12 US soldiers Electrocuted While Showering

March 20, 2008
12 US soldiers Electrocuted While Showering

PITTSBURGH - A U.S. House committee chairman has begun an investigation into the electrocutions of at least 12 service members in Iraq, including that of a Pittsburgh soldier killed in January by a jolt of electricity while showering.

Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said Wednesday he has asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates to hand over documents relating to the management of electrical systems at facilities in Iraq.

Congress Investigates Second Rape Charge Against KBR

December 12, 2007
Congress Investigates Second Rape Charge Against KBR

Congress is asking questions about another ex-employee of government contracting firm KBR who claims she was raped in Iraq.

Letters to the Pentagon and the Justice Department today from Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla. underscore congressional concern about a second alleged assault, this time of a woman from Florida who reportedly worked for a KBR subsidiary in Ramadi, Iraq in 2005.

"I am deeply troubled by recent reports that at least two women who worked in Iraq under contractors for the Department of Defense were sexually assaulted by male coworkers," Nelson wrote Defense Secretary Robert Gates Thursday.

Gang-Rape Cover-Up by U.S., Halliburton/KBR

December 10, 2007
Gang-Rape Cover-Up by U.S., Halliburton/KBR

A Houston, Texas woman says she was gang-raped by Halliburton/KBR coworkers in Baghdad, and the company and the U.S. government are covering up the incident.

Jamie Leigh Jones, now 22, says that after she was raped by multiple men at a KBR camp in the Green Zone, the company put her under guard in a shipping container with a bed and warned her that if she left Iraq for medical treatment, she'd be out of a job.

"Don't plan on working back in Iraq. There won't be a position here, and there won't be a position in Houston," Jones says she was told.

Halliburton Employee Guilty in Iraq Kickback Case

July 14, 2007
Halliburton Employee Guilty in Iraq Kickback Case

The employee, Roger A. Heaton, 58, of Houston, worked for the subsidiary, KBR, as part of a logistics contract. KBR, formerly known as Kellogg, Brown & Root, was a subsidiary of Halliburton until it became a separate entity earlier this year. The contract has so far paid the companies $20 billion to supply the military with food, fuel, housing and other necessities.

Mr. Heaton pleaded guilty in Federal District Court in the Central District of Illinois to awarding two major contracts in exchange for what was to have been over $200,000 in kickbacks, although it is unclear how much of the money he actually received.

Halliburton cited: #10 billion were either excessive or undocumented

February 18, 2007
Halliburton cited: #10 billion were either excessive or undocumented

WASHINGTON -- A top Pentagon auditor told Congress on Thursday that $10 billion in defense contracts for Iraq reconstruction and troop support were either excessive or undocumented, including $2.7 billion for contracts held by Halliburton or one of its subsidiaries.

William Reed, director of the Defense Department's Defense Contract Audit Agency, told the House Oversight and Government Reform committee that his agency discovered the problems --$4.9 billion in "questioned" or overly expensive charges, and $5.1 billion in "unsupported" or undocumented expenses-- after auditing $57 billion in Pentagon contracts.