Shoddy Electrical Work Killing US Troops in Iraq

Suit charges contractors supplied spoiled food, contaminated water

(NEWSER) - A lawsuit filed against Halliburton and KBR accuses the military contractors of exposing troops and civilian workers on a US base in Iraq to spoiled food, contaminated water, and toxic fumes from a burn pit, the Military Times reports. The lead plaintiff in the suit said he still has nightmares after seeing a wild dog roaming the base with a human arm in its mouth after KBR dumped medical waste in a trash fire instead of a medical incinerator. More»

Sergeant filed work order after being shocked in the shower

(NEWSER) - A sergeant warned Army administrators about faulty wiring months before a soldier was electrocuted in a shower at the same quarters, CNN reports. "Pipes have voltage, get shocked in the shower," he wrote in a work order. A House committee probing the electrocution deaths in Iraq had previously heard there was no evidence the Pentagon or contractor KBR knew of electrical problems at the facility. More»

Military faces mammoth task hauling equipment out of Iraq as withdrawal gathers pace

(NEWSER) - American forces in Iraq have devoted a full sixth of their manpower to a task one commander compares to moving the entire population of Alaska across the world—with all their stuff. The military, in the biggest movement of personnel and material in over 40 years, is dismantling some 300 bases and shipping out over a million pieces of equipment, all while keeping the 124,000 troops still in the country supplied and being targeted by insurgents. More»

(NEWSER) - The United States' poor track record on rebuilding Iraq has long been chalked up to lousy planning by Pentagon brass. But an expanding investigation by federal authorities adds another element to the mix: possible corruption by the military commanders who oversaw reconstruction in the Wild West days after the invasion, the New York Times reports. Investigators have subpoenaed the bank records of an Army colonel and an Air Force lieutenant colonel, both of whom deny wrongdoing. More»

Contractor kept 1,000 Asian laborers 3 months in warehouses

(NEWSER) - About 1,000 foreign workers brought to Iraq with the promise of lucrative jobs have been living for 3 months in Baghdad warehouses under poor sanitary conditions and in possible violation of US military rules, McClatchy reports. A Kuwaiti company that subcontracts with KBR, formerly Haliburton, brought the men from Central Asia and elsewhere after charging them $2,000. More»