Contractor served troops dirty food in dirty kitchens (Halliburton)

[Chomskyite]

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2003/12/14/2003079545

AFP , WASHINGTON
Sunday, Dec 14, 2003,Page 7

The Pentagon repeatedly warned contractor Halliburton-KBR that the food it served to US troops in Iraq was "dirty," as were as the kitchens it was served in, NBC News reported on Friday.

Halliburton-Kellogg Brown and Root's promises to improve "have not been followed through," according to a Pentagon report that warned "serious repercussions may result" if the contractor did not clean up.

The Pentagon reported finding "blood all over the floor," "dirty pans," "dirty grills," "dirty salad bars" and "rotting meats ... and vegetables" in four of the military messes the company operates in Iraq, NBC said, citing Pentagon documents.

The report came as President George W. Bush fended off Pentagon reports that Halliburton-KBR overcharged US$61 million for gasoline it sold the military in Iraq. Dick Cheney ran Halliburton for five years until becoming vice president.



I'm really trying to think of anything more disgraceful and treasonous Halliburton could be doing other than firing rouds at our own troops or committing active sabotage.

But I'm not thinking of anything . . .

[tom_paine]

1. Why wouldn't they do it? Saves money and they are above the law

As with all of the Imperial Family, their allies and cronies.

Just the tip of the iceberg, I'm sure, along with the $120,000,000+ of overcharges, but they have nothing to fear.

With Reichsmarschall Ashcroft on the case, they are as safe as IG Farben being "investigated" by the Nazis.

Halliburton is EXACTLY THAT SAFE. No more and no less.

[Robbien]

2. Even though Halliburton is despicable

our troops are so glad to see a KBR mess go up in camp, otherwise they just get MRE's. So I am not going to critize KBR. Too many of our soldiers are happy to see them arrive in camp.

[cornermouse]

3. Dirty kitchens can cause food poisoning.

This is not good.

[Bhaisahab]

26. that's what they want!

food poisoning? that's what the poor sods want-- anything to get them out of bush's hell hole!

[htuttle]

4. If mess hall service wasn't privatized...

...they wouldn't have had to eat MRE's for nearly as long, not to mention that it would probably be cheaper.

The kitchens would be a damn sight cleaner, too.

The drawback is that the larger the regular military, the more expensive politically it is to go to war.

[brokensymmetry]

10. Very interesting statement

You said "The drawback is that the larger the regular military, the more expensive politically it is to go to war."

Please understand that I'm not disagreeing, but somehow your statement seems counter to intuition.

Could you be so kind as to expand on it? Conceptually, I think it's very much worthy of more exploration.

[htuttle]

13. Sure

Ask yourself, when military contractors are killed, how often have you ever seen them 'profiled' on television? Have we ever met their families? No. Military contractors are faceless. Do you know how many contractors have been killed in Afghanistan? I bet not. I don't, and it's very difficult to put that number together. People would rather lose money than sons and daughters (which isn't necessarily a bad thing).

Second, when soldiers are sent away to war, there are families here at home to deal with. While most military personnel sign up with the knowledge that they might be sent away to war, when they actually do go out, you have your local news stories about it, more family profiles and interviews, etc... Did anyone see the 'KB&R Building Brigade' ship out? Nope.

Also, private military contractors are much less accountable than regular military. They argue that they aren't covered by the same conventions of war (such as the Geneva Conventions), and it's pretty unclear exactly WHO has jurisdiction over them in a war zone (the 'host' country where the war is being fought?).

There are private military contractors doing all sorts of tasks for the Department of Defense, from mechanics to drivers to cooks to what could probably best be called combat soldiers, ie., security personnel, guards, etc... (there are large numbers of US paid 'mercenaries' guarding pipelines and doing 'interdiction duty' in Columbia, and also a number in Afghanistan).

Finally, the process of granting these contracts is a campaign contribution GOLDMINE. Defense contractors are are huge, rich industry in the US, and can be very generous with donations (and in providing high paying jobs for former politicians).

I guess the best way to describe it is that private military contractors are 'off the books' in every way but financially. Moving to more and more private contractors is one of the keys to Rumsfeld's 'Revolution in Military Affairs' plans.

[MrPrax]

20. Good points...one drawback

Insurance coverage for private contractors is huge and must be costed into contracts, if a company can even get insurance coverage for it's personnel.
Not much incentive to go to war, if your not insured.

That apparantly was one of the excuses (probably true) offered by KBR as well as others for the delays--couldn't secure insurance coverage, especially for senior personnel.

Other than that--contracting out terror in places like Iraq or even Colombia have certain advantages

No national accountability or responsibility (blowback)
Atrocities simply dealt with criminal charges, at best, or dismissal/firing at least
Nations or 'victims' must re-dress through civil courts in the form of law suits
Employment records can be much easily erased, altered or simply destroyed

I can't imagine in this day and age, you could ever run a 'dirty war' without contracting it out to some internationally based company

[htuttle]

21. In Iraq,

...the US Import/Export bank is insuring all the privatization and rebuilding contracts. I bet they will start handling the rest of their DOD contracting the same way -- the government will simply be the insurer.

The cost of the service won't go down, however. The contractors will just be able to keep that much more profit (and in turn, certainly, the Bush camp will get their vig increased).

Neat, huh?

[Tansy_Gold]

22. Profits can cover cost of self-insuring

A company I worked for recently was approached by KBR to do some subcontracting. The subcontract would have been so lucrative that the company could have paid huge premium wages to its execs, hired locals for general labor, and covered its people with self-funded million dollar insurance policies.

The political costs, however, are not so easily covered.

When an American military person is killed, they are seen as doing their patriotic duty and they are appropriately mourned. More military personnel = more risk of that mourning and public apprehension.

When contractor personnel are killed, they are often looked upon as only in it for the money. More contractor personnel = fewer military personnel = less political risk.

With less political risk and more opportunity for funneling profits to political donors, the idea of contractors providing services that used to be provided by the military is very attractive.

Of course we all know what happened when the Romans did that. . . . . .

[PennyLane]

28. This Thread........

.......has really opened my eyes! It never occured to me why it
would be so lucrative to hire contractors to do the grunt work.
Thanks for the revelation!

[saigon68]

31. Did you ever hear of Air America? Continental Air Service?

This type of stuff has been going on since the 1950's.

The people who work for these outfits, are mostly ex-service people. They love being paid $150,00 a year ( they probably used to make $25,000.)

The CHIMPANZEE knows the fewer "TROOPS" in Irag-Nam -----the better politically for his sorry hanging ass.

Although the food crap being just MRE's (If it isn't privatized) I don't buy.

The services can have very good mess facilties. It does take a few good NCO's and Mess Officers to set the program up. But that means more targets for the suicide bombers and less profit for the CHIMPANZEE and CHENEY'S friends.

[thebigidea]

5. heaven forbid you criticize Halliburton

wouldn't help the stock at ALL.

[mbperrin]

16. Exactly which soldiers are glad to get rotten food in a dirty

environment? My son was not pleased at all with the multiple cases of diarrhea he suffered from while losing 80 pounds last spring over there!

[Robbien]

17. My nephew

I was talking about how bad Halliburton was and Micky asked me to please stop because no matter who they may be owned by, KBR mess halls were a godsend to the troops.

My nephew is being sent back again the first week in January.

[SoCalDem]

18. Be sure and add his name & address to our soldier's list

There are lots of folks here who send stuff to them. FOOD, supplies, games, books, etc..

PM me with his name & apo number when he goes back..

[LosinIt]

29. and what a sad state of affairs that is

A dirty kitchen wouldn't be allowed to operate in the US if inspectors caught them being dirty, but since Halliburton has the contract there is no alternative. God I hate those bastards!

[7th_Sephiroth]

6. i got a new name fot halliburton/kbr

Dirty Cooker (to the tune of dirty bomber, only kbr's actions will only hurt our troops)

[madfloridian]

7. Didn't KB&R declare bankruptcy of some kind?

I thought I saw an article about that. Maybe to avoid the asbestos claims?
That is outrageous to treat our military that way....they deserve better.

[tlcandie]

8. Blood? Rotting meats/veggies?

Not so sure they would be happier eating this stuff then MREs. I would like to hold on my opinion till I've heard from the soldiers on this one.

I can't imagine being subjected to eating with these conditions, but maybe diseases and bacteria are preferred over MREs... :shrug:

[7th_Sephiroth]

9. ya know, i wonder

if i bought halliburton stock, would that make me immune from prosecution?

[Fridays Child]

11. WTF! Blood on the floor?

:puke:

[Fridays Child]

12. Here's a link

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2003/12/14/2003079545

[HawkerHurricane]

14. Treasonous, I say.

And screw (figurativly) Ann Coulter for saying 'liberals are treasonous'. I don't see any liberals feeding troops dirty, unsanitary food from dirty, unsanitary kitchens.

[kskiska]

15. I remember reading an article on the "Turkey Trot"

that touted the great food these soldiers ate, and how even the officers would often invade the enlisted guys' mess hall to partake of the fabulous feasts served there.

[gate of the sun]

19. horrible

and shameful. This is how the republicans reward the boys for securing the corporate interest.

[0007]

24. I'm appalled by this story!

I was in the service during the Korea war. I know things have changed a lot since then. But I never ever saw a dirty mess hall or rotten food. I was on K.P. in a hell of a lot kitchens.

The food was great, but most cooks were not cooks.

[Hand]

23. You have to go back to 1918...

...to find a precedent for this. Back in World War I, the companies supplying rations to US troops in Europe were so corrupt and slack in their cooking and canning that the rations were frequently either inedible or sickening. The soldiers called the stuff monkey meat. The companies got rich, but after the war there was a scandal over it.

Upton Sinclair claimed that more soldiers died from food poisoning and botulism than German fire.

Eighty-five years later... WHY IS THIS IN THE TAIPEI TIMES AND NOT ON CNN? Never mind, we know why. Fucking Headline News was leading off with Michael Jackson again.

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

[leftchick]

32. Taipai Times Indeed!

yes, we know why....... :grr:

[Sugarbleus]

25. Thanks for this post....

I tried posting it earlier but my machine "crashed"...hmmmm

............Way to spend money Hali!! :puke:

[Rebel_with_a_cause]

27. Even a plastic turkey sounds more palatable than that

I'd go for the MRE's over putrid flesh any day.

[pinniped]

30. Oil is what they're there for...

Everything else is secondary.