Don’t settle out of court with them – take them all the way! This isn’t a money issue this is a murder issue! Throw out the attorneys that advise settling! Make your story known through every avenue you can! Let their be a public outcry! My prayers are with you!