What did you do in the war, KBR?

The swell folks at KBR - primo outsourcers in the war in Iraq - are in the news yet again.

According to an article in last week's NY Times:

Shoddy electrical work by private contractors on United States military bases in Iraq is widespread and dangerous, causing more deaths and injuries from fires and shocks than the Pentagon has acknowledged, according to internal Army documents.

KBR, among other services, provides troop housing.

As long as there have been wars, soldiers have been dying in ways that are not directly related to combat. They accidentally shoot themselves. They get runover. The fall overboard. They're in a jeep crash. (Isn't that how General George Patton died?)

Getting electrocuted is just one more unnatural cause, I guess - although admittedly a really horrific one.

But there seems to be an awful lot of faulty wiring in Iraq, and a lot of it was put in by KBR.

During just one six-month period — August 2006 through January 2007 — at least 283 electrical fires destroyed or damaged American military facilities in Iraq, including the military’s largest dining hall in the country.

Thirteen American have been electrocuted "in country," with higher numbers sustaining injuries from shocks.

A log compiled earlier this year at one building complex in Baghdad disclosed that soldiers complained of receiving electrical shocks in their living quarters on an almost daily basis.

According to the Army, "electrical problems were the most urgent noncombat safety hazard for soldiers in Iraq," a problem attributed to "the poor-quality electrical fixtures procured and installed, sometimes incorrectly". Supposedly, even KBR has acknowledged that there are electrical work problems.

The electrical problem is coming to light because the family of Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, electrocuted last winter while taking a shower, is pushing for answers. The Army's now inspecting the wiring in all the KBR buildings in Iraq.

KBR, it will come as no shock, denies that there's evidence of any link between their work and all the fires and electrocutions. Their "commitment to the safety of all employees and those the company serves remains unwavering.”

Not that having the military do its own wiring would guarantee that the job was done perfectly, but this story is one more in a disturbing sequence about the problems that attend the government's prosecution of the war by relying so heavily on contractors, who see to task that the military used to do for itself.

There have been other problems with KBR:

They include accusations of overbilling, providing unsafe water to soldiers and failing to protect female employees who were sexually assaulted.

So much has been outsourced in Iraq "that companies like KBR were simply overwhelmed by the scale of the operations."

Subcontractors were used, who in turn hired unskilled Iraqi locals and paid them a pittance - a very nice way to both a) increase the bottom line; and b) remove yourself from the perils of direct accountability. ("I thought I could trust that darned subcontractor.")

Whatever you think of the war, it is shameful and hideous that we're allowing things like this to happen to our troops so that we can save money, allow "friendly" corporations to profiteer, and mask the true costs of the war by minimizing the number of troops involved (substituting civilians to serve in roles that, in prior wars, were held by soldiers).

Surely we can do better for our troops than providing them such substandard housing that they can't even step into the shower without worrying about coming out alive.

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A year ago, I posted here on the plight of a woman who'd been hired by KBR to do laundry in Iraq.