TOO BIG TO FAIL: The KBR-AIG Dream Team

Thanks to DC Bureau and Adam Lichtenheld
In late August 2003, medical testing of KBR employees at Qarmat Ali found elevated levels of total chromium in their blood. Total chromium is comprised of trivalent chromium—an essential and naturally occurring nutrient—and hexavalent chromium, the cancer-causing industrial component of sodium dichromate. In order to [...]

Army Suicides Hit Record and Will Likely Continue to Rise

Thursday 19 November 2009
by: Yana Kunichoff, t r u t h o u t | Report

Suicides among veterans and soldiers have reached a record high this year and are set to continue rising, Pentagon officials said.
The announcement, coming on the day that the suicide rate for 2009 reached the record number of 2008, leaves advocates [...]

PTSD Claim Tidal Wave at the VA

PTSD Claim Tidal Wave
A VA healthcare use report obtained by VCS using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) shows that of 1.1 million Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans eligible for VA medical care, approximately 134,000 were already diagnosed by VA mental health professionals with PTSD (“VA Facility Specific OIF/OEF Veterans Coded with Potential PTSD [...]

The DBA’s Exclusive Remedy-A License to Kill? KBR defends it’s actions

KBR is claiming that the DBA’s Exclusive Remedy excuses them from knowingly sending their employees into deadly danger.
And you know what……  legally,  IT DOES
The Exclusive Remedy was intended (Congressional Intent ?) to be a trade off to ensure the injured worker did not have to bring legal action against their employer in order to receive [...]

Woman awarded $3M in assault claim against KBR

The Associated Press
Updated
y JUAN A. LOZANO (AP) – 54 minutes ago
HOUSTON — A woman who claimed she was raped in 2005 while working in Iraq for a former Halliburton Co. subsidiary has been awarded nearly $3 million by an arbitrator to settle her case.
Tracy Barker had sued U.S. contractor KBR Inc, its former parent company [...]

Wives of Baghdad four appeal for help

The wives of four South African men abducted on the outskirts of Baghdad, Iraq, nearly three years ago have made an emotional plea for help to President Jacob Zuma.
Speaking to the media in Pretoria today, the women cried as they spoke of their sadness and hope that they might one day find out what had [...]

Iraq Convoy was sent out despite Threat

Unarmored trucks carrying needed supplies were ambushed, leaving six drivers dead. Records illuminate the fateful decision.
By T. Christian Miller
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 3, 2007
Video and original story here
Senior managers for defense contractor KBR overruled calls to halt supply operations in Iraq in the spring of 2004, ordering unarmored trucks into an active combat [...]

E-mails show KBR feared casualties before deadly attack

KBR security personnel expected casualties the night before six civilian drivers were killed and others injured in an Iraqi ambush, but sent the convoy into a combat zone anyway, according to e-mails presented in a Houston federal court Wednesday.
“There is tons of intel stating tomorrow will be another bad day,” wrote George Seagle, director of [...]

Contractors in Iraq to be Subject to American Laws

Under American law, the Defense Base Act, they’ll still be allowed to kill, maim, or allow their employees to be raped, just not anyone else.
Courthouse News Service
by Nick Wilson
WASHINGTON (CN) – Senators introduced legislation Wednesday that would bring foreign military contractors under the jurisdiction of American laws following an appeal from the parents of a [...]

David W. Laconte from Virginia Beach killed by bomb in Afghanistan

Retired SEAL from Virginia Beach slain by bomb in Afghanistan
The Virginian-Pilot
Updated
At a time when many men would have been enjoying retirement, former Navy SEAL David W. LaConte headed back to a combat zone to train American soldiers in the latest military technology.
On Friday, he was killed by a homemade bomb in eastern Afghanistan. [...]