Despite deaths, Army awards $2.8 billion contract to KBR

[cory777]

Source: AP

Defense juggernaut KBR Inc. was awarded a contract potentially worth $2.8 billion for support work in Iraq as U.S. forces continue to leave the country, military authorities said Tuesday.

KBR was notified of the award Friday, a day after the company told shareholders it lost about $25 million in award fees because of flawed electrical work in Iraq.

The Houston-based company was charged with maintaining the barracks where Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth of Pittsburgh, a 24-year-old Green Beret, was electrocuted in 2008 while showering. The company has denied wrongdoing, and investigators said in August there was "insufficient evidence to prove or disprove" that anyone was criminally culpable in Maseth's death.

The uproar over his death triggered a review of 17 other electrocution deaths in Iraq and widespread inspections and repairs of electrical work in Iraq, much of it performed by KBR.

Read more: http://rawstory.com/2010/03/army-awards-lucrative-iraq-contract-kbr/

[Neecy]

1. When will our tax dollars stop being lavished on these war profiteers?

[DrDan]

2. aaaaargh

more reward for cheney

[driver8]

3. Plenty of money for war, but not much for education.

Fuck KBR...

[denverbill]

4. What the hell ever happened to the Corp of Engineers?

You can bet your ass none of these deaths would have happened if they had been building the barracks, and I'd bet you anything it would cost about 1/4 as much.

[lazarus]

6. Cheney and Rumsfeld

They had the idea a long time ago that privatizing everything non-combat in the military would save money. At least, that's what they claimed. In actuality, it just siphons money into the MIC's civilian side. So KBR is responsible for the chow hall, the barracks, everything. I wouldn't be surprised if they started outsourcing the corpsmen.

[denverbill]

7. Sad isn't it.

They privatize the Corps, ostensibly to save money, because why would you pay for an engineering corps that isn't always needed to build stuff? Hey, when we need stuff built we can just contact it out and dump the contractors when we are done. Unfortunately, it's hard to wean contractors from the government teat. They have a vested interest in making sure the war goes on forever.

Meanwhile, the soldiers who used to learn how to build buildings and do electrical work and plumbing now don't get any of that free on-the-job training.

[sui generis]

5. well, they're clearly too big to fail.

:eyes:

KBR has no competitors that wouldn't cost more to spin up, and the infrastructure still has to be there and be maintained.

I wanted to use an image from keyword "over a barrel" here but the only things I could find were pornographic.

You get my point.