Bushco Contractor Quietly Granted Legal Immunity While Securing Oil Supplies In Iraq

[kpete]

Veterans Exposed to Carcinogen Shed Light on Secret Iraq Contracting Deal

Friday 10 September 2010

by: Mike Ludwig, t r u t h o u t | Report

A lawsuit filed by Iraq war veterans against a former Halliburton subsidiary over exposure to toxic chemicals is not the first of its kind, but it has brought new insight into the Iraq war by revealing that a contractor with close ties to the Bush administration was quietly granted legal immunity while securing oil supplies in Iraq.

Former Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR) failed to notify US National Guardsmen that were exposed to a highly toxic and cancer-causing chemical while providing security for the firm early in the Iraq war. The guardsmen got sick, and thanks to a classified agreement, US taxpayers could pay the legal bills for the latest in a string of lawsuits against the massive military contractor.

Halliburton and KBR won a multi-million dollar contract in 2003 to rebuild Iraq's oil supply infrastructure shortly after the US invasion. KBR quickly began fixing the Qarmat Ali water plant, a site contaminated with sodium dichromate, a rust-remover containing the cancer-causing chemical hexavalent chromium - the heavy metal famously fought by Erin Brockovich.

Members of the Oregon, West Virginia and Indiana National Guards provided security at Qarmat Ali, and 26 of them filed a suit against KBR claiming the hexavalent chromium - and KBR's negligent and fraudulent misconduct - has made them sick.

more:
http://www.truth-out.org/veterans-exposed-carcinogen-shed-light-secret-iraq-contracting-deal63135?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TRUTHOUT+%28t+r+u+t+h+o+u+t+|+News+Politics%29

[burnsei sensei]

1. All the oil industries in the Middle East

should be nationalized.
And then there should a subsequent disengagement of foreign technicians and other personnel from the region.
If the resource belongs to the people there, and they live there, then they should be responsible, completely so, for what comes of it.

[indepat]

2. Memo from Bush administration and KBR to sick soldiers: fuck you!

;)

[Solly Mack]

3. Love and support, there is no doubt.

[Winterblues]

4. Is there anyone involved with the Bush* Cabal that has not been granted immunity?

Including the very worst of the worst, Cheney and Bush* themselves. :shrug: My greatest disappointment with the current Administration and Congress is their complete whitewashing of the war crimes committed..