Halliburton cited in Iraq contamination

[sabra]

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/politics/13687050.htm

Halliburton cited in Iraq contamination

Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Troops and civilians at a U.S. military base in Iraq were exposed to contaminated water last year and employees for the responsible contractor, Halliburton, couldn't get their company to inform camp residents, according to interviews and internal company documents.

Halliburton, the company formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, disputes the allegations about water problems at Camp Junction City, in Ramadi, even though they were made by its own employees and documented in company e-mails.

"We exposed a base camp population (military and civilian) to a water source that was not treated," said a July 15, 2005, memo written by William Granger, the official for Halliburton's KBR subsidiary who was in charge of water quality in Iraq and Kuwait.

"The level of contamination was roughly 2x the normal contamination of untreated water from the Euphrates River," Granger wrote in one of several documents. The Associated Press obtained the documents from Senate Democrats who are holding a public inquiry into the allegations Monday.

[acmavm]

1. Ah yes, Halliburton. The company that cares as much about the troops

as it's ex-CEO.

[smtpgirl]

19. WHY

is this such a surprise?

[Judi Lynn]

2. Halliburton Cited in Iraq Contamination

Halliburton Cited in Iraq Contamination
By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Writer
Sunday, January 22, 2006
(01-22) 10:46 PST WASHINGTON, (AP) --

Troops and civilians at a U.S. military base in Iraq were exposed to contaminated water last year and employees for the responsible contractor, Halliburton, couldn't get their company to inform camp residents, according to interviews and internal company documents.

Halliburton, the company formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, disputes the allegations about water problems at Camp Junction City, in Ramadi, even though they were made by its own employees and documented in company e-mails.

"We exposed a base camp population (military and civilian) to a water source that was not treated," said a July 15, 2005, memo written by William Granger, the official for Halliburton's KBR subsidiary who was in charge of water quality in Iraq and Kuwait.

"The level of contamination was roughly 2x the normal contamination of untreated water from the Euphrates River," Granger wrote in one of several documents. The Associated Press obtained the documents from Senate Democrats who are holding a public inquiry into the allegations Monday.

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who will chair the session, held a number of similar inquiries last year on contracting abuses in Iraq. He said Democrats were acting on their own because they had not been able to persuade Republican committee chairmen to investigate.
(snip/...)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/01/22/national/w104644S60.DTL

[VegasWolf]

3. Halliburton CEO, "No sense in wasting money. No one cares about

what happens in Iraq!"

[Ferret Annica]

8. A friend who was over there said...

...that he witnesses the Haliburton truck that emptied the porta johns take the sewage out behind the cantonment area and dump it into the wetlands there. He said he was extremely bothered by this as Iraqi kids would fish and swim there.

He even approached the guy while he was sucking sewage and confronted him with this and was told with a shrug, "My dog back in the States has more right to be around then these people." He said the guy was annoyed at the questioning, and had also told him, "Hey, you do your job, and kindly don't bother me when I do mine."

This is a disgrace.

[Karenina]

15. It's more than a disgrace...

GENOCIDE is a more accurate description.

[Megahurtz]

32. That's disgusting. n/t

[bobalu]

18. Is this an actual quote?

[OKthatsIT]

4. If this is 'run off' water...did anyone check for radiation?

just wondering.

[salin]

5. and yet those protesting fraud via Halliburton

are viewed as a threat to US security and because they passed out peanut butter sandwiches as an act to raise awareness they were put on Pentagon spy (on) lists... but Halliburton covering up exposure to troops to contaminated water... no biggie - all in the name of profits. Sheez.

[no_hypocrisy]

6. Bring on the "frivolous lawsuits".

[ConcernedCanuk]

7. Couldn't have anything to do with the DU(Depleted Uranium)

.
.
.

that the USA is spreading around the world with their bullets and armour, no?

I mean that stuff has a half life of millions of years -

This is genocide is much graver than what Hitler ever did -

When Hitler was stopped, the genocide stopped

When the USA is finally stopped, it's genocide will continue for milleniums

Land of the "brave" my ass

Cowardly Killers is what I see

(sigh)

[arcane1]

13. the whole point-

-arrest, indefinitely, all "military-age" males

-contaminate the water

-destroy the schools

-disrupt the food supply

-take over the hospitals

-leave a coating of radio-active dust everywhere

-sit back and wait for Mother Nature do the rest

Iraqis are the New Seminoles

[eppur_se_muova]

26. Bear in mind...Seminoles are the ONLY tribe that never signed a treaty. nt

[NYC]

9. Recommended.

This is what our government does. At least the Democrats in the Senate will be holding a public inquiry.

[lakeguy]

10. TWICE the contamination of the euphrates river?

what happened, they try to wash the dirt off halliburton with it first?

[DemonFighterLives]

27. That is some fine results of the billion dollar process

:sarcasm:

:argh:

[arcane1]

11. "support the troops!"

Or, rather, support those who fuck the troops over :grr:

[wishlist]

12. But Joe Lieberman said Halliburton was doing a good job

On Imus MSNBC before the 2004 election, Joe praised and defended Halliburton while not saying one thing in support of Kerry/Edwards. At least other Dems such as Frank Lautenberg have done their best to crack down on Halliburton.

Halliburton's unethical war profiteering and the lack of oversight by the Repubs or media attention is a disgrace.

[wordpix2]

23. OK, that's IT with Lieberman. I am definitely going to work to get a new

Dem Senator in CT

[tuvor]

14. And it's the *liberals* who don't support the troops?!

Bite me, freepers.

K&R

[sarcasmo]

16. Kick and Nom. How many criminal charges does this give Halliburton.

[Pacifist Patriot]

17. I've lost track. Is it more or less than the Bush admin has committed?

Keeping up with their crimes is a full time job these days. For an army.

[jsamuel]

20. Environment + healthcare + veterans + deregulation + privatization + corru

Evil sons-a-bitches… pardon my French. This is what happens when we privatize everything and deregulate our industries.

DEMS NEED TO MAKE THIS A BIG BIG BIG ISSUE!!!

Environment + healthcare + veterans issues + deregulation + privatization + corruption + Iraq war

[jsamuel]

21. Think Erin Brockovich

[Hyernel]

22. This might get Halliburton a generous bonus!!

Failure, corruption and incompetence gets you a fucking medal with Bushco.

[wordpix2]

24. I can't keep up with all the bad news lately-this is another disaster

[Cooley Hurd]

25. Fucking SHAMEFUL!

I wonder how many people with "support our troops" ribbons adorning their cars will even hear of this... or care? :(

[wordpix]

30. "raw sewage is routinely dumped upstream of intake"

snip:
Halliburton, the company once run by the vice-president, Dick Cheney, has denied the claims of its former workers, and the marine corps said that water quality records for last year showed no sign of problems. Halliburton now runs a water treatment plant at the base.

However, another former KBR employee, Ben Carter, a water expert, said he found evidence of contamination last March and immediately sent an email about the problem to his colleagues.

"It is my opinion that the water source is without question contaminated with numerous micro-organisms, including coliform bacteria," Mr Carter wrote. "There is little doubt that raw sewage is routinely dumped upstream of intake much less than the required two-mile distance."

Mr Carter said he resigned in early April after Halliburton officials failed to take any action. "They told me it was none of my concern and to keep my mouth shut," he told AP. "They brushed it under the carpet ... I told everyone: "Don't take showers, use bottled water."
:puke:

[Judi Lynn]

28. Guardian update: Halliburton accused over Iraq water supplies

Halliburton accused over Iraq water supplies

Julian Borger in Washington
Tuesday January 24, 2006
The Guardian


Halliburton, the vast Texan oil and military services corporation, was accused by former employees yesterday of supplying contaminated water to American troops and Iraqi civilians at a marine base in Ramadi.

The claims by former employees, who gave evidence to Democratic senators yesterday, was backed up by internal Halliburton emails relating to the untreated water and the health problems it had caused in Camp Junction City, as the Ramadi base is called.

"The level of contamination was roughly 2x the normal contamination of untreated water from the Euphrates river," said one email dated July 15 2005 from William Granger, an employee of Halliburton's subsidiary, KBR.

In the email, quoted by Associated Press, Mr Granger said untreated water had been supplied to the camp in Ramadi for about a year.
(snip/...)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1693463,00.html?gusrc=rss

[wordpix]

29. let's give KBR another billion dollar contract for that! Good work, Halli

burton

[Up2Late]

31. What could possibly be wrong with using untreated River water...

...in a country without working sanitation systems????

God, this is awful, what sort of illnesses would this sort of thing cause, and did we see a spike in July August?