» Lawsuits Against KBR

Judge rules against Army in favor of KBR and the retired General who has sold his soul for $650.00hr

March 4, 2010 — Ms Sparky

Ex-commander in Iraq to give deposition in KBR case

By MARY FLOOD – March 3, 2010, 11:03PM

Despite the Army’s efforts to block it, retired Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, who once led U.S. forces in Iraq, is scheduled to be deposed today as an expert for KBR in a lawsuit over a deadly civilian truck convoy attack in Iraq.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy Johnson refused Wednesday to grant the Army’s request to prevent Sanchez from giving his expert opinions in the case.

Drivers and family members suing KBR contend the company should have stopped the convoys when it was warned that attacks would increase on April 9, 2004, the first anniversary of the day allies in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq reached Baghdad.

Sanchez, who at $650 an hour is already owed about $91,000 in expert fees, says KBR is not at fault for the six deaths and other injuries.

Sanchez wrote a report saying it was an Army communication error that led the attacked convoys to go down a road some in the military knew was supposed to be closed to civilian traffic. (Read the rest of the story here…)

Law firms join forces to battle KBR on behalf of burn pit victims

February 26, 2010 — Ms Sparky

For Immediate Release

Media Contact:
Erin Powers
+1 281.703.6000 – phone
edp@powersmediaworks.com

Law Firms Motley Rice LLC and Burke PLLC Join Forces to Take on KBR and Halliburton on
Behalf of American Soldiers, Veterans and Civilians Exposed to
Burn Pit Hazards

Suit Claims Wartime Contractors Halliburton and KBR Knew Dangers of Burn Pit Exposure

CHARLESTON, S.C. – (February 24, 2010) Motley Rice LLC, one of the nation’s largest plaintiffs’ litigation firms, announces today that it has joined forces with Burke PLLC to jointly pursue claims for clients in the KBR, Inc., Burn Pit multidistrict litigation. The MDL encompasses suits against defense contractors who allegedly jeopardized the health and safety of thousands of American veterans, current service members and former contract employees by knowingly burning vast quantities of hazardous waste in open- air burn pits on U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yesterday, the Honorable Roger W. Titus of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland provided the parties with briefing schedules and hearing dates, including one on the defendants’ motions to dismiss.

Named defendants include: KBR, Inc. of Houston (NYSE: KBR); Kellogg, Brown & Root LLC, of Austin, Texas; Kellogg, Brown & Root Services, Inc., of Houston, Texas; Turkish-based ERKA Ltd.; and Halliburton Company, of Houston, Texas. The collective claims against these defendants include those for battery, breach of contract, breach of duty to warn, future medical expenses, intentional infliction of emotional distress, medical monitoring, negligence and wrongful death.

“The U.S. government entered into a contract with and paid millions to defendants Halliburton and KBR to ensure that they implemented our country’s strict safety standards for waste disposal. We believe these contractors failed to hold up their end of the deal by ignoring these standards, and now thousands have been unnecessarily poisoned,” stated Motley Rice co-founder, Joe Rice. “Our soldiers and service members understood the potential risk of warfare but never expected the harm to come from those who were hired to protect them.” (Read the rest of the story here…)

KBR adds another retired General to its ranks @ $650.00 an hour

February 26, 2010 — Ms Sparky

Army tries to halt retired general’s work as KBR expert

By MARY FLOOD HOUSTON CHRONICLE – Feb. 25, 2010
The U.S. Army is trying to stop retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, who once led U.S. forces in Iraq, from continuing to be an expert for KBR in a lawsuit against it over civilian truck driver deaths and injuries.

Sanchez is being paid $650 an hour and has reviewed documents and written a report that support’s KBR’s contention it should not be held legally responsible for the deaths of six civilian truck drivers and the injuries of others in a 2004 ambush in Iraq.

The suing drivers and family members contend that KBR should have stopped the convoys when it was warned that attacks would increase on April 9, 2004, the first anniversary of the day allies in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq reached Baghdad.

KBR argues that the military approved sending the convoys out and several laws protect KBR from responsibility in a wartime situation. The Army contracts with KBR to provide transportation, food services and other logistical support. (Read the rest of the story here…)

VA, DoD seek better data on burn-pit exposure

February 24, 2010 — Ms Sparky

By Kelly Kennedy – Staff writer – Army Times
Posted : Wednesday Feb 24, 2010 9:43:08 EST

As Veterans Affairs Department officials laid out a plan for the Institute of Medicine to look for links between certain symptoms and burn-pit exposure, they also quizzed Defense Department scientists about what they’ve already done in that regard.

“We have a particular need to solve this as best as we can,” said Victoria Cassano, acting director of VA’s Environmental Agents Service. “You tell us what the science is. You tell us what the evidence is. Do we have enough to [move] forward with a presumption or not?”

At the first meeting of the IOM’s Committee on the Long-Term Health Consequences of Exposure to Burn Pits in Iraq and Afghanistan, Cassano asked the panel to help VA determine if the symptoms of several sick service members could be linked to exposure to smoke from open-air burn pits in the war zones. (Read the rest of the story here…)

Contractors “ill-prepared” for consequences of hiring criminals???

February 23, 2010 — Ms Sparky

Franken amendment threatens to take funds from contractors

2010 Defense Appropriations Act provision witholds money from contractors using employee arbitration clauses

By Matthew Weigelt • Feb 22, 2010

Contractors, particularly large defense companies, are ill-prepared for a provision of the 2010 Defense Appropriations Act that stops funds from going to companies that require employees sign arbitration clauses.

Known as the Franken amendment for its sponsor Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), the provision gets the federal government more deeply involved in the employer-employee relationship at defense contractors and other companies.

The amendment, which went into effect Feb. 17, prohibits a contractor or subcontractor from receiving any government money in fiscal 2010 if they require employees or independent contractors to sign arbitration clauses. The amendment also bans defense companies from enforcing any existing agreements.

Arbitration is a process by which two parties, such as an employer and an employee, go to a third party to resolve a conflict. It’s a step away from a lawsuit. (Read the rest of the story here…)

David Isenberg: Supporting the Troops: Making Them Sick

February 21, 2010 — Ms Sparky

David Isenberg – Huffington Post
Author, Shadow Force: Private Security Contractors in Iraq (Praeger Security International)
Posted: February 21, 2010 03:08 PM

The biggest portion of U.S. private military contractors has always been, by far, on the logistics, not the weapons bearing security side.

These contractors deliver fuel and supplies, construct bases, prepare meals at the DFAC (Dining Facility), clean laundry, provide interpreters, and a host of other unglamorous but vital jobs.

Most of the time they do it very well, under very difficult conditions. Many of their supporters herald this as an unprecedented achievement in American military history. Such a view has long been the sound bite for which Doug Brooks, head of the International Peace Operations Association, a leading industry trade group, is best known for, i.e., “We have the best supported, supplied military in any military operation in history.” Indeed, if you search online for Doug Brooks and that phrase you get 1,400,000 hits.

That is why this article in the Los Angeles Times earlier this week grabbed my attention. It described how numerous returning veterans have reported leukemia, lymphoma, congestive heart problems, neurological conditions, bronchitis, skin rashes and sleep disorders — all of which they attribute to burn pits on dozens of U.S. bases in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Items burned in the pits have included medical waste, plastics, computer parts, oil, lubricants, paint, tires and foam cups, according to soldiers and contractors. (Read the rest of the story here…)

The KBR killing fields subsidized by US tax dollars

February 21, 2010 — Ms Sparky

Why did Sgt. Thomas die?

By Matthew Hansen – Staff Writer
Omaha World Herald – February 21, 2010

Sgt. Klayton Thomas looked every bit the poster boy Marine as he strode into a military hospital last September to get his back checked.

He taught karate and earned his abs in the gym. He had survived a 2007 deployment to Iraq, even thrived during his prolonged stay in the middle of the then-treacherous Sunni Triangle. He rarely drank. He didn’t smoke. Life seemed perfect on this mid-September Thursday, if only his back would stop aching. The 25-year-old Columbus, Neb., native thought he had wrenched it playing soccer. Three months and 10 days later, he died in hospice care.

This much is known: Thomas succumbed to an unstoppable lung cancer that crushed his vertebrae, blitzed his bones and invaded his brain, dumbfounding doctors who had spent their entire careers treating the disease.

His death leaves a medical mystery, one similar to those posed by hundreds of other American military personnel battling exotic cancers or struggling with rare respiratory problems.
Advertising

This mystery begins in the unlikeliest of places: Iraqi “burn pits” — large, primitive landfills where contractors set trash aflame, causing ever-present black smoke to drift over dozens of U.S. military bases.

Health experts, a high-powered defense lawyer, Congress and even the president have taken notice, asking questions like Klayton Thomas’ parents and doctors asked in the weeks after he fell ill.

Why would an otherwise healthy young nonsmoker contract a cancer that generally haunts older smokers? Why did this cancer spread like wildfire when experts say its normal path can take years?

Simply put: Why did Sgt. Klayton Thomas die?

“We were scared to death when he went to Iraq, scared of a mortar attack, an IED,” said his mother, Connie Thomas of Columbus. “But nothing like this. Not in our wildest dreams.” (Read the rest of the story here…)

The Army made us burn it!

February 13, 2010 — Ms Sparky

KBR Tells Court It Was Following Military Orders When Employees Burned Toxic Waste in Open Pits
The military’s largest contractor is trying to avoid liability for health risks associated with burn pits to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the truth is emerging.

by Nora Eisenberg/Alternet
February 12, 2010 |

Balad Burn Pits

In October a class action suit combining 22 lawsuits from 43 states was filed in US District Court in Maryland against KBR, Halliburton, and other military contractors for damages to health from open air burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to plaintiffs’ lawyers the military contracting giant had been paid millions of dollars to safely dispose of waste on bases but negligently burned refuse in open pits, spewing toxins, including known carcinogens, into the air. Last week, KBR sought to dismiss the charges. Their tack was not to deny that they burned lithium batteries, petroleum, asbestos, trucks, cars, paint, plastic, Styrofoam, medical waste including human limbs, and more, as the soldiers have charged, but to challenge their liability for any ensuing problems. According to KBR’s press fact sheet on the suit, the Army, not KBR, decides if a burn pit or an incinerator will be used, where it will be built in relation to living and working facilities, and what it can burn. KBR insists it was and is still just “performing under the direction and control of military commanders in the field.” In short, they were only following orders and the soldiers are going after the wrong guy. (Read the rest of the story here…)

David Isenberg: KBR is Asking for It

February 9, 2010 — Ms Sparky

David Isenberg – Huffington Post
Author, Shadow Force: Private Security Contractors in Iraq (Praeger Security International)
Posted: February 8, 2010 11:54 PM

To paraphrase comedian Henny Youngman’s famous one-liner, take my KBR, please.

After all the bad press U.S. engineering and construction company KBR has received over the years for its operations in Iraq , both during its time as a Halliburton subsidiary and since, one might think it had learned a thing or two about how to avoid sticking its foot in its mouth.

But you would be wrong, As case in point consider the following legal brief KBR filed, which was posted online by the estimable Ms. Sparky — who is to chronicling KBR misdeeds, including those against it own employees, as white is to rice — in regard to the case of Jamie Leigh Jones.

For those who missed this news Ms. Jones is the then 20-year old former KBR/Halliburton worker, who says she was gang-raped by Halliburton/KBR coworkers in Baghdad in late July 2005.

The main points are by now well known. She says that just four days after arriving in Iraq she was raped by multiple men at a KBR camp in the Green Zone, the company put her under guard in a shipping container with a bed and warned her that if she left Iraq for medical treatment, she’d be out of a job.

In a lawsuit filed in federal court against Halliburton and its then-subsidiary KBR, Jones says she was held in the shipping container for at least 24 hours without food or water by KBR, which posted armed security guards outside her door, who would not let her leave.

According to her lawsuit, Jones was raped by “several attackers who first drugged her, then repeatedly raped and injured her, both physically and emotionally.” Jones said that an examination by Army doctors showed she had been raped “both vaginally and anally,” but that the rape kit disappeared after it was handed over to KBR security officers. (Read the rest of the story here…)

Judge allows trial of suits over KBR convoy deaths

February 8, 2010 — Forseti

By Tom Fowler – Houston Chronicle
Feb. 8, 2010

Lawsuits claiming Houston-based KBR should have stopped a 2004 truck convoy in Iraq before six civilian drivers were killed and others injured in an ambush can go to trial, a federal judge ruled today.

U.S. District Judge Gray Miller had previously dismissed the case, agreeing with KBR’s argument that it didn’t have the authority to keep the fuel convoys off the road and that a trial would be an improper challenge to military decision-making. KBR contracts with the military to provide logistical support.

But after an appeals court overturned his decision, Miller allowed the parties to gather more evidence, which turned up e-mails of KBR managers saying they thought they could stop the conveys and had done so in the past. (Read the rest of the story here…)

Iraq chemical exposure lawsuit against KBR goes global

February 5, 2010 — Ms Sparky

British veteran joins W.Va. National Guard lawsuit

By Andrew Clevenger – February 4, 2010
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A retired sergeant of the Royal Air Force has joined members of the West Virginia National Guard in a lawsuit alleging that they were exposed to a toxic chemical by a government contractor in Iraq in 2003, becoming the first British veteran to sue over the exposure.

In an amended complaint filed Thursday in federal court in West Virginia’s Northern District, Andrew M. Tosh, 44, of Lincolnshire, United Kingdom, maintains that officials with KBR Inc. knew about dangerous levels of sodium dichromate, a potent carcinogen, at the Qarmat Ali water-treatment plant months before they informed American and British troops guarding the facility. (Read the rest of the story here…)

KBR v. Jamie Leigh Jones – US Supreme Court Petition

February 2, 2010 — Ms Sparky

The blogosphere is all a-buzz about how KBR has trashed rape victim Jamie Jones in their latest and lowest legal maneuver to suppress Jamie’s right to address this issue in court. KBR would insist Jamie address the crime of rape behind the closed doors of some dark dank back room where KBR’s secret arbitration hearings are allegedly held

Latoya Peterson at Jezebel.com wrote an awesome article entitled KBR Claims Crime Was “Distinct Risk” In Jamie Leigh Jones Case

The only thing I have to add to Latoya’s article is the actual 188 page Petition KBR filed with the US Supreme Court. KBR et al v Jamie Leigh Jones this is a good size document so give it a few extra seconds to load.

I find reading legal documents about as exciting as watching paint dry, so I haven’t read it all the way through. Those who have read it in it’s entirety are advising readers pay close attention to the footnotes. (Read the rest of the story here…)

Houston National Guard troops file suit over Camp Taji burn pits

February 1, 2010 — Ms Sparky

Ill wind blows, some in Houston Guard unit believe
Baghdad burn pit operated by KBR said to cause migraines, breathing problems and rashes
By LINDSAY WISE and LISE OLSEN
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Feb. 1, 2010, 12:01AM

A front-end loader moves trash to a waste-burning pit at Camp Taji, about 100 yards from where ?soldiers of Houston's 72nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team are assigned. Photo by Mayra Beltran Chronicle

CAMP TAJI, Iraq — One night in mid-January, a shift in the wind sent a sudden flurry of white flakes into a detainee internment facility guarded by soldiers from Houston’s 72nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team.

The Texas Army National Guard troops weren’t witnessing a rare Baghdad snowfall. The flakes drifting from the pitch-dark sky were ash and bits of charred trash belched from an open-air burn pit about 100 yards from the outer walls of the internment facility.

Operated by Houston-based contractor KBR, the pit consumes 120 tons of garbage a day here at Camp Taji, a U.S. military base north of Baghdad. On calm days, noxious smoke billows upward and dissipates into a smog-like haze. When the wind blows, the acrid-smelling fumes pour into towers and yards where about 800 Texas troops from the 72nd keep watch. (Read the rest of the story here…)

KBR’s don’t ask, don’t tell policy against rape victims

January 29, 2010 — Ms Sparky

"Hear No Evil - See No Evil - Speak No Evil" KBR employees from Left to Right (L) Richard Harsey-Plumber-Camp Harper (C) Rick Solomon-Security Coordinator-Camp Harper (R) Eric Barnhart- Security Manager for T-Sites including Camp Harper (photo allegedly taken by William Risner Feb 2008)

Raped and Drugged at KBR, Woman Says

By CAMERON LANGFORD – Courthouse News Service – January 29, 2010

HOUSTON (CN) – At least two fellow workers drugged, raped and sodomized a paramedic working for Kellogg Brown and Root in Iraq, after KBR failed to warn her about the numerous sexual assaults that KBR employees had inflicted upon other women there, the woman says in a federal complaint.

The plaintiff was hired as a paramedic/medic in July 2007 and after her first assignment in Iraq was assigned to Camp Harper outside of Basra, where she says she was brutalized on Feb. 3, 2008.

She says she began to feel strange after drinking a screwdriver with some of her civilian colleagues after work that night on base. While she was incapacitated, she says William Risner, a KBR employee, led her to his room where Risner and a “special forces agent” identified only as “Jason” raped and sodomized her together, she says. (Read the rest of the story here…)

Trial date set for Jamie Jones KBR gang rape

December 8, 2009 — Ms Sparky

Judge sets 2011 trial date for Iraq rape case

Jamie Leigh Jones

HOUSTON — A federal judge has set a 2011 trial date for a lawsuit from a Texas woman alleging she was gang-raped by co-workers while employed by a Halliburton Co. subsidiary in Iraq.

During a Tuesday court hearing, the date for Jamie Leigh Jones’ case was set for Feb. 7, 2011.

Jones sued Halliburton and its former subsidiary KBR, saying she was raped while working for KBR at Camp Hope, Baghdad, in 2005.

The Associated Press usually doesn’t identify people alleging sexual assault, but Jones’ face and name have been broadcast in media reports and on her own Web site.

The companies contended Jones’ contract required claims against them be settled through arbitration. In September, an appeals court ruled her claims can go to trial. (click HERE for original article)

Jill Wilkins…a voice for Iraq burn pit victims

December 7, 2009 — Ms Sparky

Eustis (Florida) Woman Is a Crusader against Burn Pits

posted by eric on 7th, 2009

Story By: Michael Harris
Photo By: Anthony Rao

Jill Wilkins

Jill Wilkins talks freely about her loss with anyone within earshot – and that may be over a cup of coffee in her dining room, sitting in her study and conversing with people over the Internet or in front of Congress if that is what is to be.

The Eustis resident calls the last year and a half an “adventure,” a ride that started in a tiny Veteran’s Administration office in Tavares where she felt absolutely sick after leaving that office just several months after her husband, USAF Major Kevin E. Wilkins, RN died of a brain tumor. img_1478

Her cause is one where she helps families of other Iraqi War soldiers make sure they collect their benefits and what is entitled to them as a possible result of exposure to toxic chemicals. The toxic chemicals are caused by burn pits – a waste-disposal system of KBR, the company contracted to provide services to the military bases overseas.

According to a lawsuit by the Washington law firm Burke O’Neil; their clients have seen batteries, unexploded ordnance, gas cans, mattresses, rocket pods, and plastic and medical waste (including body parts). The fumes contain carcinogenic dioxins, heavy metals and particulates, according to an Army–Air Force risk assessment, and they flow freely across bases.

It is believed that Kevin Wilkins died as a result of these toxins. (Read the rest of the story here…)

Lt. Col. James “Jim” Gentry dies at age 52

November 27, 2009 — Ms Sparky

Lieutenant Colonel James Gentry, Indiana National Guard

(See Funeral Notice update below)

Sadly, I have learned Lt. Col James “Jim” Gentry has lost his battle with cancer and has died in Indiana at the young age of 52. Gentry was diagnosed with cancer in 2006. A cancer he felt was caused by his exposure to the deadly carcinogen known as sodium dichromate at the Qarmat Ali water plant in Southern Iraq in 2003.

A retired Indiana National Guard lieutenant colonel, Gentry was the commander of the 1st Battalion, 152nd Infantry, which, at about 600 soldiers strong, was in Iraq from February 2003 to February 2004.

This Indian National Guard unit was responsible for protecting US civilians working for KBR at the Qarmat Ali water plant in Southern Iraq. Returning this water plant to full operation was essential to restoring Iraqi oil production and KBR had the contract to do that.

Unfortunately, upon retreat, Saddam loyalists sabotaged the plant by cutting open bags of sodium dichromate, a yellow-orange powered rust inhibitor, and spread it everywhere. Not being informed by KBR management what this powder was, soldiers and civilians alike took few precautions to protect themselves. People started experiencing symptoms of chronic nose bleeds, headaches, skins lesions. Even after countless complaints KBR did not test the substance and inform anyone as to the hazards. Click HERE for five short (18 min total) deposition testimony videos of KBR management putting their spin on why soldiers and civilians weren’t informed of the inherent health risks of this “yellow-orange” powder.

Gentry, even after being retired and diagnosed with cancer, led his soldiers with strength and dignity. He became an outspoken advocate demanding investigations and VA coverage for illnesses believed to have been caused by the toxic exposure.

Jo Frederiksen is a construction manager who worked with Gentry during his second tour in Iraq. She said,

“He was the consummate leader and professional who always put others first before himself.”

“Jim’s courage and selflessness continued even after he was diagnosed with a devastating disease and given a terminal prognosis.”

Because of Lt. Col. Gentry hundreds if not thousands of US National Guard soldiers from the states of Indiana, Oregon, West Virginia, British troops and US and Iraqi civilians are now aware of their potential exposure. Congressional Hearings have been held, Department of Defense Inspector General Investigations have been initiated. Lawsuits have been filed. Click HERE for everything I have on the sodium dichromate exposures at Qarmat Ali.

Senator Bayh (D-IN) said,

“I promised Lt. Col. Gentry I would use my position to get them the care they deserve and to make sure we protect our soldiers from preventable risks like this in the future.”

Frederiksen said,

“Jim came forward to speak out on behalf of the troops he commanded. … I hope that his country and its people will give Lt. Col. Gentry and his troops the honor and respect they deserve for their sacrifices, while serving our country with valor.”

My most sincere condolences to Lt. Col. Gentry’s family and friends, both in the private sector and military.

As for KBR, I would think in this case, they could be charged with treason. They knowingly exposed out soldiers to a chemical that is killing them.

Updated Nov 30, 2009 - The original article in the Times Mail stated that Lt. Col Gentry was not a part of the suit against KBR. He in fact did join the other litigants earlier this year after he saw more of the documentation and testimony about what KBR’s managers knew and when they knew it.

Ms Sparky

UPDATED Nov 30, 2009 Funeral Notice:

Lt. Col. James Gentry

52; Iraq War veteran

Funeral service for Lt. Col. James Gentry, 52, of Williams, will be at noon Tuesday, Dec. 1, at the Kraft Spring St. Chapel with burial with Full Military Honors in Pleasant Ridge Cemetery in Starlight.

He was retried from the Indiana Army National Guard after serving as commander of the 1st Battalion, 152nd Infantry and two tours of duty in Iraq. He was a former resident of Indianapolis and was a native of Mitchell.

Survivors include his wife LouAnn Grube Gentry; children Sarah Clark (Will), of New Albany, Jason Newman, of Indianapolis, Emily Gentry, Bloomington, Jennafer Newman, of Santa Anna, Calif., Ellen Gentry, of Georgetown; parents George and Brenda Sue Gentry, of Mitchell; brother Sanford Gentry (Valerie) of Williams; and sister Carolyn Hodges (Franks), of Mitchell.

He was preceded in death by his brother Randy Gentry.

Visitation will be from 3 to 8 p.m. Monday, Nov. 30, at Kraft Funeral Service, New Albany.

Expressions of Sympathy can be made to Uplands Hospice, 1500 West Main St. P.O. Box No. 9, Mitchell, Ind., 47496.

Woman awarded $3M in assault claim against KBR

November 19, 2009 — Ms Sparky

The Associated Press

HOUSTON — An arbitrator has awarded a woman nearly $3 million to settle her claims that she was raped in Iraq by a State Department employee in 2005 while working for a former Halliburton Co. subsidiary.

Court records filed this week show Tracy Barker was awarded $2.93 million to settle her claim against military contractor KBR Inc.

Barker had sued Houston-based Halliburton and its former KBR subsidiary in May 2007, alleging she was sexually attacked while working as a civilian contractor in Basra, Iraq.

The Associated Press doesn’t usually identify those who report they were sexually assaulted, but Barker made her identity public in her lawsuit. (click HERE for original article)

Good for her! Click HERE for an article that was written in February 2008.

Ms Sparky

Senate DPC Hearing held on Burn Pits Nov 6 (Video link)

November 6, 2009 — Ms Sparky

Senate DPC

Today, Senator Dorgan (D-ND) chaired the Senate Democratic Policy Committee’s 21st hearing into contractor fraud, waste and abuse entitled:

Are Burn Pits in Iraq and Afghanistan Making Our Soldiers Sick?

Committee Members

Senator Byron L. Dorgan (D-ND), Chairman

Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)

Senator Jon Tester (D-MT)

Senator Tom Udall (D-NM)

Witnesses

Lt. Col. Darrin Curtis
Former Bioenvironmental Engineer, U.S. Air Force

Rick Lamberth
Former KBR Employee

L. Russell Keith
Former KBR Medic

Anthony Szema, M.D
Chief of the Allergy Section, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Northport, New York

Click HERE to watch entire unedited video, read witness testimony and Senator Dorgan’s opening statements

I just love the way Senator Dorgan and the Senate Democratic Policy Committee does not back down and keeps nipping at the heels of fraud, waste and abuse that is Defense Department contracting!

Ms Sparky

How KBR poisoned our troops-Toxic Tour of Duty: Part 2

November 4, 2009 — Forseti

The poisoning of our US troops and civilians at Qarmat Ali is a clear example of KBR’s total disregard for the safety of their employees and their client.- Ms Sparky

by Melissa Swan
Posted on November 2, 2009

Statements from KBR’s Director of Communications

Heather Browne, KBR’s Director of Communications on when the Company was told about Sodium dicromate at Qarmat Ali Water Injection Plant:

It is important to remember that to date the plaintiffs still show no signs of illness consistent with the long-term sodium dichromate exposure they allege. Medical reports by both the U.S. and British Military support this finding as well as findings from the plaintiff’s own doctors.

KBR engineers learned around June 1, 2003, that sodium dichromate was previously used at Qarmat Ali by the Iraqi state-owned Southern Oil Company. The Southern Oil Company had used sodium dichromate as an anti-corrosive agent in the chemical injection process, but it was no longer being used and the water plant was not operational. The June 21, 2003 memo attached to your email reflects KBR’s first awareness that the sodium dichromate used in the past may have contaminated some of the soil surrounding the plant.

As KBR’s efforts at the Qarmat Ali facility continued, it notified USACE about the potential contamination of the soil by sodium dichromate in late July 2003. KBR subsequently worked with the military to conduct air and soil testing to confirm the presence and extent of the contamination. Once contamination was confirmed, KBR received authorization from the military to commence remediation efforts, which it immediately began.

In addition, KBR initiated a medical surveillance program for its workers. The U.S. military and the British military initiated a similar medical surveillance program for military personnel who had been at the plant. The results were negative for signs and symptoms of exposure to sodium dichromate or hexavalent chromium. Regardless, out of abundance of caution, the U.S. Army and KBR decided to discontinue all work at the plant pending additional air and soil testing. The plant subsequent was closed and remained closed until mid-October 2003.

Statements from Attorney for Indiana National Guard members

Mike Doyle, Attorney for Indiana National Guard members in Federal Lawsuit:

“Having spent time recently with Jim Gentry and knowing what the VA has recently confirmed for the US Senate about the health affects of soldiers exposed to hexavalent chromium at KBR’s Qarmat Ali project, KBR’s claim of no ill health effects is contrary to the known facts. KBR has been continually changing its story about what it knew and did about the dangerous chemicals present, and these most recent admissions only came when the previously concealed Kimbro memo was revealed during his testimony this month. There is still no explanation, nor can there ever be, for KBR’s concealing of what it knew for months from Jim Gentry and our soldiers serving in Iraq.” (Link to original article)

Click HERE for Part 1

CATEGORIES

BLOGROLL

FAVORITE SITES

LAW FIRMS I LIKE

Ex-commander in Iraq to give deposition in KBR case

Other Related Posts:

Other Related Posts:

Army tries to halt retired general’s work as KBR expert

Other Related Posts:

Other Related Posts:

Other Related Posts:

Other Related Posts:

Why did Sgt. Thomas die?

Other Related Posts:

Other Related Posts:

Other Related Posts:

Other Related Posts:

British veteran joins W.Va. National Guard lawsuit

Other Related Posts:

Other Related Posts:

Other Related Posts:

Other Related Posts:

Judge sets 2011 trial date for Iraq rape case

Other Related Posts:

Eustis (Florida) Woman Is a Crusader against Burn Pits

Other Related Posts:

Lt. Col. James Gentry

Other Related Posts:

Other Related Posts:

Other Related Posts:

Statements from KBR’s Director of Communications

Statements from Attorney for Indiana National Guard members

Other Related Posts:

Mother's Day is Sunday May 9th

Donate With PayPal

Follow Ms Sparky:

Recent Comments

Post Archives

Recent Visitors

Other Sites