U.S. contractor electrocuted in shower in Iraq

[IDemo]

Source: Associated Press

Wiring problems have been blamed for the deaths of American troops

updated 1 hour, 6 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - A State Department contractor apparently has been electrocuted while showering in Baghdad even as U.S. authorities in Iraq try to remedy wiring problems that have led to the deaths of American troops there.

The contractor, Adam Hermanson, 25, died Sept. 1, his wife, Janine, said Tuesday. She added that a military medical examiner told her that preliminary findings indicate her husband died from low voltage electrocution.

At least three troops have been electrocuted in the shower since the start of the Iraq War, while others have been electrocuted under other circumstances such as while operating a power washer. Inspections and repairs are under way at 90,000 U.S.-maintained structures there.

Hermanson grew up in San Diego and Las Vegas. He joined the military at age 17, and did three tours in Iraq with the Air Force before leaving at the rank of staff sergeant. He returned to Iraq as an employee of private contractor Triple Canopy, based in Herndon, Va.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32746329/ns/world_news-conflict_in_iraq/

[virgogal]

1. Kid of shakes your faith in government installations,doesn't it?

[IDemo]

3. Yes,

If they were built under no-bid contracts by Kellogg, Brown and Root.

[roseBudd]

5. It's KBR that installed these showers, privatization is the GOPs ideology

[jtrockville]

8. And Obama gave KBR a new contract for... guess what?

Electrical work. Brilliant.

[Old Studentka]

19. Goverment installations?

Or government programs? Who are you, exactly?

[damntexdem]

29. Uh, no! But it sure shakes my faith in outsourcing to private companies.

The only thing strange here is that it was a private contractor who was killed, rather than another member of the military.

[Brickbat]

30. The ones put together by private, for-profit companies, yeah, it does -- because they answer to

nobody but King Profit.

[Rick Myers]

2. Can we get the Hell outta there???

And Afganistan??? Now...

[ConcernedCanuk]

22. NO - USA never leaves . .

.
.
.

Ask Japan,

ask Germany,

ask CANADA even . . .

USA has a military presence in over 75% of the World's countries

If the USA didn't have "the bomb", and proved it's ability and willingness to use it -

I suspect not many would put up with the USA's presence

BUT . . .

(sigh)

[Ian David]

4. We'll just keep on trying 'til we run out of cake. n/t

[xocet]

14. Maybe Black Mesa will help.

(The cake is a lie.)

[Grinchie]

23. Or at least until all the Pony's die from Depleted Uranium poisoning.

[peacetalksforall]

6. In the U.S. there would be a code that would have to be followed? What kind of electrical code

exists when U.S. people do work outside the country.

Is Triple Canopy new to everyone hers? A Rumsfeld/Cheney spin-off company? Halliburton? CIA?

[Best_man23]

9. As a contractor to the US government

They are supposed to follow all applicable codes, including the National Electrical Code.

[jtrockville]

10. The deceased worked for Triple Canopy. The article doesn't say

who did the faulty electrical work. But here's my guess (using the past as prologue): KBR.

[peacetalksforall]

11. There is plenty about the company on the internet - here is a paragrph from wiki-

Following that is something weird.

In the U.S. there would be a code that would have to be followed? What kind of electrical code

"Honduras
La Tribuna revealed in its headlines on September 18, 2005 that the Lepaterique base in Honduras was being used as a training center for mercenaries employed by Your Solutions, a Triple Canopy subsidiary. Following these revelations, the Honduran authorities excluded, in September 2005, 105 Chilean mercenaries, who had entered the countries as tourists or businessmen and attended a training camp led by US and Chilean personnel in Lepaterique, 16 miles away from Tegucigalpa. The Honduran government had previously supported Triple Canopy, naming the Vice-minister of Labour Áfrico Madrid as intermediary between the administration and the firm.<6> The Lepaterique camp was set up in the 1980s by the CIA and Argentine intelligence officers; the Batallon de Inteligencia 601 from the Argentine Army trained the Contras there. According to La Tribuna, in one day in November, Your Solutions shipped 108 Hondurans, 88 Chileans and 16 Nicaraguans to Iraq. Approximatively 700 Peruvians, 250 Chileans and 320 Hondurans work in Baghdad’s Green Zone. La Tribuna also confirmed that the monthly pay was $1,000, with an additional $500 for English-speaking men.<7>. The media revelation lifted a scandal, in particular concerning illegal entrance on territory and the high wage differences between South American mercenaries and US mercenaries working for Triple Canopy. US employees are payed between 400 to 700 USD a day.<6> Furthermore, while Chilean and Hondurans contracted for a full year, US employees contract for three-months duration, after which Triple Canopy pay them back a trip home, and then they choose if they want to re-new their contract.<6> The revelations also lifted scandal in Chile, when it became known that retired military Marina Óscar Aspe worked for Triple Canopy. The latter had taken part to the assassination of Marcelo Barrios Andrade, a 21 years-old member of the FPMR, who is on the list of victims of the Rettig Report — while Marina Óscar Aspe is on the list of the 2001 Comisión Ética contra la Tortura (2001 Ethical Commission Against Torture).<6>"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_Canopy,_Inc.

Triple Canopy has web sites using that name.

There is another site that is named " www.canopycanopycanopy.com " It is about 'souls'and 'architecture'? Strange.

[notadmblnd]

15. Triple Canopy is one of those mercenary operations.

They do security just like XE aka Blackwater.

[sce56]

17. I can tell you as an electrician in the Army we were trained on and followed the same NEC Codes the

Rest of the US does and all Corps of Engineer contracts use the NEC to spec the work!

[peacetalksforall]

27. Thanks for all your replies about the code. That is good to hear.

[Lagomorph]

7. US Contractor electrocuted by US Contractor...

Ironic, ain't it?

[Solly Mack]

16. Very

I thought the same thing

[comtec]

24. It would honestly be humorous if it wasnt so fucking tragic (nt)

[harmonicon]

12. fucking hell...

well, maybe someone will actually do something about this problem now. For all the lip service that we hear about "support our troops", the American soldier is treated by the government as the absolute scum of the earth - so what if a few died? The politicians' friends made money from it.

[OnyxCollie]

13. Mercenary killed by incompetent contractor.

Capitalism consumes itself.

[diane in sf]

18. another one???

[tinrobot]

20. The showers seem to be more dangerous than combat.

If the insurgents were smart, they'd put away the roadside bombs and just toss dirt on our soldiers so they have to take a shower.

[uppityperson]

21. not exactly accurate, but VERY funny

in a dark, twisted sort of way. Thank you for the chuckle.

[jasi2006]

25. Iraqi expert electricians were either killed or run off by the US

The Iraqi population was among the most educated (including women) in the ME. We are left with the whirlwind that we have reaped after sowing lies, deceit, and murder. Everyone knows that US contractors for the most part are corporate welfare thugs with little training, poor management and oversight. The biggest problem with our government is the massive amount of contracting to a private sector that really doesn't give a shit about US citizens, our military, or our government...just the uncontrolled money that is thrown at them by our corporate-owned government officials in Congress and embedded in powerful positions within Federal agencies.

[NecklyTyler]

26. And Cheney smiles to himself, "We made an extra $25.75 per shower by leaving the ground wires off"

Cheney: "That adds up to over $350,000 if you include the cargo fees for transporting the wire. And it is all profit, sweet, folding money profit"

[hunter]

28. I've got a morbid curiousity about this...

What the hell are they doing there? Are they simply handing their "electrical contractors" a crate full of two wire Chinese extension cords and wire nuts and telling them to have at it?

I'm reminded of the first house my wife and I bought. It had knob and tube wiring and just a few outlets. Whenever the previous owners needed another outlet they simply drilled a hole in the floor and dropped an extension cord through to the basement which they then plugged into a power strip on the wall. The power strip of course had its ground prong broken off so it would fit the two prong socket... There were, however, no pennies or foil stuffed beneath burned out fuses which is probably the only reason the house hadn't burned down.