Conyers, Poe Request Justice Department Info on Halliburton Rape Cover-Up

[babylonsister]

http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?p=989

Conyers, Poe Request Justice Department Info on Halliburton Rape Cover-Up
December 11th, 2007 by Jesse Lee


Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers and Rep. Ted Poe sent a letter today to the Justice Department requesting information on the status of a Department inquiry into the alleged rape of a 22-year-old female Halliburton/KBR employee in Baghdad.

Victim: Gang-Rape Cover-Up by U.S., Halliburton/KBR
ABC News - Dec. 10, 2007

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.

In a lawsuit filed in federal court against Halliburton and its then-subsidiary KBR, Jones says she was held in the shipping container for at least 24 hours without food or water by KBR, which posted armed security guards outside her door, who would not let her leave.

Full text of the letter:

December 11, 2007

The Honorable Michael Mukasey
United States Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530

Dear Mr. Attorney General:

We are writing to follow up on the letter sent yesterday by Representative Poe concerning the Department’s response to American Jamie Leigh Jones’ report that she was assaulted and raped by fellow employees of Halliburton/KBR in Baghdad, and that in the aftermath of this assault she was imprisoned under armed guard for over 24 hours without food or water.1

Ms. Jones further states that she was told she would be fired if she sought outside medical care and that the results of a medical examination documenting the alleged rape were given by U.S. Army personnel to KBR security and have now “disappeared.”

This report of criminal misconduct directed against a U.S. citizen at the hands of employees of an American-based corporation working in Iraq at the behest of the U.S. Government, as well as a possible cover-up and destruction of evidence, is deeply troubling.

It also raises broader concerns, which the Judiciary Committee has already been investigating, about the Department’s role in enforcing laws protecting Americans who are working in Iraq.

In addition to the general questions in yesterday’s letter, we ask that you provide answers to the following specific questions as soon as possible, and no later than Tuesday, December 18, 2007:

1. Based on the facts as reported by Ms. Jones, does the Department believe that it has jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute in this matter under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act of 2000, 18 U.S.C. § 3261, or section 804 of the USA Patriot Act, 18 U.S.C. § 7(9)? Please explain.

2. Has the Department investigated Ms. Jones’ claims?

a) If not, why not?

b) If so, please describe the course and current status of the investigation and whether it includes the apparent destruction of evidence described above.

c) If so, what offices of the Department have participated in the investigation? Which Assistant Attorney General is responsible for this and other investigations of alleged crimes within the Department’s jurisdiction committed in Iraq?

d) If so, is the investigation limited to events alleged to have occurred in Iraq, or is the Department investigating events that may have occurred in countries other than Iraq, including the United States?

3. ABC reports a statement by KBR that “it was ‘instructed to cease its own investigation by U.S. government authorities ‘because they were assuming sole responsibility for the criminal investigations.”

a) Did the Department issue such an instruction to KBR?

b) If so, please describe the exact terms of the instruction and explain when, why, and by whom it was issued.

c) If not, do you have any information regarding whether any other component of the US government issued such an instruction? Which one?

d) If some other agency issued the instruction, what is the basis for an assertion that an agency of the US Government other than the Justice Department can have “sole responsibility” for all related criminal investigations? Do you agree that the Department should be involved from the outset of an investigation into a serious criminal matter such as this one?

Please direct your responses and any questions to the Judiciary Committee office,

2138 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515 (Tel.: [phone]; fax: [phone]) and to Rep. Poe’s office, 1605 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515 (Tel.: [phone]; fax: [phone]). Thank you for your prompt cooperation in this matter.

Sincerely,

John Conyers, Jr.
Chairman, House Committee on the Judiciary

Ted Poe
Member of Congress

[babylonsister]

1. .

[sabra]

2. thanks for posting this...

kick

[Whisp]

3. impeachment if off the table, rape and torture are.

there will be no justice in this case as well. drop your hope, it's holding you down.