Halliburton gave Iraq Troops bad water. Many fell sick.

Yikes !!!

Oh My this is terrible !!

I've missed you lately Peter

This is terrible! Thank God they weren't drinking it!

Hi !!!

yeah, I've missed you too!

Let me guess...they were the lowest bidder and they're friends with some Big Wig.

Hi ya Peter!

I wonder how much our going cheap on this war has improved corporate profit margins?!

I'm here I'm here. I wasn't here TOO much yesterday because I've had a VERY STUPID cold (and it gave me a very stupid headache). But even then I came in a bit.

And...when you take into account the sh _ ty medical benefits the troop's have...they saved a fortune all around.

No, Vana, they weren't the lowest bidder. There was no bid. Aaaaahhhh !!!!

I bet they would have been the highest bidder in the "free market". Maybe they promised quality for all that money.

Yep Vana - this war made a few C.E.O.s and such A LOT of money.

Hope you start feeling better! It's going around big time...my husband has typhoid (not really), a nasty upper and lower respiratory infection.

So, this is how the men and women who are fighting for OUR freedom are treated? That is b.s.

My cold is just irritating. Lots of herbal tea. Not that Airborne bubbly water rip-off - but a real thick sludge of real herbs !!!

Yes Donna it is sad that water even falls to greed.

And safe water is more expensive than we realize.

I have hubby in quarantine...lol! When he's sleeping I sneak in and grease him all up with Vicks!

I think we should send all the corporate types on over, and make them bathe in their supplied product.

Double Yikes!

There's probably laws that prohibit soldiers from suing the government and their suppliers...pretty convenient huh?

The troops need an advocate; maybe someone needs to start a labor movement for the army.

Wow-------that's a mess.

They can't even get water right these days. That's what you get when you privatize everything these days - especially war.

Vana's right - I bet no one can sue. This war is all a corporate dream come true ... Pull off some "fast ones" and don't worry about lawsuits !!!!

So sad ... I feel sorry about those poor people .Well- written Peter and thanks for shifting our attention to this issue.

Vana: It as probably a no bid contracted handed to them because they are friends with Cheney. That's how Halliburton got virtually all of its contracts. If you want to see your hair turn white, try reading how much fraud the GAO has uncovered in the Halliburton contracts and how far it has to go before it's anywhere near complete.

I guess it's no surprise when we think about it. We put big business in the white house and what do we think they're doing to do with that position and power?

I'm still trying to figure out how Bush got re-elected with much of this same garbage going on--it's sickening, and I'm not talking about just the water!

Is the Gulf War Syndrome still being denied? I remember when those guys came home sick and the Pentagon called them cry babies and trouble makers.

What will this war produce? What water born illnesses are they exposed to that we don't even know about yet?

PJS: That is a simple, plain, stupid SIN! (And I don't talk about sin very much or very often.)
Was watching a video where they showed a plate of soldier's food that cost the US $26 dollars (per plate) One piece of meat, two veges and a starch (which might have been potatoes OR rice, I couldn't tell. Guess who supplies the food?

I say bring 'em home, we can give them steak for that price...
Wilka

Since anything Halliburton does is protected or overlooked by the Bush Administration, Halliburton has nothing to worry about. The have short changed our men and women in order to make Chaney and his cronies richer and richer.

Hey Carolyn...I'm looking into it as we write and it makes me sick. I love how Cheney has used the office of the Vice President to further his own personal gain. What noble or worthy cause has he promoted as V.P.? Nothing...except pad his pockets with government contracts!

Yes Kay - Bush got re-elected to do more of the same. Because we didn't want any of those swift boats - or whatever it was that we didn't want Kerry for.

Vana - this administration thinks that's what the presidency is for, for sure. What else have they done? It's a "for profit" white house.

I haven't heard much about Gulf War Syndrome lately. If they don't talk about it, maybe it will go away. There have been discussions about more than 10% (this is probably a LOW figure on the part of government reporting) of soldiers coming back from Iraq suffering from PTSD, depression, and mild brain damage.

What the hell's mild brain damage...is that like being a little bit pregnant?

Peter, how nonsensical was that swift boat thing. Can you imagine we voted to continue a war over such a ludicrous unfounded tempest in a teapot. What will they come up with this year?

Halliburton CEOs have never been loathe to profit from suffering

I think it's a sin that big business comes before our troops, our children, our elderly or anyone else for that matter.

and Vivian, our sick!

This makes me feel sad and helpless. This is how George and his buddies "support the troops."

You don't go to war with the water you'd like to have, or the water you want;
you go to war with the water that you have.

The amusing part about the swift boats controversy (if you enjoy Kafka-esk irony) is that the Lieutenant who'd been in the water admitted he never actually saw Kerry's boat take fire as it came to rescue him because he'd been too busy ducking the bullets fired at him and swimming for his life toward Kerry's boat.
(For the record he'd fallen from one of the other boats as it sped away. One of the other boat's whose crew (not coming back for him by the way) later tried to discredit Kerry.
It makes NO sense that the enemy would have continued to fire only at the soldier in the water and not at the boat speeding to his rescue.
But then whoever said anything has to make sense to the spin doctors of this admin.

Absolutely Nuts! ... Interestingly, Haliburton (which Cheney was the CEO of or something like that in Houston before he moved his "address" to Wyoming so he could be on the Bush ticket since a VP an P can't both be from the same state) ... eh... interestingly, Haliburton moved their Base of Operations to Dubai on the Arabian Peninsula recently...

I wonder what Haliburton in Houston or on the Arabian Peninsula or the White House or the VP's house might think of bad water slipping through their pipes??? hmmm...

But then it is a War Zone, so what can be expected under those conditions...
Except that... the infrastrucuture WAS there before the Pre-emptive War thingy...
I don't think Bad Water was the Iraqis major concern...
(and it turns out that neither was al-Quaida nor WMD which it also turns out was really was no big secret)...
And While Saddam Husein was certainly a Cretin... It seems that the "Poisoning" from "flying lead" and concusive projectiles hurled, dropped, and propelled through the air have caused the greater amount of Death, Injury, and Misery to the Greater number of Humans than Saddam had achieved...

I don't think Kafka or any living or dead person, monkey, dog, or fish could have imagined or written a novel with as much Idiocy and Cheney-anagins as We have wittnessed in the past Eight Years...

Just a thought ;)

Peter, (welcome back though I didn't know you were gone but hope you feel better),
I believe the AP covered this (I just saw a story on it and saw it earlier this morning too) and I think the NYTimes has covered it (though I didn't see Halliburton mentioned yet). Maybe it has to do with Daylight Savings time along with a little bit of a Time Travel thing going on... (I seem to have made my post before yours though mine is placed after it... hmmm???)

Is anyone surprised, really?

This is horrible news, It is horrible this can be used politically, we should all be appalled by this corruption. I will be interested to see what news outlets cover this, I would like to learn why this has happened, before dropping this on anyones door step.

I see some db neocons.......................................

This does not surprise me Peter , I am beyond being surprised about what the greedy will do to our solders.

Robert, I got this from Boomertowne that just feeds through AP stories. I noticed it hasn't shown up at my Yahoo or Mail.com or AOL news headlines page. Maybe tomorrow. It'll be interesting to see if it shows up on my PBS news tonight, but they're usually a day late for stories if they're going to have a discussion about it.

Bret,
You are talking about a part of the world that was irrigating water before most cultures had settled down to a farming lifestyle in the world...

At the same time, the waters off SoCal are quite polluted, causing periods of water hazard warnings through the year due to feccal colliform counts and other infectious/noxious agents...

Any hoo it's not about that really...

The water in Iraq has been Potable for quite some time... What causes water to become unsuable by Humans is degredation of infrastructure and Social upheavals...
Ala War Thingies... Pre-emptive or not...

There is no excuse for KBR (Kellog-Brown and Root (an engineering contracting firm also based out of Houston that often and primarily works with Oil Companies) Halliburton to have failed in their water quality assessement and Certification...

Any way you Cut it... it is a Failure of Operational Procedure and Responsibility...

It has nothing to do with Iraq of its own self... That is an Idiotic myopic thing to say... (but not surprising to hear really...)

It has everything to do with ...eh ... what was it again... Oh yes... That War Thingy Going on over there...

Absolutely Nuts!!!

I didn't vote for Bush, either time.

Oh, well!

Only bert the pretend ex-soldier could defend poisoning our troops , way to support them liar.

Hallbushton makes billions of dollars in profits supplying our troops with cheap crap,but to bert that is just the way it is in Iraq.

A place we have NO business or right to be in.

OH that is so wrong on so many levels....

The news story might say the contractor is KBR Inc (whatever that stands for) but they're a Halliburton thing. Halliburton has a lot of things.

(And now you know why I'm not a real news reporter - you can't say that like that in a real news report - ha ha).

http://www.kbr.com/

(I just googled it) ha ha

But I still don't know what it stands for

I know this may sound shocking to you non-military types, but the water in Iraq is horrible. It isn't Palm Springs over there. However, given that we're doing the vast amount of fresh-water exploration (well-drilling), purification, and distribution, the water supply is nothing like it is here in the US.

You may be outraged, but your outrage doesn't translate in Iraq. The troops just live with it.

When I was there in the early 90's, it was rare to get clean water anywhere. We had to ship it in by convoy. Very tough duty.

This is so sad and awful that our US troops have to go through this.....Bush and Cheney both should be on the first flight out to Iraq and fight their own war (not America's war) for themselves! As been stated, this is really not surprising, - really surprised this is not happening more frequently (probably is happening more than we are aware)!!!! Great article and thanks for posting!!

BTW, thanks so much Peter for commenting on my article, so much appreciated!!! :o)

David Evans -

"You are talking about a part of the world that was irrigating water before most cultures had settled down to a farming lifestyle in the world..."

True enough, but Iraq is mostly a desert. And it has been notorious for a poor water supply since the 20's. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers have been infamous for outbreaks of a number of diseases long before we arrived on the scene. Its used as a washbowl and urinal for a large chunk of the population. Indoor plumbing is still somewhat rare.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Peter Joseph Swanson -

Could you link me to your original article? When I searched for anything like this story, the only thing I saw was a 2006 denial by Halliburton.........one story. I want to find out if this is just another red herring from the Left, or if its legit.

Please link me.

That's alright with bert.

Saw this in today's newspaper too. Just crazy.

Bret, if you Google KBR and bad water, you'll get numerous stories on it.

KBR is contracted, and paid very well, to provide the troops with, among other things, water.

Bret... Are you Nuts??? What kind of wacky Logic is whirring around those Neurons in there...?

First, Iraq being a Desert has nothing to do with this...

Water coming from wells are likely the cleanest of waters to be found, Especialy in a desert... They are not talking about bad tasting water caused by a particular or 'foreign' mix of regional minerals found in the water...

Iraq HAD a functional infrastructure, before that War Thingy ...

Water Standards are different around the world and even around the US...
But that is different from "bad water" as described by the news and By Peter here...

As I said, as far as Cesspools go... there are a good number of water bodies that qualify for that rating around the coasts of the US as well as any number of rivers, streams, and lakes...

That water supplies are currently at risk in Iraq now (or at any time) would only INCREASE the responsiblity of the folks making sure that OUR soldiers are not threatened by it...

THAT is what THIS story is about...

Here is an excerpt from the AP story:
"Dozens of U.S. troops in Iraq fell sick at bases using "unmonitored and potentially unsafe" water supplied by the military and a contractor once owned by Vice President Dick Cheney's former company, the Pentagon's internal watchdog says. "
(That is: ... a contractor, KBR, which was once owned by Cheney's former company, Halliburton...)
From: "AP: Water makes US troops in Iraq sick "
From this site:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080309/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/iraq_contaminated_water
[interestingly this story just hit the AP news as well: AP probe finds drugs in drinking water (at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080309/ap_on_re_us/pharmawater_i)]

Now as a Quid Pro Quo, I'd like to see references to the condition of Iraqi water "since the 20's" in terms of Bad Water of this sort:

"A report obtained by The Associated Press said soldiers experienced skin abscesses, cellulitis, skin infections, diarrhea and other illnesses after using discolored, smelly water for personal hygiene and laundry at five U.S. military sites in Iraq."


There IS no acceptible excuse for this:
" KBR's water quality "was not maintained in accordance with field water sanitary standards" and the military-run sites "were not performing all required quality control tests." "
...
""Therefore, water suppliers exposed U.S. forces to unmonitored and potentially unsafe water," at the military sites by late 2006, the report said."

[The AP news story indicates that: "The KBR sites were Camp Ar Ramadi, Camp Q-West and Camp Victory. The military sites were Logistics Support Area Anaconda and Camp Ali."]

Absolutely Nuts!!!

How convenient is it that these symptoms can also be blamed on sand flees.

If a teeny tiny company did this there would definitely be h%@#* to pay!

David Evans -

"Water coming from wells are likely the cleanest of waters to be found, Especialy in a desert... They are not talking about bad tasting water caused by a particular or 'foreign' mix of regional minerals found in the water..."

Not in Iraq - we found wells with up to 400 PPM of lead and arsenic in them. That's why the huge water purification plant south of Basra was built. Water piped in from Al Faw at the mouth of the Shatt al Arab to multiple points upriver, then trucked north. It was the only way back then. There's a huge municipal pipeline now, built by the British and now managed by the Army Corp of Engineers terminating just south of Basra.
In the middle section of the country there is something like 40 American purification plants, built since 2003, but most are just small local projects. By the end of 2008 we're supposed to be at 120% of water pumping capacity compared to pre-war Iraq.

I think the Halliburton contract to supply outside water was only a stop-gap measure. This infrastructure we've built with the help of the British is supposed to far outlast our stay in Iraq.

Apparently, this story is a recycled one from Nov. 2006. I thought I'd heard of this before. It turned out to be a lot less than the press reported.

Halliburton only cares about money, and cares more for that than they do the troops; sick

Bret W. was actually there, so I yield to his opinion on this matter. David, please, Iraq had a somewhat sporadic functioning infrastructure at best, prior to the war. Part of the problems in that country was getting its infrastructure up to date; we were in fact shocked as to how much that country had fallen into decay under Saddam. I did not support the war in any way, but we need to be factual about conditions that existed prior to the war.

Kay, I respect your comment and the way in which you said it...

I have grown up (my 38 years of life) around water in one capacity or another, with my father working in the water quality and purification fields for most of it... having grown up the middle of a desert in Israel as well as in Holland (not a desert by the way)... And my self as a marine biologist...

I will respectfully defer to my 'feelings' on this...

I absolutely agree with your call to "be factual" ...

It is the way the facts are used or mis-used or mis-stated or altered that I am concerned with...

May I ask where the wells with 400 ppm of lead arsenic etc. were in Iraq, Bert?

To clarify, Iraq certainly is not up to what we consider "Western" standards of infrastructure... And indeed Saddam, being the Cretin he was, Neglected the people of Iraq in favor of his Shenanigans and Palaces and Personal Image...

I objected to the imagery of Iraq having some 'sub-human' or 'backward' culture and therefore "bad water" is to be expected over there...

If we are talking about Baghdad, It was considered a Modern City... to at least some degree...

The failures and slow rate of Building Iraq's infrastructure has more to do with the state of Social Up heaval, lack of oversight, corruption, and incompetent planning than it does with the condtion of the infrastructure that existed before the war...

Casting KBR's & the Military's failure to carry out their responsibility to the Soldier's who are depending on them as some effect of working in that region or being in a war zone is what bothers me...

Allow me to disagree that this story is "recycled" from 2006 or that it "turned out to be a lot less than the press reported" ...

From the AP article referenced above:
"North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan, who has led Democratic inquiries into contracting abuses in Iraq, said the inspector general has backed up what those earlier hearings uncovered. "KBR was not doing its job" and U.S. forces had water that did not meet Army standards, Dorgan said."

aslo, regarding when this report will come out:
"The Defense Department's inspector general's report, which could be released as early as Monday, found water quality problems..."

I dislike the attempts to remove the burden responsibility from the Responisible parties and I dislike the way that has been attempted...

Aside from no man, monkey, or fish being able to dream up the fiascoes we have seen in these last eight years... I don't know if anyone could have predicted the way it has all been sold, as for example the Swift Boat thing... But I suppose there are those that have come close...

ABSOLUTELY NUTS!!!

If bad water is a natural part of war (and I can buy that - why not - war brings out the worse in everything else - why not the water, too), then it's still worth bringing up, just the same.

But if they know this about war and water then can't they at least give the troops some chlorine tablets to throw around? Some bleach stains on those ugly uniforms couldn't hurt them any, for sure.

Bleach stains on WW2 uniforms would have been a fashion crime - but bleach the hell out of the dumpy things they're wearing now - and who would even notice?

ha ha

iraq has been one folly after another. On the campaign they're talking about who is best prepared to be commander in chief. Obviously anyone would be better than our present goof.

That sucks. Crappy water is the worst.

David Evans -

"May I ask where the wells with 400 ppm of lead arsenic etc. were in Iraq, Bert?

We tested 6 sites from the southernmost point of the Al Faw peninsula all the way to the outskirts of Basra............and as far east as the Iraq/Iran border. All the groundwater was contaminated from a VX nerve gas production facility that Saddam had built in the 80's. Its byproducts had leaked into the water table and polluted everything in the area. We've been cavern-pumping ever since, to try to clean it all up. It may take years, but at least we're trying.

To clarify, Iraq certainly is not up to what we consider "Western" standards of infrastructure... And indeed Saddam, being the Cretin he was, Neglected the people of Iraq in favor of his Shenanigans and Palaces and Personal Image...

Absolutely.
Now we're left to clean up the mess.
This is part of the good work we're doing in Iraq that not many people here in the US even know about. Liberals won't even listen to this.............they think its just "Bush-spin". Its nothing of the sort. Its just part of the mission.

I objected to the imagery of Iraq having some 'sub-human' or 'backward' culture and therefore "bad water" is to be expected over there..."

So do I. The Iraqis are wonderful people. Simple and mainly traditional, but really, really hospitable. Unfortunately, bad water IS expected there...........but we're trying to change that perception with a lot of infrastructure investment - such as water purification plants.

They had Western style beauty parlors in Iraq before we shot our way in and shoved them toward Islamic extremism. I saw a documentary on it on PBS. The woman who owned it had to leave the country or she would be killed.

I bet she once had nice water for her beauty parlor - nobody complained of their scalp burning off.

(She wasn't threatened to be killed by us but her own neighbors who were of another sect)

PJS -

I just saw a CNN special report about children now able to play on their former playground now that there is peace in large chunks of Baghdad (we control over 80% of the city). I'm happy to hear that some normalcy is returning.

I see bert is still spouting his pretend service in Iraq.

Please don't egg him on in his fictional life as he needs to come back to reality.

Don -

Haven't you been disgraced enough? You haven't pushed out more than a few hit-and-run sentences since I've been on Gather...........and many of them are pure gibberish.
I ran across an excellent quote a short while ago that made me think immediately of you, Don :

"Whatever you are, be a good one" - Abraham Lincoln

You Don, are a buffoon. Carry on with that, and strive to be a good one.

"... Neglected the people of Iraq in favor of his Shenanigans and Palaces and Personal Image...

Bret:
"Absolutely.
Now we're left to clean up the mess."

What Planet are you on???
OY!!! There really is not much to say after a statement like that ...

"... be a good one." - Abe
Well, Bret... You certainly take your silliness to the extreme...

Absolutely Nuts!!!

So, just to summarize the silliness and encapsulate it:

This story in fact is not "Recycled" as you had stated...

This story in fact is serious as indicated by the Pentagon's Inspector General, Internal Employees at KBR/Halliburton, and the Senate Oversight Committee... (not to mention the sicknesses affecting the soldiers involved)...

Deserts are in fact excellent sources of clean fresh water from wells as I had stated, owing to the natural filtration process of the sands (which purification plants attempt to simulate)... ...Except in areas affected by social upheaval and wars as exemplified by border regions with Iran you mentioned...

Your saying that Iraq is mostly a desert to explain the "horrible" water over there really is pointless when by your example the "bad water" you found had nothing to do with it being a desert other than happened to find the "bad water" in a desert region as well as the flood plain near Basra (Your Logic is truly Odd to say the least)...

Your saying in a blanket statement that "Iraq has horrible water" is not being quite genuine ... nor does it have anything to do with the point of Peter's or the AP's reporting (do you like that Peter? I called your stuff Reporting ... ;) :) )

The specific events talked about in the Report occured in the Baghdad area, a city with functional water treatment infrastructure (both social and physical) before Our War in Iraq (as opposed to the Iranian one)...

Regardless of the condition of the water supply at and around the Army Bases, the Contractor had the Responsibility to Deliver SAFE water to the soldiers...

(Also, if you are part of an effort to "change the perceptions that bad water is expected" ... Why would you make a statment like "the water in Iraq is Horrible" ??? Why would you make a statement like that with out clarifying it regarding your work and your efforts??? I'd think that after all that hard work you'd want to make sure that you didn't Perpetuate that Perception??? Why would you only clarify that until much later??? That just doesn't make sense... Again, your Logic is Truly something)

IF Don is a buffoon as YOU describe him, then I would say there is Wisdom to be found in the words of such a Buffoon!!!

I will reiterate because it seem to be worth it here:
Aside from no man, monkey, or fish being able to dream up the fiascoes we have seen in these last eight years... I don't know if anyone could have predicted the way it has all been sold, as for example the Swift Boat thing... But I suppose there are those that have come close...

ABSOLUTELY NUTS!!!

David Evans -

Bret: "Absolutely. Now we're left to clean up the mess."

David Evans : What Planet are you on???
OY!!! There really is not much to say after a statement like that ...

I'm on the planet that realizes we've built water purification plants, hospitals, sewage systems, and roads in Iraq. I'm not someone who just sits around and soaks up all the negative news coverage, believing we're there "only to steal the oil". It just simply isn't so. I have a son and a lot of friends over there doing great work and rebuilding the Iraqis' entire infrastructure from the ground up. Sorry if you don't like that, but it just IS.

"This story in fact is not "Recycled" as you had stated..."

David, here's a link to the original story - read 'em and weep :

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/jan/24/usa.iraq

Stories like this one have been making the rounds since almost Day One. Its a desert in Iraq, and the water supply is definitely Third World. That's why we're building so many water purification plants there.

"Regardless of the condition of the water supply at and around the Army Bases, the Contractor had the Responsibility to Deliver SAFE water to the soldiers..."

And I would argue that they normally do. This incident is the exception, not the rule, David. Otherwise, they wouldn't get paid for their work.

"Why would you make a statment like "the water in Iraq is Horrible" ??? Why would you make a statement like that with out clarifying it regarding your work and your efforts?"

Because the mission itself is unpopular............especially here on Gather. Trying to be one lone voice of reason............of someone who was actually there and knows the situation, is proving to be ridiculous. It doesn't seem to matter, because the war is unpopular. And I sense that re-hashed articles like this one are just tools to express that displeasure. The truth doesn't seem to break through. Its a mob mentality.

"IF Don is a buffoon as YOU describe him, then I would say there is Wisdom to be found in the words of such a Buffoon!!!"

Don is what he is. I make my assessment based not only on his stupid comments here, but on dozens of his hit-and-run comments made all over Gather. He's lucky if he can string more than one or two sentences together, and they're always disparaging. He doesn't know what its like to be a soldier, because he's never served. Then he has the audacity to tell me that I didn't serve my country. Hence, he's a buffoon.

No body has said nothing is being built over there...
The planning was incompetent from the begining...
Corruption and lack of oversight has been a large part of the problem (not only on the part of the Iraqis)...
A great deal of the "cleaning up" and the difficutlties involved has to do with the Social Disorder brought about by the manner in which the Country was Toppled...
A greate deal of the "cleaning up" and Social disorder has been brought about by the lack of forsight or rather the lack of LISTENING to those WITH forsight into what problems would be encountered if the country was toppled and if the county were toppled in a POORLY planned way...
All this on top of the amount of LIES and Mis-truths and False statements made in the lead up to the Invasion...
All of this on top of the fact that Iraq was not a HAVEN nor was it LINKED to al-qaida, BEFORE the war thingy...
All this on top of the fact that Iraq had no WMDs worthy of Invasion and the Cost it has become to us, Iraq, and the world...
And having no WMD's despite calls from within this country saying as much...
And having no WMD's despite the wepons inspectors saying as much...
And the Cretin Saddam PLAYING Bush for a FOOL with his Poker Face...
(The Paper Tiger fooling the Great White Hunter into Leaping for it and Impale himself on the Spikes of his own Avarice)

What Planet are you on was in actuality a Rhetorical Question... It is quite clear that you are not on this Planet...

This has nothing to do with "Libererals" vs. "Bush Idiots"...
It has to do with the Reality of the Situation...

and IF you are able to Compute this in your LOGIC challenged brain... all of the above in my comment right here has NOTHING to do with Halliburton/KBR Failing to perform their Responsibility in the manner in which they were contracted to do...
Certain things have ZERO tolerance for failure, and when such failures do occur, zero TOLERANCE means being HELD ACCOUNTABLE...
Sloughing off that Accountablitity is Disgusting...

This Story is NOT a recycle as it is a story about an oversight report that was not actually released until YESTERDAY...
I'm not sure your Logic is able to grasp this 'nuance' ... but the story discusses the events covering the years 2004 to the present, including the Pentagon's Internal Report of its Inspector General as well as the Senate's oversight report...

To help you understand this... Look at it this way if you can... Any story about Iraq released in the paper TODAY is NOT a recyle of another story just because the war has been going on for FIVE years...

That aside... when you say "It turned out to be a lot less than the press reported."
That statement itself is in fact false as this AP story indicates...
And it shows that you are NOT talking about this AP story that came out on SUNDAY March 9th, 2008...
I need not read your link and "weep" as you suggested, as I am and was quite aware that the AP covered this issue about the dirty water because it states as much in the AP article that we are discussing HERE and NOW... Did you read that article??? Are you a Moron???

That brings me to your last bit you said above...
I personally do not hold the assessment of a Moron, as you have shown yourself to be, in high esteem
I agree that he ought not disparage that you for your service if you indicate that you have served and there is no proof to say otherwise...
But your logic is Terribly Whacky and makes no sense what so ever... And to help you out and possibly understand where he, Don, might be comming from... It has the flavor of 'making it up as you go' ...


How do you respond to one who has been in those apartment buildings as the Enemy's jets go Raging overhead and a community of mothers fathers sons and daughters huddle in the darkness hoping that they just keep going, as indeed I have... How do you respond to someone with such "on the ground" experience that a Pre-emptive war IS NOT the way to solve the Problems that we faced given the actual information that we had...

Bret, you are a Moron regarding what you say, regardless of whether you have served or not...

You have missed the whole point of Peter's Reporting here...
When you say: "And I would argue that they [KBR] normally do. This incident is the exception, not the rule, David. Otherwise, they wouldn't get paid for their work."

KBR is Denying and Playing down the incident, they are not saying "Oh Sorry these things happen..."

And getting paid for shoddy work on such a scale is INDEED a PROBLEM...

Logic, really isn't a word in your vocabulary...is it???

yeah - my reporting !!!!

If it was a mistake it still should be reported. A lot of mistakes get reported all the time. Mistakes are often news.

Sometimes people even get punished for mistakes.

I grew up in the Middle East...
I have worked FOR the military as a contractor...

And I begin to see why Don doesn't say much more than one or two lines...
You don't make sense enough to engage in much more than that...

Peace out dude... ;)

Absolutely NUTS!!!

David Evans -

In an effort to trim down the length of my own lengthy personal responses, I'm going to try to keep this brief.

Iraq was a blunder. Not because we did it, but because we didn't do it with 750,000 troops - and end it quickly. Rumsfeld was an idiot, and I said that almost from Day One.

With that said, I believe that with the war part of the plan completed, managing the peace has proved much more difficult. Tons of mistakes have been made. However, that isn't a good enough reason to scrap it all - and I'm glad Liberals in Congress have been stopped from yanking our troops out before the government of Iraq can stand on its own.

In addition, our Armed Forces are doing fantastic things there now : rebuilding, educating, funding, and training.............and more. This country is now under the Powell Doctrine : if we break it, we buy it. So its a good thing that we're still there trying to fix things. In time, I have no doubt that we will be successful, and be able to pull out.

Whether Halliburton gives our troops good water or not.

David, have you ever been in the military?
Have you been to the Middle East?
Do you speak any of the languages?
Do you know any of the customs?
Other than cous-cous or hummus, have you ever cooked any of the local foods?
Do you know anyone who lives in Iraq, Iran, the Kingdom, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, etc?

I've love falafel !!!

You are nutcakes Bret...

I have said not a thing that is Disingenuous...
You will have to point out what exactly you are refering to...

I have said that the water in Iraq has been potable for some time...
I said this in resonse to your comment that "the water in Iraq is Horrible" ...
You said that "the water in Iraq is Horrible" as some way to explain the failure of KBR/Halliburton to deliver CLEAN water to the troops...
I have said that water from desert wells are likely the cleanest to be found (owing to the filtration process of the sands and substrates)...
You mentioned wells with high levels of lead and arsenic...
Those wells were from the regions that experienced the war with Iran...
I had said before that, that wars are a primary cause of a region's water to BECOME unusable for humans...

You are quite TIRESOME Bret...
And your Slimyness is Disgusting...

You will stick youself to anything smear and alter it, making it unusable for any reasonable cognative understanding, twisting and dissolving any sense that might be found...

I have said that Baghdad has had a functional water infrastructure...
I have said that Iraq does not have what we consider "up" to Western standards of Infrastructure...
I have said that Saddam neglected the people of Iraq...
And I have continued to say that Regardless of all that, KBR/Halliburton's Responsiblity was to deliver CLEAN water to the Troops who were/are relying on them...
They Failed in that responsiblity...
They Failed to conduct standard water quality testing and certification...

And I continue to say you are a MORON...

If actual read through things for content, you would notice that I both indicated that I lived in Israel and that I am a Marine Biologist....

I have worked in Puerto Rico at the Bombing Range on Vieques Island ...
PLEASE DO READ MY PHOTOLOG ESSAY ON THE EX USS KILLEN
If you look at my icon image thing, you see that I am standing at the top of Monte Pirata on Vieques Island...
I have worked at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba...
I have worked Smack Dab in the middle of the Indian Ocean at the Chagos Archapeligo on the Island of Diego Garcia...
Diego Garcia is where the B1 and B2 bombers have taken off to drop their bombs on Iraq and Afghanistan...
Diego Garcia it also turns out hosted some of those "RENDITION" flights that the ADMINISTRATION origianlly said DIDN"T happen, but it turns out infact they DID...
Diego Garcia it also turns out was STOLEN from its original inhabitants who were removed from the Chagos Islands, their Home, so the US Naval Base there could be built in the 1970's
PLEASE DO LOOK UP MORE INFO ABOUT THE CHAGOS ISLANDERS!!!
I have worked in Hawaii, Diving in Pearl Harbor, a furlong or two away from the wreckage of the USS ARIZONA (at one point we had "Two minutes to get out of the water" because a Seawolf Nuclear Fast Attack Submarine was passing by...

Your are a Nutcase Bret...

David Evans -

You grew up in the Middle East and you're saying the things you are? How can you knowingly do that? How disingenuous!

You already know that most of the Middle East is struggling to get clean, potable water. Its in tremendously short supply...............that's why we have dozens of wells, purification plants, and salt-water de-salinization projects in the works.

And you worked as a military contractor? Was that in the Middle East?

If yes, your comments are completely absurd then.

If you've actually been there, you know I speak the truth. Its the Third World, and we're trying to do the right thing there.

Well... I may as well plug my links here while we are at it... No?
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO VISIT THESE:

"Photo Log -Nuclear Veteran: Ship Wreckage of the USS Killen"
gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977220825&nav=Namespace

"Photo Log: Diego Garcia, Chagos, Indian Ocean"
gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977176994&nav=Namespace

"Photo Log - Marine Life: Diego Garcia, Chagos, Indian Ocean I"
gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977148722&nav=Namespace

"Photo Log - 1992: The Galapagos Islands, Las Encantadas I"
gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977141930&nav=Namespace

"Photo Log - Marine Life: GTMO, Cuba"
gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977137941&nav=Namespace

"Photo Log: Antillia Majora II"
gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977136348&nav=Namespace

"Photo Log - Marine Life: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii"
gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977125858&nav=Namespace

"Photo Log: Antillia Majora I"
gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977115550&nav=Namespace

Marine Biology: Work/Travel Photo Log"
gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976996708&nav=Namespace

I wish I knew how to do that Hot Link think in the comment text... that would make it easier... They are still all worth seeing though, even if you copy and past the addresses... or... just go to my page and view all my pieces I have posted there...

And if notice suddenly that I have a bunch of 1's or 5's I will know who 'dun-it' ... ;)

Peter, sorry for shamelessly plugging all those links .....
Noooooo not really....

PS - Antillia Majora ='s Cuba

Peter, My mother makes an excellent falafel. It's my favorite..
And my Birth Father made an excellent humus... The recipie lives on...

James, I'm not sure I see the connection with martini's and French 75's ...

Are you saying ,James, that your father was a drunk???
I'm not sure what that has to do with falafel or humus or Bad Water in Iraq...