Halliburton accused of supplying rotten food to U.S. forces

[sabra]

Source: birmingham star

U.S military contractor KBR, a former subisidary of Halliburton, is facing a number of lawsuits over its activities in Iraq, and elsewhere.

KBR is the largest contractor for the United States Army and a top-ten contractor for the U.S. Department of Defense.

In one class-action suit Joshua Eller, a civilian who worked for the U.S. Air Force in 2006 at the Balad air force base northeast of Baghdad, alleges KBR 'knowingly and intentionally supplied to U.S. forces and other individuals food that was expired, spoiled, rotten, or that may have been contaminated with shrapnel, or other materials'.

KBR 'supplied water which was contaminated, untreated, and unsafe', Eller charged, detailing a number of examples.

Read more: http://story.birminghamstar.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/b8de8e630faf3631/id/439418/cs/1/

[SpiralHawk]

1. "On the bright side, our PROFITS are Way up. Smirk." - Republicon Crony War Profiteer KBR

"Love them fatass crony war profits. Too bad about your sons and daughters in uniform and the crappy food we serve 'em. Somebody's got to sacrifice. Smirk. Sneer."

- VP Dickie 'Five Military Deferments' Cheney

[predfan]

2. Boy, the standards and scruples of Halliburton sure went to hell when Cheney left.

He'd never have stood for such an insult to our fighting men and women.

( sorry, I've been self medicating with red wine and marijuana again)

[47of74]

3. That's why I've been saying...

That's why I've been saying that Halliburton/KBR should be banned from doing any government work for the next 500 years. Plus they should face billion dollar fines.

[cliffordu]

6. trillions. fines in the trillions.

[ihavenobias]

19. Amen, and K & R

[valerief]

4. Well, the U.S. gummint just sent them over there to get blown up anyway.

It's not like the U.S. gummint looks out for their military. They don't give a shit about them or 90% of Americans. And they certainly don't give a rat's ass about any non-billionaire Iraqis either.

[Frustratedlady]

5. The saying, "We support our troops!" keeps running through my head.

I dare not start listing my disgust and hatred for this cabal. I'm so sick of them, they can't get out of there soon enough.

Is Bush limited on the number of pardons he can give out?

How did they get to be this thoughtless and mean? Just imagine what we DON'T know.

[MessiahRp]

7. Another link

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/12/military_kbr_lawsuit_121508w/

[exman]

8. "that page has gone AWOL"

:shrug:

[MessiahRp]

14. It just loaded for me

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/12/military_kbr_lawsuit_121508w/

I'm not sure if it was that the forward slash was missing at the end or what.

I also searched KBR lawsuit and it came up.

Rp

[scytherius]

9. Well, at least Cheny will get his stock dividend. n/t

nt

[pansypoo53219]

10. butbutbut

this a tradition! 1st time was the revoluion. why should we stop profiteering now?

[lonestarnot]

11. And that slave camp, how's it coming along?

[Tesla]

12. 10 Billion a month don't get you much these days!!

I wonder how big of a bonus ol' Dick gets.....

[lonestarnot]

21. Hmmmm. Apparently buys a slave camp if you lie about prospective employment to Nigerians.

[bigworld]

13. This is how BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN started

Watch it if you've never seen!

[Deep13]

15. Public employees just do it better. nt

[Soylent Brice]

16. ...

shocking:sarcasm:

[blue97keet]

17. Military Contractor in Iraq Holds Foreign Workers in Warehouses

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/12/03-7

Military Contractor in Iraq Holds Foreign Workers in Warehouses

by Adam Ashton

"BAGHDAD - About 1,000 Asian men who were hired by a Kuwaiti subcontractor to the U.S. military have been confined for as long as three months in windowless warehouses near the Baghdad airport without money or a place to work.

Najlaa International Catering Services, a subcontractor to KBR, an engineering, construction and services company, hired the men, who're from India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. On Tuesday, they staged a march outside their compound to protest their living conditions."

[Hippo_Tron]

18. This is why I have concerns about Obama keeping Gates

While he has been in control of the Pentagon nobody has been held accountable for this and most of the other crap caused by KBR. Maybe that is by directive from the White House. But I really hope that the President-Elect has plans to address these problems.

[KamaAina]

20. Not a whole lot has changed since the "embalmed beef" scandal

during the Spanish-American War. A young ensign named John McCain might have gotten some of it...

In the months following the Spanish-American War, during a court of inquiry held to investigate problems in the U.S. Army's food quality, the army’s commanding general, Nelson Miles, made reference to "embalmed beef". Miles, a Civil War Union Army veteran, had had many years of experience with army provisions. During the Spanish-American War he recommended to Secretary of War Russell A. Alger that local cattle be purchased in Cuba and Puerto Rico for the army's use. This would have followed the army's traditional practice of providing fresh beef for itself. Despite his requests, the American government sent hundreds of tons of refrigerated and canned beef to the army from the mainland. In his testimony before the court of inquiry, Nelson referred to the refrigerated product as "embalmed beef", and provided the court with a letter from an army medical officer describing the product. "(M)uch of the beef I examined arriving on the transports from the United States ... (was) apparently preserved by injected chemicals to aid deficient cold storage", the medical officer wrote. "It looked well, but had an odor similar to that of a dead human body after being injected with preservatives, and it tasted when first cooked like decomposed boric acid ..."

As for the canned product, Miles reported, during the war he had received many complaints about its poor quality. His officers provided many striking descriptions of it. "The meat ... soon became putrid", wrote one colonel, "and in many of the cans was found in course of putrefaction when opened". An infantry major declared that "'Nasty' is the only term that will fitly describe its appearance. Its use produced diarrhea and dysentery." Still another officer noted that "It was often nauseating and unfit for use. It should no longer be issued."

Miles also made public statements, reported in the newspapers, claiming that the canned meat was the after-product of the process for making beef extract. "There was no life or nourishment in the meat", charged Miles. "It had been used to make beef extract, and after the juice was squeezed out of it the pulp was put back in the cans and labeled 'roast beef'." As for the embalmed beef, Miles stated "I have the affidavits of men who have seen the process of embalming beef ... treating it chemically for the purpose of preserving it"....

The meat scandal, while resulting in no other immediate changes, may have contributed to later army commissary reform and perhaps, along with Upton Sinclair's book The Jungle, to the passage of the federal Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906.

Over a century later, here we go again... "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." :eyes:

[conspirator]

22. Ah. The joys of unregulated capitalism. you gotta make a profit nt

[jtrockville]

23. But but but... they're UNIQUELY QUALIFIED

I mean... it's not as if just ANY company could supply contaminated water, food, and shocking (literally) plumbing, eh?

[TXDemGal]

24. Well, did KBR's contract actually stipulate that the food had to be EDIBLE??

I mean, come on, I think they have a valid defense here! :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[pleah]

25. K&R :( n/t