BernieHund: The Political Watchdog

KBR, one of those “in place” no bid contractors, and former subsidiary of Halliburton, denies responsibility for the electrocution of soldiers in Afghanistan and severe shocks in Iraq.

According to the NYT

One electrician warned his KBR bosses in his 2005 letter of resignation that unsafe electrical work was “a disaster waiting to happen.” Another said he witnessed an American soldier in Afghanistan receiving a potentially lethal shock. A third provided e-mail messages and other documents showing that he had complained to KBR and the government that logs were created to make it appear that nonexistent electrical safety systems were properly functioning.

KBR itself told the Pentagon in early 2007 about unsafe electrical wiring at a base near the Baghdad airport, but no repairs were made. Less than a year later, a soldier was electrocuted in a shower there.

Well, once again, it seems that not only have the American taxpayers been overcharged for much of the work performed by KBR, Halliburton, and other no-bid contractors, it now appears that the work that was performed was and continues to be so hazardous to our service men and women that it is at times deadly.

In an effort to head off the problem, the Pentagon issued a bulletin.  A bulletin?  What the hell!  They should have issued another work order and subpoenas, don’t you think?

The bulletin, with the headline “The Unexpected Killer,” was issued after the horrific deaths of two soldiers who were caught in water — one in a shower, the other in a swimming pool — that was suddenly electrified after poorly grounded wiring short-circuited.

“We’ve had several shocks in showers and near misses here in Baghdad, as well as in other parts of the country,” Frank Trent, an expert with the Army Corps of Engineers, wrote in the bulletin. “As we install temporary and permanent power on our projects, we must ensure that we require contractors to properly ground electrical systems.”

And, how did that work for the Pentagon?

Since that warning, at least two more American soldiers have been electrocuted in similar circumstances. In all, at least a dozen American military personnel have been electrocuted in Iraq, according to the Pentagon and Congressional investigators.

While several deaths have been attributed to inadvertent contact with power lines under battlefield conditions, the Army bulletin said that five deaths over the preceding year had apparently been caused by faulty grounding, and the circumstances of others have not been fully explained by the Army. Many more soldiers have been injured by shocks, Pentagon officials and soldiers say.

Of course, as we have seen so often in recent months, the inadequacy starts at the top and eventually the director or head of the agency steps down.  Needless to say the Defense Contracting Management Agency tried to defend its actions, but as we have learned excuses only satisfy those who make them.  We have seen it with FEMA, HUD, GSA…. and on and on and on.  So we can now say that another one bites the dust. 

Keith Ernst, who stepped down Wednesday as the agency’s director, said, though, that the agency was “stretched too thin” in Iraq and that the small number of contract officers did not have expertise in dealing with so-called life support contracts, like that awarded to KBR to provide food, shelter and building maintenance. “We don’t have the technical capability for overseeing life support systems,” he said.

As for KBR

For its part, KBR, which until last year was known as Kellogg, Brown and Root and was a subsidiary of Halliburton, denied that any lapses by the company had led to the electrocutions of American soldiers. “KBR’s commitment to employee safety and the safety of those the company serves is unwavering,” said a spokeswoman, Heather Browne. “KBR has found no evidence of a link between the work it has been tasked to perform and the reported electrocutions.”

But, some former contractors and electricians who worked for KBR have a different take on the situation.

Those electricians have a ready response to anyone who suggests that poor electrical work might be considered an unavoidable cost of war. “The excuse KBR always used was, ‘This is a war zone — what do you expect?’ ” recalled Jeffrey Bliss, an Ohio electrician who worked for the company in Afghanistan in 2005 and 2006. “But if you are going to do the work, you have got to do it safe.”

Okay… so I’m going to step up on the soap box for a moment.  What the hell does this administration… Bush, Cheney-Halliburton, the former Rumsfeld Pentagon, and the present Gates controlled Pentagon think?  It has become increasingly more and more indisputable that the old men who began and continue these wars think they are playing a table game and that our men and women who are sacrificing their lives are nothing more than little green plastic men they can move around on a Risk board.  When the plastic figure of G.I. Joe becomes disfigured or maimed, he is tossed into the trash and another is taken from the box to replace it.

In the past year, while our active military has waged a war without basis, they have had to fight on two fronts…. one against the so-called terrorists on the ground, and one against the administration who sent them into battle.  Congress has done little to help.  We have seen the VA hospitals in complete disrepair, the VA itself as dysfunctional as any of the Bush appointed agencies, the barracks on our home bases such a disgrace that it is almost conceivable that living on the street would be a step up.  Healthcare for our veterans is another issue, unless we have been brainwashed into thinking that inadequate and inept prolonged waits for half-assed performance is the norm.

We have long known that our veterans are getting the shaft.  Now, once again, we are reminded that our soldiers in theater are having to fight against the announced enemy and their efforts are being further sabotaged by no-bid contractors when they aren’t patrolling the streets or in combat.

Rather than continue a rant, I will end by saying it is well past time to demand that Congress take action to stop these wars of attrition and bring our military home.  And, as far as your President saying that we should continue to support these wars, perhaps, it is time that we say to him and his administration that we, the people, have shown far more support for the troops than his administration has.  We have heard all the BS about the Middle East falling into crisis, etc. if we withdraw.  Well, in my almost 60 years there has never been peace in the mid-east.  Some faction or another is always fighting against one another or amongst themselves.  For the Bush-Cheney conspiracy to assume that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are going to change the face of the world and bring peace to the mid-east is like expecting the tooth fairy to leave a million dollars under my pillow.  The administration has totally failed on the diplomatic front.  Secretary of State Rice has done absolutely nothing to encourage or engage in serious diplomatic policy in the area.

And, please excuse the language, but fighting for peace is like fu^%ing for chastity.  It’s time to bring the men and women home!