Halliburton rape victim speaks out; had feared 'insurgency' not coworkers

[BurtWorm]

Only ABC and the blogosphere seem to be on this story?

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/ABC_Halliburton_rape_vict...

David Edwards and Jason Rhyne
Published: Friday December 14, 2007

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The former Halliburton/KBR employee accusing the company of attempting to cover her gang-rape in Iraq is now speaking out about her ordeal -- saying she felt "imprisoned" after reporting the incident, and was told by her superiors to keep quiet or lose her job.

Appearing in an interview with ABC's Brian Ross, Jamie Leigh Jones spoke about what she describes as horrifying circumstances surrounding her rape and it's aftermath as handled by officials at KBR, a then-subsidiary of private security contractor Halliburton.

"I was worried about being in a war zone. I was worried about insurgency," said Jones, who didn't anticipate danger from her own coworkers.

But on her fourth night in a Green Zone barracks in Baghdad, Jones says she accepted a "special drink" from male KBR employees.

"Then I don't remember anything at all after that," she said. "I woke up naked, I was bruised. And then when I sat on the toilet, that's when I realized my inner thighs were very bruised and I was bleeding pretty bad. And then I knew I had been raped."

After a US Army medic confirmed that she had been raped by multiple men, Jones says she was placed under armed guard in a metal shipping container -- outfitted with a bed and a sink -- and told to keep quiet about the rape or lose her job.
...


Ross reports that no investigation is currently underway in the case. The Crime Victims Office at the Department of Justice indicates it has closed it's probe of the rape, citing a lack of jurisdiction over the private contractors in Iraq.


Link includes video from ABC's Good Morning America, broadcast on December 14, 2007.

[Botany]

1. Those KBR men should be taken out and .....

One more victim of bush's unneeded war.

[HeraldSquare212]

2. Translation:

"I wanted to make a lot of money helping to occupy a country and injure its citizens but I got injured instead! It's not fair!"

[wtmusic]

3. Agree! Rape is justifiable in her situation!

You are out of your mind.

[HeraldSquare212]

5. Not what I said

I think they should all be prosecuted - but she's pretty low on my list of victims needing help in Iraq. She was benefiting from the misery of others, and from the lack of legal accountability for contractors.

[BurtWorm]

6. You have a finite amount of compassion, I see.

Nice.

[wtmusic]

7. How was she benefiting from the lack of legal accountability

for contractors?

[femrap]

14. Woman hater.

Ignored.

[fenriswolf]

15. yeah she was an employee, not a ceo

you tell her the people who depend on her that what happened to her was justified because she worked for an evil corporation. For alot of people a job means not having to live on handouts and a good job is a god send.

[BurtWorm]

4. Nice. Blame the victim.

[GreenPartyVoter]

10. Has it ever been any other way?

[gatorboy]

11. heraldsqure: Todays WORSE PERSON IN THE WOOORRRLLLD! n/t

[ThomCat]

12. WTF?

I really hope you don't mean that the way it sounds. I really hope you're not implying that it's ever okay to drug and gang-rape someone.

[walldude]

16. ?

I have a nice warm rock you can crawl under.. Or maybe you can go over to the thread where they beat the Jews for saying Happy Chanuaka and join with the people who think those Jews deserved it.

[LostinVA]

17. I can't believe this is still here

I saw it right after it was posted.

[BurtWorm]

8. Jamie Leigh Jones has started a nonprofit for vicitims of rape or assault by contractors

http://www.feminist.org/news/newsbyte/uswirestory.asp?i...

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Feminist Daily News Wire
December 12, 2007

Halliburton/KBR Cover Up Gang Rape

A Texas woman filed a federal lawsuit in May against Halliburton and its former subsidiary KBR, stating that she was drugged and gang-raped by a group of her co-workers in the KBR camp in the Green Zone in Iraq in 2005. The woman, Jamie Leigh Jones, says after the attack she was held without food or water for 24 hours in a shipping container with armed guards at the door who would not allow her to leave, reports ABC News.

Jones convinced one of the guards to let her use a cell phone and called her father in Texas. Her father called their Congressman, Rep. Ted Poe R-TX, who called the State Department. The State Department dispatched US Embassy agents to the KBR camp, who rescued Jones, reports CBS News. Jones was examined, but the rape kit vanished after it was handed over to KBR security officers, Jones told ABC News.

According to ABC News, legal experts say Jones' alleged attackers might never even have to stand trial: A loophole in US law effectively leaves contractors working in Iraq out of jurisdiction for US courts. No charges in this case have been filed in criminal courts.

Jones’ nonprofit foundation dedicated to helping victims who were raped or sexually assaulted overseas while working for government contractors or other corporations will receive any proceeds from the civil lawsuit. "I want other women to know that it's not their fault," Jones told ABC News. "They can go against corporations that have treated them this way."

Media Resources: ABC News 12/10/07; CBS News 12/12/07; Telegraph News 12/12/07

[BurtWorm]

9. kick

[The Backlash Cometh]

13. Lack of jurisdiction? Well, maybe we should bring home all the US female

employees since we've just sent up a green flag to anyone who wants to rape them out there.