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Saturday, July 19, 2008

US troops collateral damage now to contractors?

From US Military
Department of DefenseDictionary of Military and Associated Terms
http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/new_pubs/jp1_02.pdf
collateral damage — Unintentional or incidental injury or damage to persons or objects thatwould not be lawful military targets in the circumstances ruling at the time. Such damage is not unlawful so long as it is not excessive in light of the overall military advantage anticipated from the attack. (JP 3-60)
link provided from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collateral_damage


KBR doesn't seem to care. The Pentagon didn't care enough when the problem first became clear and safety was being disregarded. What is behind this ambivalence and neglect? Is this more of the same kind of attitude that allowed the troops to be exposed to contaminated water? More of the same when they were not provided with the vehicles that could spare their lives? More of the same when contacts were given to inept companies supplying substandard uniform pants that separated in the crotch? Even worse, substandard body armor? Are the troops now collateral damage to the contractors making money off what they are doing to the troops as long as they get paid? Who is being held accountable for any of this? Anyone at KBR? Anyone at the Pentagon?



Failure to Fix Base Hazards Worried Pentagon Official
By JAMES RISEN
Published: July 19, 2008
WASHINGTON — A Pentagon safety expert told senior Defense Department officials earlier this year that their failure to heed warnings to fix widespread electrical hazards on American bases in Iraq could leave the Pentagon liable for multiple electrocutions of American soldiers, according to internal e-mail correspondence released Friday.


In a May 5, 2008, e-mail message, a safety official at the Defense Contract Management Agency, the Pentagon organization in charge of supervising defense contractors in Iraq, noted that the agency had failed to act after its own comprehensive safety survey in February 2007 found widespread electrical problems at American bases that had led to a series of deaths, injuries and fires.

But top D.C.M.A. officials responded to the assertion by saying that they had never heard of the safety survey, indicating that they had no knowledge of the longstanding electrical problems.

In January 2008, 11 months after the comprehensive safety review, Staff Sgt. Ryan D. Maseth, a Green Beret, was electrocuted while taking a shower at his base in Baghdad, apparently because of poorly grounded electrical work in the building. A subsequent Pentagon review of its records found that at least 13 American personnel had been electrocuted in Iraq since the war began in 2003
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