Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR), a onetime subsidiary of Halliburton which Vice President Dick Cheney served as CEO, has been charged with not providing proper electrial wiring for U.S. bases in Iraq and the situation is worse than previously reported.
July 18, 2008
Electrical Risks at Bases in Iraq Worse Than Previously Said
By JAMES RISEN
THE NEW YORK TIMES
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/18/world/middleeast/18contractors.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
WASHINGTON — 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.
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, documents obtained by The New York Times show.
Two soldiers died in an electrical fire at their base near Tikrit in 2006, the records note, while another was injured while jumping from a burning guard tower in May 2007.
And while the Pentagon has previously reported that 13 Americans have been electrocuted in Iraq, many more have been injured, some seriously, by shocks, according to the documents.
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.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
NEW YORK TIMES REPORTS: SHODDY ELECTRICAL WORK BY KBR PUTS SOLDIERS AT RISK IN IRAQ
CNN: DID ARMY HAVE INTELLIGENCE BEFORE DEADLY AFGHAN CLASH THAT KILLED NINE U.S. SOLDIERS?
Military looking at intelligence before deadly Afghan clash
Names and hometowns of 9 U.S. soldiers killed in Afghan attack
Story Highlights
Army unit trying to set up observation post when attacked
Nine soldiers killed Sunday in fight with about 200 Taliban insurgents
Pentagon begins formal probe of battle
British say troops kill Taliban leaders
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/07/17/afghan.probe/index.html#cnnSTCText
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A formal investigation into an attack on a U.S. Army unit by about 200 Taliban insurgents will examine whether the Army had intelligence about a possible assault and whether the troops had access to it.
Taliban militants take up a defensive position at a undisclosed in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, on Saturday.
The fact-finding mission was launched Thursday, several military officials said, after nine American soldiers were killed in Sunday's assault in Afghanistan.
When the attack occurred, the U.S. and Afghan soldiers were scouting for a location in the remote area to set up a coalition observation point. The Taliban never breached the main coalition base near the village of Wanat in Kunar province, which borders Pakistan.
It was the deadliest attack on U.S. troops in Afghanistan in three years, underscoring how the conflict is escalating.
Since May, the deaths of U.S. and allied troops have far outpaced the toll in Iraq. On Thursday, the toll in Afghanistan was 21, compared with six in Iraq.
NATO's International Security Assistance Force did not provide the nationality of a soldier who died in Afghanistan on Thursday. See casualty figures for Afghanistan, Iraq »
U.S. military officials are searching for ways to send more troops to Afghanistan in response to urgent requests from commanders there, given the increase in violence. Watch how U.S. trying to boost Afghan force »
U.S. soldiers killedThe Defense Department on Wednesday identified the U.S. soldiers killed Sunday when their outpost was overrun in Afghanistan. • 1st Lt. Jonathan P. Brostrom, 24, of Aiea, Hawaii. • Sgt. Israel Garcia, 24, of Long Beach, California. • Cpl. Jonathan R. Ayers, 24, of Snellville, Georgia. • Cpl. Jason M. Bogar, 25, of Seattle, Washington. • Cpl. Jason D. Hovater, 24, of Clinton, Tennessee. • Cpl. Matthew B. Phillips, 27, of Jasper, Georgia. • Cpl. Pruitt A. Rainey, 22, of Haw River, North Carolina. • Cpl. Gunnar W. Zwilling, 20, of Florissant, Missouri. • Pfc. Sergio S. Abad, 21, of Morganfield, Kentucky.
A senior U.S. Army official says "all options are on the table," including the possibility of diverting a combat brigade of up to 3,000 troops to Afghanistan later this year. Those troops are now scheduled to go to Iraq.
The commanders are asking for troops as soon as possible. Several officials say it's most likely that the fastest option would be to send a small number of "enabler" troops such as security forces, helicopter units and surveillance aircraft. There is a Marine Corps unit in the region on standby for emergencies that could be sent, officials said.
In Afghanistan on Thursday, local security forces and coalition soldiers in western Afghanistan killed several insurgents in what the NATO command called a "successful operation against high-priority Taliban targets."
The operation took place in the Shindand district of Herat province. Two Taliban leaders, Haji Dawlat Khan and Haji Nasrullah Khan, and a "significant number of other insurgents" were killed, according to a statement from NATO's International Security Assistance Force.
There was no evidence of civilian casualties or accidental damage in the operation, in which a "number of men were discovered handcuffed and imprisoned in appalling conditions in one of the insurgent compounds."
One of the toughest fronts in the war has been the southern province of Helmand.
In Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, the British Defense Ministry said, British troops killed a senior Taliban leader.
WHY CAN'T THE MEDIA TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT McCAIN'S TRIPS TO IRAQ
When Sen. John McCain visited Baghdad on several occasions, the military made sure there was plenty of security including Apache helicopters flying overhead, and snipers perched on the roofs of nearby buildings.
In all, more than 400 troops (that is two combat companies) were assigned to guard McCain.
And then to add insult to injury, the military in cooperation with the puppet Iraqi government arranged to have shop owners open their stores and stock them with fresh fruit and vegetables.
As soon as McCain left the Baghdad street, the shops were closed, the snipers came off the roofs and Apache Helicopters flew off into the setting sun.
Oh, and when McCain returned some months later and wanted to visit the same street in Baghdad, General David Petraeus had to break the news to McCain that it was too dangerous to go back to the same Baghdad street.
WHY CAN'T THE MEDIA TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT McCAIN'S TRIP TO BAGHDAD?
When Barack Obama goes to Iraq next month, I'm sure he will get the same protection as well he should.
Perhaps he can even wear McCain's flak-jacket.
It's practically NEW.
Commentary by BILL CORCORAN, editor of CORKSPHERE url: http://corksphere.blogspot.com
WHY CAN'T THE MEDIA TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT McCAIN'S TRIPS TO IRAQ
When Sen. John McCain visited Baghdad on several occasions, the military made sure there was plenty of security including Apache helicopters flying overhead, and snipers perched on the roofs of nearby buildings.
In all, more than 400 troops (that is two combat companies) were assigned to guard McCain.
And then to add insult to injury, the military in cooperation with the puppet Iraqi government arranged to have shop owners open their stores and stock them with fresh fruit and vegetables.
As soon as McCain left the Baghdad street, the shops were closed, the snipers came off the roofs and Apache Helicopters flew off into the setting sun.
Oh, and when McCain returned some months later and wanted to visit the same street in Baghdad, General David Petraeus had to break the news to McCain that it was too dangerous to go back to the same Baghdad street.
WHY CAN'T THE MEDIA TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT McCAIN'S TRIP TO BAGHDAD?
When Barack Obama goes to Iraq next month, I'm sure he will get the same protection as well he should.
Perhaps he can even wear McCain's flak-jacket.
It's practically NEW.
WORLD HEALTH ORG FINDS CHOLERA, TYPHOID MAIN HEALTH RISKS IN IRAQ
Thousands of Iraqi civilians have been displaced to neighboring foreign countries since the United States invaded and occupied Iraq in 2003, but what you will never hear or see on FOX NEWS, CNN or MSNBC is how the leading health risk in Iraq is cholera and typhoid for returning refugees.
Here are the findings from the World Health Organization:
WHO says cholera, typhoid main health risks in Iraq
Thu Jul 17, 7:11 AM ET
http://tinyurl.com/652bec
The World Health Organisation said Thursday that cholera and typhoid pose the key risks to health in Iraq, with refugees and displaced people particularly vulnerable to any outbreak.
"The fear of cholera and typhoid is our immediate and urgent priority," said Nae'ema al-Gasseer, the WHO's country representative in Iraq.
Millions of Iraqis have been displaced within and without the country since the US-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003, and these people are particularly vulnerable to disease risks due to their precarious circumstances.
The WHO opened a permanent office in the Iraqi capital Baghdad last month, after scaling down its operations in the wake of a devastating terrorist attack against the UN headquarters in the city in August 2003.
Gasseer, who works in the permanent office, said being based in the capital enabled her to be "much closer to decision making" and improve cooperation with the Iraqi authorities.
The WHO said earlier this year that an average of 120 Iraqi adults died a violent death every day in the three years following the 2003 invasion.
The WHO estimated the daily death toll by averaging the overall estimates out at 151,000 dead.
The survey was based on interviews conducted in 9,345 households in nearly 1,000 neighbourhoods and villages across Iraq.
In 2006, another study by US doctors in the British medical journal The Lancet claimed that 655,000 Iraqis had died as a result of the invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.
NEW VIDEO: HOW THE MEDIA EDITS OUT ANYTHING DAMAGING TO BUSH ADMINISTRATION ABOUT IRAQ WAR
Pepe Escobar of THE REAL NEWS NETWORK interviews Tom Englehardt of Tom Dispatch about how the media in Iraq and Afghanistan edit out anything that would be damaging to the Bush admnistration.
THIS VIDEO WILL GIVE YOU AN INSIGHT ON WHAT IS REALLY HAPPENING IN IRAQ AND NOW THE WATERED DOWN VERSION YOU SEE ON FOX NEWS, MSNBC AND CNN.
http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=1884
LATEST JULY U.S. DEATHS IN IRAQ: NAMES, HOMETOWNS AND CAUSE OF DEATH
The following is a list of the latest July casualties ONLY carried here but not in the mainstream media in the United States.
SOURCE: http://icasualties.org/oif/prdDetails.aspx?hndRef=4-2008
US
Staff Sergeant Jeremy D. Vrooman
Knan (died in Baghdad) - Diyala
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
14-Jul-2008
1
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 0
US
NAME NOT RELEASED YET
Falluja - Anbar
Hostile - hostile fire
13-Jul-2008
1
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 0
US
NAME NOT RELEASED YET
Falluja - Anbar
Non-hostile
10-Jul-2008
0
US: 0 UK: 0 Other: 0
09-Jul-2008
3
US: 3 UK: 0 Other: 0
US
Sergeant Alex R. Jimenez
Jurf al-Sakhar - Baghdad
Hostile - hostile fire - body found
US
Private Byron J. Fouty
Jurf al-Sakhar - Baghdad
Hostile - hostile fire - body found
US
Sergeant 1st Class Steven J. Chevalier
Samarra (died in Balad) - Salah Ad Din
Hostile - hostile fire - grenade
08-Jul-2008
1
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 0
US
Specialist William L. McMillan III
Baghdad (west of)
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
05-Jul-2008
1
CNN REPORTS: 15 KILLED AND 90 WOUNDED IN IRAQ
NEW: 15 killed, 90 wounded in car bomb explosion in Tal Afar, west of Mosul
U.S. Marine dies from injuries sustained in Anbar province
Injuries happened in "action against an enemy force," military says
Five members of the U.S. military have died in Iraq in July
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/07/16/iraq.main/index.html
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- At least 15 people were killed and 90 wounded Wednesday when a car bomb exploded in a popular outdoor market in northern Iraq, a police official said.
The bomb, which went off around 7 p.m. in the al-Talia neighborhood of Tal Afar, appeared to target civilians at the market, the official said.
Tal Afar is 43 miles west of Mosul, the site of two other bombings on Wednesday.
Two people were killed and eight wounded in the first explosion in an outdoor market near central Mosul around 4:30 p.m., the official said.
Comment: The television outlets of FOX NEWS, CNN and MSNBC continue to ignore the violence in Iraq and keep telling the American public "the surge" has been a success despite stories like this.....Bill Corcoran, editor of CORKSPHERE
