KBR Official Asks For Closer Involvement With Government To Improve Performance

While the KBR has been criticized for not proactively reducing its Iraq workforce, a representative from KBR asked government officials Monday to provide more direction through their oversight efforts.

“Why can’t the contractor be brought into this process sooner, so we can do a better job in preparing, in conjunction with the military, the plan?” asked KBR Principle Program Manager Guy A. J. Laboa during his testimony before the commission. (0:13)
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KBR Failed To Cut Staff, Save Government $193 Million

According to Robert Henke, a member of the Commission on Wartime Contracting, defense contractor Kellogg, Brown and Root Inc. (KBR) failed to cut their excessive workforce and save what a government audit projected to be $193 million. (0:14)
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Exposure To Toxic Chemical In Iraq Was Preventable, Says U.S. Soldier

Rocky Bixby, a former staff sergeant of the Oregon Army National Guard, says he is disturbed by the fact that his exposure to a highly toxic chemical in Iraq, sodium dichromate, was preventable. He says he and his fellow soldiers could have used protective gear for toxic environments, but no one warned them of the substance's dangers. (0:26)
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U.S. Soldier Explains Exposure To Toxic Chemical

Russell Powell, a former staff sergeant of the West Virginia Army National Guard, explains the thick orange powder, now known to be the highly toxic chemical sodium dichromate, he was exposed to at the Qarmat Ali water injection facility in Iraq. (0:20)
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Dorgan: Bonuses To KBR Shows "Stunning Incompetence"

Senator Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) discusses how the payment of bonuses to KBR was predetermined in the contracting agreement, which he believes, demonstrates "stunning incompetence" by those in the Department of Defense who hired this firm. (0:18)
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Special Report: Electrocution of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan

Talk Radio News Service staffer Tim Herchenroeder breaks down a government investigation into electrocution deaths of U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan in a special report from Washington.
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Army is to blame for electrocutions, says KBR employee

Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) asks Tom Bruni, theater engineering and construction manager for Kellogg, Brown, and Root (KBR), a contracting company in Iraq, who is responsible for the negligence that lead to the electrocutions of soldiers in Iraq. (2:06)


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Finding the truth is non-partisan, says Waxman

Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) discusses the effects of the electrical problems in Iraq and notes that finding the truth to the problem is not a Republican or Democratic aim, but an aim to find the truth.(1:05)
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Pentagon: allegations "flat out wrong"

During a press briefing Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell says that any perception that the DoD or Army contractors are as "negligent" or "callous" as to allow the deaths of U.S. soldiers in Iraq due to electrocution is flat-out wrong. Morrell says that the DoD is concerned with the safety of U.S> soldiers. Sixteen U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq due to electrical accidents.
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Iraq contractor lacks supplies and professionalism

Jeffrey Bliss, former electrician for Kellogg, Brown, and Root (KBR) in Iraq, reveals the general incompetence of the contractor to the Senate.
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What KBR did wrong in Iraq

In front of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, Charles M. Smith, former Head of Field Support Contracting, hightlights KBR's main infractions, which were compounded by the DCAA. (2:25)
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KBR former employee Langford: Keep on working despite ongoing symptoms

Danny Langford, a former employee of Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR), talks about the exposure to Sodium Dichromate he experienced working in Iraq and KBR’s lack of effort to protect its workers. (1:12)
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U.S. contractors and tax evasion in the Caymans

Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) says that it is "embarrassing" that Defense Department contractors in Iraq are paying their employees through shell companies in the Cayman Islands, thereby avoiding U.S. taxes. (1:00)
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Former KBR employee says her life was in danger after reporting on her co-workers’ illegal activities in Iraq

Linda Warren, a former Halliburton/KBR employee in Iraq, says she witnessed looting and poor treatment of Iraqi employees by her co-workers and managers. When KBR security and the U.S. military inspected the quarters they found enough contraband to “fill a warehouse.” Warren says she had to be extracted from Baghdad the next day after the KBR office intercepted a threatening e-mail from one of her co-workers. (0:41)
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KBR employees withheld ice from Marines to trade and give to friends

Frank Cassaday, a former KBR employee in Iraq, describes to the Senate Democratic Policy Committee some of the illegal activities and rule violations he witnessed by KBR managers and employees. He says the ice plant foreman kept ice from a convoy of U.S. Marines going out into the desert, so the foreman could give the ice to friends. (0:45)
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Pentagon: No problems with bottled water in Iraq

Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell says the bottled water has no issues in tests and that the controversial report on bad water supplied to US troops in Iraq by contractors is over a year old (0:33)
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