Waxman wants to know why KBR is electrocuting US soldiers
By SilentPatriot Saturday Mar 22, 2008 9:03amYou really can't make this crap up.
A U.S. House committee chairman has begun an investigation into the electrocutions of at least 12 service members in Iraq, including that of a Pittsburgh soldier killed in January by a jolt of electricity while showering.
Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said Wednesday he has asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates to hand over documents relating to the management of electrical systems at facilities in Iraq.
Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, 24, died January 2 of cardiac arrest after being electrocuted while showering at his barracks in Baghdad.
If that isn't the very definition of troop-hating criminal negligence, I don't know what is. Who here thinks anyone will pay a price for this? Other than Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, this is...
(h/t Nathan)
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The mainstream media isn't going to cover this.
improper grounding will do it every time--
Nice, he died with a small appliance....
Death by I-pod, not faulty pre-existing grounding issues.
So Sad :(
This, along with the water problem (causing skin infections) will be written off.
The American public will continue to sleep and eat Freetos while watching American Idol or FOX Reality shows.
KBR is so complicit with the US Government and Halliburton etc. that the Government will continue to pressure the media to keep this story and others like it off the front pages.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported it and the ongoing story on Friday. However, besides Countdown, I have yet to see it mentioned on tv news.
USSalkaselsior @ 1:
Ummm... this article was posted on CNN.
Is there some magic with the number 12. Why did we get to a dozen dead before someone in Washington woke up. Waxman has chaired a number of committee hearings and so far no one has lost their job, no one has been jailed, no one lost a single $1 in fines and no one is being held accountable for anything. The witnesses show up, lie, spin, lie, spin and at the end of the hearing Repubs and Dems stand up, high 5 each other and then all go out for a steak, a couple of martinis and take home the new bag of cash containing the kickbacks from this weeks lobbyist du jour. The troops are expendable. The committee will find that this last electrocution was needless cause the soldier had already showered once in the past week anyway and he could have prevented his own death by not showering so much.
♣Bangkok Bob♠ @ 4:
That's why we're here to circulate the story to as many people as we know.
♣Bangkok Bob♠ @ 4:
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The epitome of truth.
Blue Taliban Osama Buddha @ 6:
maybe so, but how much in-depth coverage will it receive? Is it a major story, or is it a little blurb between commercials for Taco Bell and Dodge?
They're supporting the troops! By electrocuting them, we will have a fighting force of powerful cyborgs... or zombies... or cyborg zombies!
Ok, I give up. I can't see how wingnut pundits can come up with bullshit.
Blue Taliban Osama Buddha @ 11:
they'll just ignore it...even if the pile of shit is three feet high, they'll simply mumble "I don't smell anything....what shit, where?" and step around the mound.
Chinese made pump... why am I not surprised? And I like how they try to weasel out of this by saying it "was acquired before KBR took over"... that smells like bullshit from 10,000 miles away.
Another investigation? KBR must be trembling in expectation of a strongly worded letter from Waxman. One thing the public has learned is that Leahy, Conyers and Waxman write some of the most "blistering" letters in the D.C. assylum.
This is the kind of thing FN, Matthews, Blitzer, et al should be outraged over. Our soldiers being killed and poisoned by our own military contractors.
Instead we get things Jeremiah Wright *said*. As opposed to things KBR/Halliburton are actually *doing*.
It all makes sense now, 'supporting' the troops means wanting them dead. So, I guess I DON'T support the troops and conservatives most certainly do.
"If that isn’t the very definition of troop-hating criminal negligence, I don’t know what is."
Now now, troop-hating would be immoral. But corporations can never be immoral; they can only be amoral. I guess you never got the memo, you silly goose. Also, sad as these cases may be, I doubt the electrocutions will continue. See, the market will sort it out. Troops will start to stay in barracks where they don't die. Thus, the barracks where they do die will be deserted, and the contractors who run them will go out of business.
...What's that?! They can't go out of business because they're being paid via blank checks stemming from a no-bid contract? Well then, I doubt the problem is systemic; it's probably all the fault of one single
fallguyelectrician. Just charge him with a crime, and the problem will be solved....What's that?! Contractors are immune to both United States and Iraqi laws?
Erm, uh, lynchie is right; they shouldn't be showering so much anyway! What if the terrists decided to leave Iraq and storm U.S. shores while some sergeant was in the shower? He'd be guilty of gross negligence, I say!
One thing is for sure: Dick Cheney could care less about this.
He's got his Order of Merit sash from Saudi Arabia, the government he has served so well.
Great men do not concern themselves with little matters like accidental electrocutions.
I blame the media for this scandal.
(VP Cheney. Any comment on this?)
"Go fuck yourselves."
5 Barbara Key Says: The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported it and the ongoing story on Friday. However, besides Countdown, I have yet to see it mentioned on tv news.
==================================
The war is over. I haven't seen an Iraq story in days. Mission Accomplished.
You're right. No one will pay the price except the soldiers and their families. There has never been any accountability.
If someone is at fault, they'll most likely become a military analyst or pundit on Fox/CNN/MSNBC.
I guess the 'surge' really is working.
From multiple deployments to stop-loss policies, and from faulty equipment provided to troops to Walter Reed, I guess the phrase "support the troops" has different meanings for different people. It's obvious that a majority of Americans "support the troops" as evidenced by all those made-in-China, yellow-ribbon, sticky magnets stuck to the back of so many SUVs.
If this had happened in Viet Nam there would have been contractor supervisors/employees whose families would be notified that they had been killed by Viet Cong. Even if they were found in their quarters on a base like Danang. I'm not gonna be surprised if some KBR families are notified that their beloved was killed by al Qaida in the Imperial City.
No. 44 @ 18:
So a balding, pasty, rotund white man getting a foreign piece of garb thrown over himself is "honoring" a foreign culture, but if it was a slim, young black man would he not be having to distance himself from the Saudis and "explain" the misunderstanding.
I fucking hate people sometimes.
SouthernDragon @ 25:
One of the things about inveterate liars is that occasionally they tell the truth, but because they don't have the context that we do, they tell the truth about things that are no big deal to them.
Thus does their carefully-constructed fantasy world come to pieces.
KBR will start to pay attention to these problems when their top executives start dropping dead from sniper rounds here in the U.S.
john bourne harbour @ 2:
A cost benefit analysis by KBR accountants determined that proper grounding is not cost effective. We must accept that eggs will be broken in making a profitable omelet.
Fucking a**h*les.
And whoever wrote it is correct. Th MSM is way to busy training their guns on Barack to bother with a few enlisted men dying. However, were it Petraeus, we would have Kyra weeping on camera.
Cheney's response: So?
slippy hussein toad @ 27:
If you have access where you live, the CBC Fifth Estate program has a special on the "unseen Afghanistan" this coming week. Maybe they'll post a clip online, not sure. It will take you behind the scenes of Canada's military there, showing in depth soldier opinions of what REALLY is going on there. It's one of the few shows I watch and the only one I've ever seen on television question the US gov'ts lies before the Iraq invasion, complete with US politicians and rightwing wingnuts (Coulter) spouting the propoganda about anyone that questions them (including Canada) has their collective heads in the sand.
slippy hussein toad @ 26:
I can picture it now. As the King puts the sash on Cheney, someone whispers into Cheney's ear "One of our boys just got accidentally electrocuted" and he replies "So?"
Not to mention the orgasm OBL has at the moment he sees the pictures of Cheney and the King...
Blue Taliban Osama Buddha @ 6:
Yeah, on the Politics page, and I'm amazed anyone was able to find it because for days, they've had screaming headlines about polls regarding Obama/Wright, the Richardson endorsement, etc... you know, anything but actual newsworthy items that may cause people to start thinking. Wouldn't want that.
Forgot to add that nowhere on the Politics main page is a mention that this article even exists.
ConcernedCanuck @ 31:
Thanks for the heads up. I don't think most of us can get this, so please let us know what was said.
Yes, let's accuse an entire group of people (that differentiate themselves from you in a partisan fashion) of hating the troops. That's always proven productive. Perhaps you should actually behave as your name entails, and keep quieter.
What? When they can run a series of headlines like : "KBRs SHOCKING DISREGARD FOR THE TROOPS!" This is tailor made for the lowest common denominator instincts of our vaunted infotainment based "news" media - quick, mention how this "sparked our interest" Britt!".
Damn - sounds like waxman is gonna send another one of his famous nasty letters. That should really change things.
What a maroon....
The reason is very simple greed they want to make as much ill gotten gains as they can from this trumped up war and the way you do that is use substandard materials and workmanship. What's the difference if a few soldiers are electrocuted, remember the republican talking point (they volunteered) therefore they get what they deserve.
I think the GOP says they love to get their troops killed. It is the effect of there policies!
I worked there for the most part it was ok. KBR does have a habit of letting things like that go. They are more concerned with safety like, wearing safety glasses, gloves, seat belts and reflector vests.
Cheney feeds on souls and torture and tortured souls.
When starting a war that's premise was not grounded in reality, should we really expect equipment that's properly grounded to earth?
X @ 36:
So it's ok for supporters of Bush and the war to label opponents traitors, unpatriotic, troop haters, etc, but it's not ok for the opponents to use a bit of the same hyperbole. Sounds like another case of IOKIYAR. Personally, I wouldn't say Bush, Cheney, KBR or their supporters are troop haters. I'd say that they don't give a rat's ass about anybody but themselves. Money and power are the only things important to them and that anyone who gets in their way will pay a price.
"Who here thinks anyone will pay a price for this?"
By "this"...do you mean the illegal invasion and subsequent occupation of a wholely innocent people? Do you mean the 1 million plus dead Iraqis due to americas bullshit, lies and constant propoganda? Do you mean the daily abuses, human rights violations, and slaughter of people a half a world away?
Every single american terrorist that dies in Iraq, DESERVES to die in Iraq.
After a long day intimidating and killing innocent Iraqis, a dusty american terrorist is electrocuted in the showers......looks good on him. It's called Karma...and it's coming around.
Troll alert
Didn't you guys hear? The troops are angels! Silent angels on the frontier, shedding a single tear on a cold night while we abuse the freedoms that they provide...
Conservatives believe if they deify soldiers, they don't have to provide for their welfare and safety. The troops our are friends, our children and parents, our classmates and comrades - and just as the military has a duty to protect the civilian populace, the civilian populace has a duty to see that our military is deployed prudently, trained appropriately and equipped to the highest standard. The GOP thinks that care packages and prayers are enough to keep our military safe, but that doesn't work. The troops need more than the conservative brand of "support."
cg @ 45:
Not a troll cg...just leaving an honest opinion with a few truths thrown in for good measure.
Can't handle opinions that aren't "supporting" your death squads overseas? Too bad.
Get used to them...or ignore them...either way, it's how the rest of the world feels about your new america. Maybe stop invading and killing folks all over the world...and maybe the world will start looking at america differently.
Wake up.
This is criminal negligence. We'll see if the Democrats are once again Pussycrats, and will fold in this. I'm not holding my breath.
Proud Non american @ 47:
The truth is, most of us here do not support this war or the actions of our administration. To generalize like you are, you're not really taking the high ground. You can have Blackwater, but a lot of those soldiers didn't sign up for Iraq and are victims as well.
Proud Non american @ 44:
I'd like to know who made you god. If you can say someone deserves to die that says you can also say who deserves to live. Sounds like self-righteousness to me.
Meanwhile Arlen Spector wants to know if the Patriots cheated in a football game...
Proud Non american @ 44:
And you can fuck right off. Besides Karma is only repaid in the next lifetime. Shithead
The Dems giving stern punishment to KBR:
"We are so disappointed in you! We had such high expectations. To get back on our good side could you please start grounding your facilities? Pretty please? Okay, we understand that would be unfair to put you out of business. We're sorry we asked. You are going to complain about this to the media saying we are not tough on terrorism to be asking these questions? Pretty please don't do that. We'll give you much more money to counter terrorism..."
Who here that has experience IN the military has seen shit like this? I have. I've seen how afu things can get. The difference is that after the FIRST time this happened, an NCOIC or OIC would have had someone standing tall, and had someone else explaining exactly how the problem was dealt with, and how exactly it would be prevented in the future. That isn't happening, obviously.
EliteLemming @ 49:
By here do you mean America? Because thats pretty much true
Folks...you go to war with the showers you have, not the showers you want.
This site and/or America whatever works for you, Walter.
cg @ 45:
probably one of o'reilly's producers.
P.K. McBurroughs @ 56:
Furthermore, non-electrocuting, non-infection-giving showers would, in fact, be an insult to our troops. It would be like saying, "Our brave troops are afraid of electrocution and skin infections."
Frankly, I can't think of a more stinging slap to the face.
I don't know if you people are aware of this, but we're at WAR, and each and every skin infection and accidental shower death, while 100% preventable, brings us that much closer to ultimate victory over Islamofascism.
Has your America hating blinded you so much??
Steve @ 54:
Roger that. With a good base commander they'd not only be standing tall, but shaking in their boots and pissing themselves as well. The SECOND time it happened there'd be beaucoup round-eye VC laying all over the place.
I'd bet a kka-zillion bucks that Waxman won't do one thing after this mindless hearing. He's big on show trials, and zip on holding them accountable.
This war is an utter disaster for Iraq and the US. Period. I cannot see any outcome to this war that is not more pain for Iraq and the US. We went there for the oil. We are still trying to control the oil. OIL< OIL, OIL. Blood for OIL. Sanity for oil. Righteousness for oil. US Dollar for OIL. You name it and we are giving it away for OIL. If we stop now, before we have secured our oil corporations' contractual right to control the oil in Iraq all of our sacrifices to this point will have been for nothing. If we stay in Iraq we will continue to slaughter innocent Iraqis and trade our blood, sanity and righteousness for oil. If we leave Iraq perhaps even more innocent civilians will die in a civil war and the dollar will really freefall as in you aint seen nothing yet. Pandoras box has been opened.
Blue Taliban Osama Buddha @ 13:
thats why its code in every country in the world with vaguely regulated electricians and plumbers to bond (ground) water pipes, fixtures, and appliances. Is not rocket science its 100 years of hard earned basic common sense and painful electric shocks, and universal electrical safety.
joe cantwell @ 58:
No kidding. Would be just like O'Reilly, sending out his loon squad to foul the message boards.
Radhika @ 61:
is there a NFL NBA steroid angle to the story ?
Quick, run a Paris Hilton story....
ferrofluid @ 65:
Or an extra-marital sex angle. That would do it.
joe cantwell @ 58:
or a peed off Iraqi person living in Jordan / Syria.
or maybe somebody posting from Europe who doesnt have to be polite in talking about the US mil, unlike us US bloggers.
remember its still a thought crime in the US to comment on hyperthetical US war crimes, esp if the MSM are watching.
Lyndee England did it.
Way too many investigations with next to no follow up. When will someone be held responsible for all the criminality perpetrated by this bushocracy?
KBR, isn't that short for Killed by Republican?
This is a job for Remo Williams! Really! KBR show such little regard for our soldier welfare, it puts fear into the soldier to even stay behind enemy line.
McCain the Liar @ 66:
They ran out of Paris Hilton story, they had to use her brother instead.
The truth of the matter is Halliburton, KBR, Blackwater and the other connected companies will line their pockets with the public's money while Bush is still President, followed up by the final insult that requires the American taxpayer to pay for Bush's and Cheney's security after they slink out of the White House's back door.
Watch Bill Moyers Journal this week and see one of the walking wounded from Iraq in a new documentary on the war. In the film, the soldier and his wife and mother go to the Crawford camp that Cindy Sheehan set up. They were crying because 2000 US military had died in Iraq. Now it's 4000. When will the vampires be satisfied?
groucho @ 74:
Only when someone puts a stake in their heart ... and noone in Congress or the Senate has the courage to attempt it.
frank bonas jr @ 73:
Slink out? Tarring and feathering would be a more appropriate way for them to exit. How people like that sleep at night amazes me.
Rico @ 76:
They'll have to leave quietly and in the dark of night in order to avoid the police van waiting to take them to jail for their crimes against America and the World.
For years now, intelligent people have openly wondered about the purpose of the Iraq Conquest. It didn't help the terrorist situation. It didn't and couldn't improve our energy situation. It didn't stabilize the Middle East. So why did we do it?
The answer, I've decided, is that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney are trying to improve U.S. genetics. This war is nothing less than their effort to cull the weak-willed and stupid.
The electrocutions of American soldiers are merely an indication that the war-cover of this culling has begun to stagnate, and so the Bush Administration has ordered its minions to begin killing soldiers by whatever new means are available. In weeks to come, I'm sure we'll see waves of death from unexplained food poisoning and disease.
Blaming the Chinese for "everything" is not the answer. We had the "commies", now "Islamofascists", and the now Chinese, on deck (and should I even dare to mention, domestically, the N-gg-s and the Sp_cs??) It's like (largely white)America needs to hate others. (Then invade.)
Don't get me wrong, the Chinese have some fuck ups and bad history: Tianamen and Tibet are not cool, but I smell an MSM/GOP/Corporate rat in here also. If it goes bad, blame China. (Look at the balance sheets-- explains a lot.)
Electrocute Washington: start over.
6 Blue Taliban Osama Buddha Says: USSalkaselsior @ 1:
The mainstream media isn’t going to cover this.
Ummm… this article was posted on CNN.
===================
The mainstream media is not going to cover this. Posted on CNN? Like anyone (sorry guys-- in America) reads articles.
There are some sick people that are employed at KBR field sites that have never had to wear the uniform of any branch of the United States Armed Services,(DICK CHENEY) maintain esprit decorp for themselves or anyone else,.. and yet they are responsible for the lives of our fighting men and women. Remember the rape case of the other KBR employees not long ago. KBR's ability to find qualified personnel to support our troops in the field needs to be vastly improved. That responsibility lies with the CEO of KBR. Maybe Dick Cheney has an working knowledge of who that would be ,..I don't know but I wold bet that he just might know who that is. Maybe this is there sick and disturbed way of celebrating the fifth year of "SHOCK AND AWE"! God Help anyone in uniform who swore to protect and defend these SOB's
We're tazing them over there so we don't have to taze them over here.
People like Staff Sergent Ryan Maseth and all the rest of our soldiers that have given there all,.. to allow you and I the freedoms and opportunities to express ourselves on this blog and anywhere else, should not be taken for granted. Their sacrifice to our country should not be accentuated by arrogant and ignorant comments. Nearly every soldier in uniform, (with the exception of the "Bat-shit crazies" that are in the ranks) is asking themselves "When is the right time to be the last soldier to die in a war that was a mistake?!" Where have we herd those words before?
Proud Non american @ 47:
Totally agree with and tread also on the "sacred" ground of how absolutely grotesque it is to compare our 4,000 soldiers lost to more than a million dead Iraqi innocents who were NEVER a threat to the u.s.. The u.s. invades ANOTHER innocent country for their resources, tortures and imprisons them, toss them into inspeakable depths of grief, and we are SHOCKED and mortified, when they retaliate IN DEFENSE OF THEIR OWN COUNTRY.
The average american is retarded.
I am lst generation american and am so disgusted and ashamed of what is being done in our name around the world to other human beings, disappearing wildlife, and shitting all over the land, seas and skies, the u.s. is a MONSTER to this world. There. I said it for all the timid so they don't have to.
THEIR OWN COUNTRY!!!!!
Air Force Dave @ 84:
The big twist here is this assumption we have won "freedoms" killing other people. That is was and ever shall be, total and complete steaming pile of crap.
Oh, and before you add your insulted reply, the last time "freedoms" were actually fought for by soldiers defending their own turf was in the l800's.
This is different and separate from the dignities of a given soldier. In the last 60 years, all wars were fought for money and power, not dignity nor principle, which went largely unbeknownst to the average soldier who either signed up or was drafted. The average soldier fighting today is completely cockolded by a creepy bedtime story told them by a gov't that cares not whether they live or die, nor bothers to equip them properly, allow them to rest, gives proper medical compensation or rehabilitation, has made them chase their paychecks from country to country to send to their distressed families....the list goes on and on and on.
Obvioulsy the US wants to kill it's own soldiers.... Duh?
KBR is still waiting for the US to sign the multi-billion dollar no-bid contract requiring them to stop electrocuting our soldiers.
Air Force Dave @ 84:
Dave, killing a million Iraqi's and stealing their oil isn't protecting our freedoms. I don't remember any Iraqi soldiers dropping bombs on the US, or breaking into our homes at night to rape and kill our women and children. In case you forgot, the whole WMD thing was a made up lie. The connection of Iraq to Al Queda, made up. The connection of Iraq to 911, total fabrication. Ask the Iraqi people which tyrant they would rather live under.
Not sure what the whole second half of your post was meant to say. It certainly doesn't read as English.
Those who have been to the middle east know first hand how shoddy ALL of the construction work is over there. When Fluor, KBR, Bechtel, and other companies are allowed to build according to US standards a quality product is given. In the past couple of years though there has been a huge push to use Iraqi contractors instead as that is "investing" in the country. I can tell you first hand that I had the very same grounding issues with Iraqi and Jordanian contractors. I had to use US labor to repair it all. I too grieve for any fallen soldier regardless of why but I would not be surprised to find out that this shower was actually installed by an Iraq subcontrator or using Iraqi labor.
"I worked there for the most part it was ok. KBR does have a habit of letting things like that go. They are more concerned with safety like, wearing safety glasses, gloves, seat belts and reflector vests."
I work for AT & T. They are the same way. They pretend to be in favor of safety by focusing on petty things(like wearing hardhats when you aren't climbing, or under any aerial hazards) that are more useful for getting employees in trouble, or covering themselves from lawsuits, than actually keeping anyone safe.
On the job injury? Ah yes, he wasn't wearing his safety glasses. So sorry, written warning. If something that is a REAL safety hazard will cost money to fix, it never gets done.
One of my co-workers was out and about, and the "Safety Director " rolled up and started giving him the third degree about safety glasses, hardhat, etc. It was during a major snowstorm, where they had us all driving around in vans with no snow tires. My co-worker said "how about some snow tires?" The Safety Director told him to talk to his boss, and get some snow tires, but not to tell the other guys in the crew that they could do the same. He immediately told everyone about it, and we all got snow tires.
Yep, you are right about all that. The powers that be all harp about "Safety Culture". They mean,"surface culture". Issues like lift load claculations, preventive maintenance, and fatigue are almost never discussed but PPE is all the rage. My mentors taught me that you use administartive controls and engineering controls before you ever use personal protective equipment.
Dick Cheney Hussein (sometimes known as Edwin) @ 20:
When pressed he was quoted as saying "So?"
Rico @ 76:
sleep at night?
Vampires don't sleep at night. That's when they do their best work.
When you hear about "accidental" deaths in Iraq, you hear about humvee rollovers, driving into ditches filled with water, friendly fire, etc, but then you wonder, "What are some of the OTHER causes of accidental deaths over there"?
Jeezus, not only are KBR and Halliburton profiting illegally and immorally, but they're doing a SHITTY job, the end result being DEAD SOLDIERS
P.S. Years ago I installed an above ground spa in my backyard. My neighbor who had done electrical work told me to make SURE I wired in a ground fault breaker or I could be boiled alive in my own spa. I heeded his advice and enjoyed my spa; some pretty basic electrical work done by an amateur and all was well.
The poster above who said that the work on the showers was probably done by an Iraqi / Iraqi contractor is probably right on the money. The question which THEN needs to be answered is, was it INTENTIONAL? I mean, one or two deaths MAYBE, but TWELVE DEATHS?! I 'm not talking about KBR per se, but the IRAQI who was hired to do the work; what I'm saying is, is KBR is having the ENEMY is wire up the military's showers?! What about all of the other work being done by Iraqi contractors?!
The last thing that should be mentioned is that this is the kind of crap that happens with an all-volunteer military. If the military was as it should be, they would be using their own people, and these sleazy outfits like FBR, Halliburton, Blackwater etc would be GONE. THIS is what's at the HEART of the issue.
The actions of Halliburton and KBR amount to grand larceny. These are the same companies who would just throw away a truck needing an oil change and replace it with a new one.
We really need to grab power away from corporations again.
380V floating ground.
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