Veterans Exposed to Carcinogen Shed Light on Secret Iraq KBR Contracting Deal

I know Veterans Day was yesterday(sarcasm ..slightly).Another example of the privatization of war.

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/09/10/veterans-exposed-to-carcinogen-shed-light-on-secret-iraq-kbr-contracting-deal/

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.

snip

recent probe by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon) revealed that KBR’s contract for the Restore Iraq Oil initiative included the only indemnity provisions provided to a military contractor in Iraq since 2001. Indemnity is a kind of legal immunity similar to an insurance policy, and in this case, makes the government responsible for paying for claims involving bodily injury or death resulting from KBR’s efforts to restore the flow of oil in Iraq.

snip

Papak also found that KBR was contractually required to report and evaluate environmental hazards and “to take all necessary precautions to safeguard personnel who might potentially be exposed to environmental hazards at work sites, including the wearing of protective gear and/or the closing down of operations at any unsafe site.”

KBR continues to deny this obligation.

long as Iraqi oil production did not exceed the 2.5 million barrels/day output at the time the war started. That level was already depressed. In effect, the whole thing was a major scam by the multinational oil companies and other producing states, such as Saudi Arabia, to insure that world production stayed artificially depressed and crude oil prices high. 2009 production was 2.4 bbls/day - my, my, what a surprise.

That, my friends, was the top agenda item discussed at Cheney's secret energy summit, and the major reason we invaded and destroyed Iraq.