Pentagon Admits More Electrocutions in Iraq -- KBR Denies Blame

As some may know, I have been following for months the scandal of the high number of American soldiers electrocuted in Iraq. I have focused on the saga of Cheryl Harris, who I have come to know and assist, whose son Sgt. Ryan Maseth was electrocuted in January (the military at first blamed him for carrying an appliance into a shower room), causing her to launch her own heroic probe. Since then she has inspired congressional, military and media probes (such as last week's front-page New York Times piece by James Risen).

Her senator, Bob Casey, has helped her, and his office has kept me abreast of his activities, including yesterday's big meeting with a KBR -- the contractor targeted in much of this -- rep.

Until yesterday 13 electrocutions had been admitted by the military. Yesterday, surprisingly, came news of more.

Now we learn that 16 American troops have died from accidental electrocutions in Iraq, the Defense Department said Friday. They include 11 Army soldiers and five Marines.

The disclosure came after KBR Inc. Chief Executive William Utt met with Sen. Casey,on Capitol Hill Friday.

Casey said there have also been dozens of injuries and hundreds of fires from faulty electrical work and that there have been reports of problems with people being shocked as recently as three weeks ago. "It leads to hundreds and hundreds of questions that Congress must ask," Casey said.

KBR has said it has not found a link between electrical work it did and the electrocutions.

AP reports:

At a hearing earlier this month, former KBR electricians said KBR employees with little electrical experience supervised work done by subcontractors and foreign electricians who could not speak English. Company electricians who raised doubts about the work were allegedly fired.

Utt told Casey that in February 2007, the contract was switched from "Level A" to "Level B." That meant the Army took primary responsibility for preventive repairs and that KBR "only repairs items the Army directs us to repair," KBR spokeswoman Heather Browne said in an e-mail.

Casey said he planned to send letters to the Defense Department and KBR seeking more clarification on who was responsible for the electrical work. A hearing on the electrocutions is also scheduled for Wednesday in the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Cheryl Harris is suing KBR.
*
Greg Mitchell's new book is So Wrong for So Long: How the Press, the Pundits -- and the President -- Failed on Iraq. He is editor of Editor & Publisher.

Comments

[lisakaz2]

Just because they outsourced the work they should not escape blame. It is ridiculous. That is why they were contracted -- to stand behind the work. So, they give bad work at fraudulently high prices and soldies get hurt or die. We should all be outraged.

And they have the nerve to claim they see no link "between electrical work it did and the electrocutions." Were the soldiers all struck by lightning????? The heads of this company ought to be in jail.

[thepeoplechoose]

KBR should be banned as a contractor. This is about maximizing profits over the lives of American citizens. This mirrors the way corporate America conducts itself. And just as Bush won't be held to account for his dismal performance neither will KBR. Frankly I don't give a hoot why this happens. Only the result matters and when that result harms Americans someone must be held accountable. The center of power in this country is in the boardrooms of corporate America, not in the oval office or congress. Anyone who doesn't understand that isn't paying attention.

[OgreDaddy]

Why do you think Halliburton moved their corporate HQ and I'm sure most of their assets to Dubai?

So their records and their aSSets can't be seized!!!

This entire war was manufactured to line the pockets of war profiteers.

I'm so glad we can still count on a few patriotic whistle blowers to shed light on these shameful
and criminal activities.

Major General Jerome Johnson is attempting to stonewall the investigation, but it looks as though
his career may be over after all the facts come out.

[cynicalgirl]

Sounds like somebody doesn't know that you have to use a GFCI for anything that's near water.

Apparently KBR doesn't follow the NEC electrical codes. In the US, electricians are licensed and we have building inspectors to ensure that codes are adhered to.

Once again, why is KBR above the law?

[knighthowl]

Aren't they a spinoff from Halliburton, Cheney's money bucket?

[unitron]

I'm as big a fan of the National Electrical Code and all of the NFPA's other good works as anybody else, but the NEC is only the law in jurisdictions which vote to make it the law, and that's just here in the U.S.

I assume that Iraq has some sort of code of their own. As to whether it applies to "temporary" U.S. military installations over there, who knows, although it seems that our military should have already had their own standards in existance.

KBR probably just hired some guys off of the street because they'd work cheap and never bothered to ask them if they knew why the wires aren't all the same color.

[95flhtcu]

What's going to happen to KBR? Absolutely nothing. Even after all the shoddy work by them, bechtel and halliburton, they're still getting more contract in the U.S. and abroad. I've written my senator and representatives, none of whome seems interested in any of this. My hope is that once Obama wins and we have more seats in congress something will change. Because the military is willing to go along wiht the coverups, it's going to be a long battle.

[Daly]

Cheryl Harris,

My heart goes out to you & yours.

Thank you for having the courage to push this issue these guys would cover up so much if it were not for people like you.

Greg - don't let them hid; flush the bums out.

[egal]

Of COURSE KBR found no evidence of faulty wiring.

Their "electricians" don't understand the basics of wiring--things like AC/DC, voltage, amperage, red versus blue--and have no qualification in anything, let alone as electricians.

But I only say this as a soldier who saw dozens of buildings need rewiring after KBR "fixed" or put in original wiring systems. And who saw three floors of the same Army barrack building--with the same electrical source--have three very different problems:

2nd floor, everything connected to the sockets sparked and died or burst into flames in several rooms at once;
3rd floor, literally half the electrical items in every room worked and half didn't, resulting in such reassuring things as out of two lamps plugged into the same surge protector, one was lit while the other wasn't, and televisions wth half the screen shown and half striped with black-and-white pictures;
4th floor, even the emergency lights--with the generator running--weren't functional.

How's that for impressive electrical incompetence? And that was one of their BETTER jobs, in which we thought they only MIGHT had no idea what they were doing as we saw them put in the wiring between our every-day-on 13-20 hour days, but everything looked sound after they close the box.

It's well past time we hold the contractors responsible for their constant shoddy workmanship and potential criminal incompetence.

[Bushwillresign]

Is Bush going to pardon them too? Or, do they have some kind of immunity written into their billion dollar contracts?

[ohnoyoudidnot!]

Our kids in Iraq need to stop showering in the meantime!

[Rog49Thomas]

Unfit drinking water, unsafe electrical connections - am I detecting a pattern in KBR's "worksmanship"?

And no, publishing an American flag in your annual report doesn't count as "support".

Nor mouthing empty platitudes not backed by concrete action.

And, no, putting your profits above our servicemen's welfare is definitely not patriotism.

[Chillinout]

The leadership of KBR should be brought up on criminal charges along with the current leadership of this country.

[afgail]

Every day another outrage at the devastation caused by the incompetent, self serving, graft riddled Bush administration. This nightmare can not end soon enough. If the polls are right, almost half of the American voters are prepared to vote for McCain and four more years of the same. What is wrong with this country? McCain should be polling in at about 22% which is the Bush approval rating.