» LOGCAP III – KBR Ms Sparky

That bird won’t fly and other news

Posted on: January 30th, 2012 at 4:25 am — by Forseti

Hold that Revolving Door! Four-Star General Coming Through
Dana Liebelson – (POGO) – January 28, 2012 – The revolving door that carried former Department of Defense honcho William Lynn III to a well-paying job with an Italian defense contractor keeps on spinning – now Gen. James Cartwright, who retired as the nation’s second-highest ranking military officer in August, is following Lynn into the private sector.

Cartwright is joining the Board of Directors at Raytheon, a major U.S. defense contractor. Earlier in the week, DRS Technologies named Lynn as its chief executive officer. (Coincidently, before Lynn was tapped as deputy defense secretary, he was a top lobbyist for Raytheon.)

“General Cartwright’s deep understanding of defense and broad experience in military operations and matters of national security will be of great value to our Board,” Raytheon Chairman and CEO William H. Swanson said in a press release.

Well, Cartwright certainly has a deep understanding of defense: He’s a four-star general with 40 years of service in the Marine Corps, including four years as the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. But then there’s that sticky “great value to the Board” comment. And that’s where the problem with the well-oiled revolving door that leads from the Pentagon to the defense industry rears its ugly head. (Click HERE for article)

Former United Nations Employee Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison
(DoJ) – WASHINGTON - January 27, 2012 – Jeffery K. Armstrong, 52, of South Riding, Va., was sentenced today to 18 months in prison for obtaining more than $100,000 in salary payments by fraudulently holding concurrent jobs at the United Nations (U.N.) and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). He was ordered to serve a three-year term of supervised release following his sentence and to pay $128,153 in restitution.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Posted in Civilian Contractors, GOV. CONTRACTORS, Indictments, Convictions & Arrests, LOGCAP III - KBR, LOGCAP IV - KBR, Security Contractors, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Tags: Alpha Technology Group, Andrew Bigelow, Andrew J. Nusbaum, Charles R. Priestley, Department of Veterans Affairs, Dick Cheney, Dina Rasor, DoD Contractors, Donald Rumsfeld, DRS Technologies, EyakTek, Finmeccanica, Gen. James Cartwright, Giuseppe Orsi, Halliburton, Harold F. Babb, Hummingbird Aviation, Jeffery K. Armstrong, John Benson Wier III, Joshua R. Nusbaum, KBR, Kerry F. Khan, Lee A. Khan, Lee Allen Tolleson, LOGCAP, Mark S. Newman, Michael A. Alexander, National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Ocwen Loan Servicing LLC, Pankesh Patel, Pentagon, Raytheon, Retired General's Club, Robert A. Riddell, Robert L. McKinney, Ryan International Airlines, United Nations, United States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM), Wayne E. Kepple, William J. Lynn III. No Comments »

You’ll pay for that & other news

Posted on: January 22nd, 2012 at 8:09 am — by Forseti

“When I served four years in the military, it wasn’t so that Bechtel, KBR, Halliburton and all the other corporations could make money and buy politicians to further drag out the war and create policies that support all that,” Bodell said. “I fought for the Constitution, for representation and for freedom of the American people.” ~ Kole Bodell, Salt Lake City, UT

Ex-officer indicted for coercing soldiers
(Windsor Star) – January 21, 2012 – A former Danish officer has been indicted for threatening to send troops under his command to the Afghan front line if they refuse to pay a fine for certain errors, website Politiken said Friday.

The 33-year-old, in charge of a royal guard unit in Afghanistan, “put pressure on a number of soldiers in Afghanistan daily to contribute to a system of illegal financial penalties,” said the website.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Posted in Agility/PWC/GCC, GOV. CONTRACTORS, Indictments, Convictions & Arrests, KBR, LOGCAP III - KBR, Politics, Security Contractors, U.S. Army. Tags: ADS Tactical Inc., Agility DGS Holdings, Agility/PWC/GCC, Anham LLC, Bechtel, Bob Dix, Boeing, Bonny Island LNG, Camp Bastion, Carl Icahn, CIA, Corezing International Pte Ltd, DHS, Dick Cheney, DoD*, FCPA, FCPA Violations, George W. Bush, Guantanamo Bay, Halliburton, Icahn Partners LP, JGC Corporation, Judge Pablo Rafael Ruz Gutierrez, Juniper Networks, KBR, Kole Bodell, Lockheed Martin, Luke Hillier, Mabey & Johnson, Mabey Engineering Holdings Ltd., Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, Maj. Gen. Michael Lehnert, Marubeni Corporation, Michael W. Tutwiler, Move One Logistics, Navistar, Northrop Grumman, Osen-Hunter, Oshkosh Corp., Pentagon, PIPA, Rudolf L. Cheung, SOPA, Technip S.A., Triple Canopy, Virginia Army National Guard. No Comments »

David Isenberg: Gun? Check. Radio? Check. Lawyer? Check!

Posted on: January 20th, 2012 at 10:46 am — by Ms Sparky

David Isenberg – (Huffington Post) – January 20, 2012 – Some things just seem to go together: day and night, bread and butter, Romeo and Juliet, Abbott and Costello, Crosby and Hope, Batman and Robin, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, Cheech and Chong, Sonny and Cher, Beavis and Butthead and sharks and suckerfish (remora) for example. In light of that last pair, another symbiotic pair is private military and security contractors and lawyers.

When historians try to calculate the various benefits that the past decade of privatized contingency operations has brought, one hopes they won’t forget to include the huge number of billable hours that various law firms representing various plaintiffs and defendants have amassed. Firms like KBR, Blackwater and DynCorp alone have doubtlessly enabled scores of lawyers to pay for their children’s education all the way up through doctorates.

For example, earlier this month the security company once known as Blackwater, now Academi, agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by six victims or their families in the Sept. 16, 2007 shootings in Baghdad’s Nisoor Square, an incident that remains a lightning rod over the use of private contractors in war.

According to Charlotte, North Carolina law firm Lewis & Roberts, who represented the victims in this case, the lawsuit was the “last active civil suit stemming from the incident,” in which five Blackwater guards were accused in 14 deaths of civilians.

Also this month the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), announced that DynCorp International, a Falls Church, Va.-based private military contractor and aircraft maintenance company, will pay $155,000 and furnish other significant relief to settle a sex-based harassment and retaliation lawsuit.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

KBR, Halliburton Won’t Face Trial in Iraq Convoy Driver Deaths, Court Says

Posted on: January 12th, 2012 at 2:31 pm — by Ms Sparky

By Laurel Brubaker Calkins and Margaret Cronin Fisk - Jan 12, 2012 3:55 PM CT

(Bloomberg News) – Halliburton Co. (HAL), won’t face a jury on claims they sent unarmed civilian convoy drivers into an Iraqi battle zone in 2004, knowing the workers would be injured or killed, an appeals court ruled.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans today ruled the drivers’ claims were blocked by the Defense Base Act, a U.S. law that shields military contractors from lawsuits. The drivers were attacked and injured because of their role in support operations for the U.S. Army, which is covered under that statute, the judges said.

“Coverage of an injury under the DBA precludes an employee from recovering from his employer,” even if the worker claims the company was “substantially certain” the injuries would occur, U.S. Circuit Judge Priscilla R. Owen said in a 30-page ruling by the panel.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Posted in CONTRACTOR DEATHS, Fisher vs KBR, Good Friday Massacre, GOV. CONTRACTORS, LAWSUITS, LOGCAP III - KBR. Tags: Defense Base Act, Fisher vs KBR, Good Friday Massacre, Halliburton, Judge Gray Miller, Tommy Fibich. No Comments »

KBR Driver Prevails in Suit Over Convoy Danger in Iraq

Posted on: January 10th, 2012 at 11:44 am — by Ms Sparky

KBR Settles Suit Over Driver’s Claim Company Knew of Danger to Iraq Convoy

By Margaret Cronin Fisk and Laurel Brubaker Calkins – Jan 10, 2012 10:17 AM PT

KBR Inc. (KBR) settled a lawsuit brought by an injured convoy driver who claimed the company sent civilians into a battle zone in Iraq in 2004 knowing they would be attacked and possibly killed, according to a court filing.

Reginald Cecil Lane, the driver, reached a “confidential settlement” with KBR and its former parent, Halliburton Co. (HAL), his lawyer, Tommy Fibich, said yesterday in court papers. Lane and the defendants asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit, according to the filing.

“Lane was severely injured in the attack, and his wife died during the pendency of the case,” Fibich said today in a phone interview. He declined to comment further on the settlement, citing the confidentiality agreement.

KBR, a Houston-based government contractor, was also sued by the families of seven drivers who were killed in Iraq. The company is appealing a ruling by U.S. District Judge Gray Miller in Houston allowing the suits to go forward. The other claims haven’t been settled, Scott Allen, a lawyer for the families, said today in a phone interview.

Sharon Bolen, a KBR spokeswoman, didn’t immediately comment on the settlement with Lane, which was reached in late December, according to appeals court records. Beverly Stafford, a Halliburton spokeswoman, didn’t immediately respond to a call or e-mail seeking comment on the settlement.

Recruited Workers
The drivers and their families claim KBR officials fraudulently recruited workers for safe jobs in Iraq and intentionally sent unarmed civilians into a recognized combat zone in April 2004. The military-supply contract gave company officials the right to refuse assignments deemed too dangerous for civilians, according to the complaints. (Read the rest of the story here…)

Posted in CONTRACTOR DEATHS, Fisher vs KBR, GOV. CONTRACTORS, LAWSUITS, Lawsuits Against KBR, LOGCAP III - KBR. Tags: David Kasanow, Fisher vs KBR, Good Friday Massacre, Halliburton, Judge Gray Miller, Lane vs KBR, Lawrence Ebner, Reginald Cecil Lane, Sharon Bolen, Tommy Fibich. No Comments »

Former KBR employee Keith Strimple pleads guilty to child porn charge

Posted on: January 4th, 2012 at 7:58 pm — by Ms Sparky

Keith Strimple May 23, 2002 mug shot

Former Employee of Government Contractor Pleads Guilty in Oklahoma to Child Pornography Charge
(DoJ) – WASHINGTON – January 4, 2011 – A former employee of a government contractor pleaded guilty today to a child exploitation charge under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (MEJA), announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma Thomas Scott Woodward.

Keith Strimple, 57, of Tulsa, Okla., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Gregory Frizzell in the Northern District of Oklahoma to one count of attempted possession of a visual depiction of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

According to court documents and proceedings, Strimple worked as an employee of a government contractor between April and September 2007 at a U.S. military facility at Camp Fallujah, Iraq. During that time period, Strimple admitted that he searched for and downloaded videos of minors that he believed to be as young as 12 years old engaging in sexually explicit conduct and downloaded such images using the contractor’s computer system.

MEJA gives U.S. courts jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed outside the United States by, among others, employees of a government contractor whose work supports a military mission.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Posted in Civilian Contractors, GOV. CONTRACTORS, Indictments, Convictions & Arrests, LOGCAP III - KBR, Trafficking In Persons (TIP) Violations. Tags: Camp Fallujah, Child Crimes, Child Porn, Iraq, KBR employee, Keith Strimple, Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (MEJA). 3 Comments »

Ryan we haven’t forgotten you

Posted on: January 2nd, 2012 at 7:07 am — by Ms Sparky

SSG Ryan Maseth was electrocuted in his shower in Baghdad and died January 2, 2008

The war in Iraq is all but over and our troops have pulled out. It’s been four years today since 24 year old SSG Ryan Maseth was electrocuted and died while showering in his living quarters at Radwaniyah Palace Complex in Baghdad. Ryan’s courageous mother, Cheryl Harris continues to fight, not only for the rights of her son, but for the safety of soldiers everywhere.

Cheryl filed suit against KBR for the death of her son. Although this suit drags on in the US courts at an agonizingly slow pace. KBR has pulled out all the stops in attempts to have this case dismissed in US courts, but much to KBR’s dismay, it hasn’t.

I will write every year I’m able to remind people of Ryan’s death, the product of corporate greed and corruption, and heroes like Cheryl Harris. We need more heroes like Cheryl!

You can read more on Cheryl’s case against KBR at Cheryl Harris vs KBR.

Below are links to past posts I’ve written and published on the anniversary of Ryan’s death.

SSG Ryan Maseth – You must be very proud! (2009)
Does anyone know what day this is? (2010)
3rd anniversary of the electrocution death of SSG Ryan Maseth (2011)

Cheryl, I pray the next post I publish about Ryan is how you succeeded in holding KBR accountable for his senseless death!

Ms Sparky