Troops who served in Basra Iraq may have contamination from water plant

Guard warns soldiers of possible chemical exposure

Associated Press


JASPER, Ind. - The Indiana National Guard is notifying nearly 600 soldiers who served in Iraq that they may have drunk water tainted with a carcinogen at an Iraqi treatment plant.

During a U.S. Senate hearing in June, senators learned that sodium dichromate -- a cancer-causing chemical that can also cause breathing problems -- was used at the Qarmat Ali water plant near Basra, Iraq.

Guard spokeswoman Lt. Col. Deedra Thombleson told The Herald of Jasper on Monday that the Guard has sent letters to most of the 140 current and former soldiers known to have been at that treatment plant between May and September 2003.

The addresses for 18 of those soldiers could not be found to send them letters notifying them of their possible exposure.

Thombleson said 448 other Guardsmen are also being contacted to determine if they were ever at the plant. Of the 588 soldiers being sent letters, she said 138 are back in Iraq.
go here for more
http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nfJUL08/nf073008-3.htm

This means not just the National Guardsmen but all the people in the area may have been exposed.

KBR:"The military is none of our f---king concern"

"The military is none of our f---king concern"

My Boss at KBR: "The military is none of our fucking concern."

Posted by Brave New Films, Brave New Films at 9:47 AM on July 12, 2008.



Ben Carter sheds light on KBR's atrocities.

From Ben Carter:

I had been operating my own company in the fall of 2004, when my 20-year-old son suddenly died from a bad combination of prescription medication. This tragedy caused my marriage to end only a month later. With little reason to stay in Utah, I pursued the opportunity of going to work for Halliburton, because I had gotten word that Halliburton was looking for people with expertise in water purification to operate their reverse osmosis water purification units (ROWPU). I had extensive experience with a wide range of water purification technologies, and I was attracted to the idea of providing a valuable service to our soldiers serving in Iraq.

At the time, I was very excited at the prospect of being an employee once again, doing great things with providing clean safe water to U.S. troops and seeing some exciting places around the world. This was before I learned anything about Halliburton and their business practices.

If you recall, in late 2004 the war in Iraq was thought to be over after the declaration of "mission accomplished" by President George W. Bush. This impression was clearly wrong once I arrived, and I was sent to the base at Ar Ramadi. The talk around the water coolers was that the KBR camp there was getting hit on a regular schedule with rocket and mortar fire. This was a surprise to me since my recruiter had told me that I would be sent to the green zone in Baghdad. When I arrived in Ar Ramadi I was anxious to get to work right away. It was at the air base, Al Asad, that I got my first indication that things were askew with their water treatment plants.

While waiting to finish up with orientation, I saw the first of many serious deficiencies regarding the water purification for U.S. troops. We were instructed to have the managers in our job field sign off on our time sheet to indicate we had worked 12 hours each day. The fact of the matter was we were actually just making an appearance in order to obtain the necessary signature for the time sheets. While this weighed a little on my conscience, I concluded that this is just a transitional problem and surely when I got to my permanent station I would have more work than I could handle every day. So, while I was at the ROWPU water plant for Al Asad air base, I was given a tour of the facility by a KBR ROWPU operator and was surprised that they were using the rejected drainage water from the ROWPU process and using it for the production of potable and non-potable water. I questioned him about this problem. He answered by saying I had a lot to learn about working here, and that replacement cost was not an issue.

click post title for more then think of what this really means.

KBR blamed for exposing troops to cancer causing chemical

June 21, 2008, 3:20PM
Ark. man, others blame KBR for contaminants in Iraq


Associated Press


WASHINGTON — An Arkansas man who worked as a contractor in Iraq says he lost his job after warning workers they were being exposed to a cancer-causing chemical there.

Ed Blacke, a former safety inspector for Houston-based contracting giant KBR, says his exposure to sodium dichromate in 2003 gave him chronic thyroid problems and early signs of cancer. He said supervisors initially ignored his warnings about contamination at the Qarmat Ali water injection plant near Basra, Iraq.

"In my mind, it was criminally negligent of (the company) to make a decision to continue to expose personnel to sodium dichromate poisoning," the Bella Vista, Ark., man told a congressional panel Friday.

KBR is formerly a subsidiary of Houston-based oilfield services giant Halliburton Co. It was not represented at the Democratic Policy Committee oversight hearing. The committee created by Senate Democratic leaders is comprised solely of Democrats and has no legislative authority.
go here for more
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/5849937.html
Linked from ICasualties.org

Camp Lejeune and contaminated water

Camp Lejeune Water Study
Jun 19, 2008

June 18, 2008 - The Marine Corps is concerned about your health. We ENCOURAGE all former Marines, family members and civilian employees who resided or worked aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune between 1957 and 1987 to REGISTER with the Marine Corps for information regarding past water quality.
https://clnr.hqi.usmc.mil/clsurvey/

This is a huge number of people involved here!

Saturday, May 31, 2008

500,000 at Camp LeJeune may have been exposed to tainted water
MONEY DISPUTE THREATENS TOXIC TAP WATER STUDY

May 28, Associated Press – ( North Carolina )
Money dispute threatens toxic tap water study. Continuation of a long-running government study on whether contaminated water harmed babies at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, hinges on a half-million-dollar payment that is due Sunday. The Marines estimate that 500,000 Camp LeJeune residents may have been exposed to the tainted water, including thousands of Vietnam-bound Marines. Federal health investigators estimate the number is higher.
The U.S. health agency conducting the study, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, said its research would be jeopardized if the Navy does not pay $522,000 to keep the study going beyond Sunday.
Health problems blamed on Camp LeJeune ’s contaminated water were the focus of reporting by the Associated Press in June 2007 and congressional oversight hearings.

Source: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iOPLMk2PMrFDcjIp0O5qJUQyEvwQD90UHMF00

This made the news a year ago and now they are finally pushing for Marines to contact them? I posted this a year ago on my other blog.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

75,000 Marines, families exposed to toxic tap water
Camp Lejeune water pollution, cancer link investigated

POSTED: 8:13 p.m. EDT, June 12, 2007

Story Highlights

• 75,000 Marines, families exposed to toxic tap water, health official said

• Chemicals in water may be carcinogens

• Children on based have had cancer and other disorders

• 850 former Camp Lejeune residents have filed legal claims

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Some 75,000 Marines and their families at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina were exposed to toxic tap water that may have caused cancer and birth defects, a federal health official testified Tuesday.Results of a new study of the base's water were released Tuesday, the same day lawmakers heard emotional testimony from families who were affected by the water, which contained 40 times the amount of toxins considered safe by today's standards.Camp Lejeune's water supply was polluted from 1957 until 1987 by TCE, a degreasing solvent, and PCE, a dry cleaning agent. The chemicals apparently came from a dry cleaning store near the base, according to the government.The substances are possible carcinogens.

click post title for the rest

Up to 180,000 gallons waste water released into Puget Sound

Lewis waste water released in Puget Sound

Staff report
Posted : Monday Jun 2, 2008 20:49:44 EDT

Up to 180,000 gallons of partially treated waste water was released into the Puget Sound between 11 p.m. Sunday and 2 a.m. Monday because of an electrical problem at the Fort Lewis, Wash., waste water treatment plant, officials announced Monday in a press release.

Officials emphasized that no completely untreated water was released during the incident. All the water that escaped had received at least primary treatment, meaning it had been stripped of solid wastes. In addition, about 45 minutes after the problem was detected, workers restored the secondary treatment process, which involves more sophisticated filtration. Chlorination, the last step in water treatment at the facility, was restored about 2 a.m.

Officials estimate that the event released up to 60,000 gallons of water that had only received the primary treatment and up to 120,000 gallons of water that had been fully treated but had not been chlorinated.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/06/army_lewis_wastewater_060208/

500,000 at Camp LeJeune may have been exposed to tainted water

MONEY DISPUTE THREATENS TOXIC TAP WATER STUDY
May 28, Associated Press – ( North Carolina )

Money dispute threatens toxic tap water study. Continuation of a long-running government study on whether contaminated water harmed babies at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, hinges on a half-million-dollar payment that is due Sunday. The Marines estimate that 500,000 Camp LeJeune residents may have been exposed to the tainted water, including thousands of Vietnam-bound Marines. Federal health investigators estimate the number is higher.

The U.S. health agency conducting the study, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, said its research would be jeopardized if the Navy does not pay $522,000 to keep the study going beyond Sunday.

Health problems blamed on Camp LeJeune ’s contaminated water were the focus of reporting by the Associated Press in June 2007 and congressional oversight hearings.
Source: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iOPLMk2PMrFDcjIp0O5qJUQyEvwQD90UHMF00

KBR: Water still making troops sick in Iraq

AP: Water Makes US Troops in Iraq Sick
The Associated Press
By LARRY MARGASAK – 3 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — 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.

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.

The Pentagon's inspector general found water quality problems between March 2004 and February 2006 at three sites run by contractor KBR Inc., and between January 2004 and December 2006 at two military-operated locations.

It was impossible to link the dirty water definitively to all the illnesses, according to the report. But it said 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," the report said.

The problems did not extend to troops' drinking water, but rather to water used for washing, bathing, shaving and cleaning. Water used for hygiene and laundry must meet minimum safety standards under military regulations because of the potential for harmful exposure through the eyes, nose, mouth, cuts and wounds.

KBR said its water treatment "has met or exceeded all applicable military and contract standards." The company took exception to many of the inspector general's assertions. "KBR's commitment to the safety of all of its employees remains unwavering," the company said in a statement to the AP.

KBR is a former subsidiary of Halliburton Co., the oil services conglomerate that Cheney once led.

Is this "supporting the troops" the way Cheney always puts it when it comes to keeping the troops in Iraq? Is this what Bush means when he says it? How can they keep allowing this to go on? The reports of bad water for the troops and the people of Iraq have been going on long enough that someone should have done something about it if they wanted to, but it all boils down to all talk and no proof with deeds. The Democrats haven't done much better on this either. What does it say to the troops everyone is "supporting" when they cannot even depend on the water they are supplied while risking their lives?

UPDATE

Or as NewBusters put it, it's the media's fault.

AP Implicates Vice President Cheney in Iraq Water Problem

By Noel Sheppard March 9, 2008 - 12:59 ET
One of the truly disgraceful media fixations since America invaded Iraq five years ago has been to blame all the world's problems on energy contractor Halliburton while making it clear that Vice President Dick Cheney used to be its Chief Executive Officer.
Despite it being almost eight years since Cheney resigned his position with the contracting giant and sold all of his stock, Halliburton-obsessed press members continue to implicate the Vice President in any bad news concerning his former company.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2008/03/09/
ap-implicates-vice-president-cheney-iraq-water-problem

But then they must not have heard of tax returns and financial reports the elected have to release.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26, 2003
Cheney was chief executive officer of Halliburton from 1995 through August 2000. The company's KBR subsidiary is the main government contractor working to restore Iraq's oil industry in an open-ended contract that was awarded without competitive bidding.

According to Cheney's 2001 financial disclosure report, the vice president's Halliburton benefits include three batches of stock options comprising 433,333 shares. He also has a 401(k) retirement account valued at between $1,001 and $15,000 dollars.

His deferred compensation account was valued at between $500,000 and $1 million, and generated income of $50,000 to $100,000.

In 2002, Cheney's total assets were valued at between $19.1 million and $86.4 million.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/09/26/politics/main575356.shtml

From the White House

Vice President Dick Cheney and Mrs. Cheney Release 2002 Income Tax Return

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT
Terrence O'Donnell
of Williams & Connolly LLP
at (202) 434-5678

Vice President and Mrs. Cheney filed their federal income tax return for 2002 today.

The income tax return shows that the Cheneys owe federal taxes for 2002 of $341,114 on a taxable income of $945,051. During the course of 2002 the Cheneys paid $436,972 in taxes through withholding and estimated tax payments. The Cheneys elected to apply $20,000 of the resulting $95,858 tax overpayment to their 2003 estimated tax payments.

The wage and salary income reported on the tax return includes $190,134 in government salary for the Vice President. In addition, the tax return reports the payment of deferred compensation from Halliburton Company, in the amount of $162,392. In December 1998, the Vice President elected to defer compensation earned in calendar year 1999 for his services as chief executive officer of Halliburton. This amount is to be paid in fixed annual installments (with interest) in the five years after the Vice President's retirement from Halliburton.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/04/20030411-8.html

From the White House

Vice President Dick Cheney and Mrs. Cheney Release 2004 Income Tax Return
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT
Terrence O'Donnell or James T. Fuller
Williams & Connolly LLP
(202) 434-5000

Vice President and Mrs. Cheney filed their federal income tax return for 2004 today. The income tax return shows that the Cheneys owe federal taxes for 2004 of $393,518 on taxable income of $1,328,678. During the course of 2004 the Cheneys paid $290,855 in taxes through withholding and estimated tax payments. The Cheneys paid $102,663 upon filing their tax return.

The wage and salary income reported on the tax return includes the Vice President's $203,000 government salary. In addition, the tax return reports the payment of deferred compensation from Halliburton Company in the amount of $194,852. In December 1998, the Vice President elected to defer compensation earned in calendar year 1999 for his services as chief executive officer of Halliburton. This amount was required be paid in fixed annual installments (with interest) in the five years after the Vice President's retirement from Halliburton. That election to defer income became final and unalterable before Mr. Cheney left Halliburton. The amount of deferred compensation received by the Vice President is fixed and is not affected in any way by Halliburton's current economic performance or earnings.

The tax return also reports Mrs. Cheney's wage and salary income from the American Enterprise Institute and compensation from Reader's Digest, on whose board of directors she served until her retirement in 2003.

The Cheneys donated $303,354 to charity in 2004, primarily from Mrs. Cheney's book royalties from Simon & Schuster on her books America: A Patriotic Primer, A is for Abigail: An Almanac of Amazing American Woman, and When Washington Crossed the Delaware: A Wintertime Story for Young Patriots, and the exercise of stock options dedicated to charity pursuant to the Gift Administration Agreement which the Cheneys entered into in January of 2001. The book royalties and the proceeds from the stock options were donated to designated charities on a tax neutral basis.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/04/20050415-3.html

And then we have the Katrina Connection

April 17, 2006
Kirsch: Cheney Tax Return Shows Katrina Tax Benefits for Non-Katrina Charitable Contributions
Michael Kirsch (Notre Dame) points out an interesting aspect of the Vice-President's 2005 tax return:
It appears that the VP is a major beneficiary of the Hurricane Katrina tax relief act. In particular, he claimed $6.8 million of charitable deductions, which is 77% of his AGI -- well in excess of the 50% limitation that would have applied absent the Katrina legislation. The press release indicates that the charitable contribution reflects the amount of net proceeds from an independent administrator's exercise of the VP's Halliburton options -- apparently, the VP had agreed back in 2001 that he would donate the net proceeds from the options to charities once they were exercised.
The press release seems to confirm, at least implicitly, the VP's efforts to take advantage of the Katrina legislation -- it mentions that the Cheneys wrote a personal check of $2.3 million to the administrator in December in order to "maximize the charitable gifts in 2005." Admittedly, I don't know anything about the transactions beyond the info in the press release, but my gut reaction is that the personal check was given in order to make sure the independent administrator had sufficient liquid assets to pay all of the promised charitable contributions before the 50% limit returned on 1/1/06.
Despite the importance of the Katrina legislation to his tax return, it looks like none of the charitable contributions actually went to Katrina-related charities (the press release lists the 3 charitable recipients, all of which were designated in the original 2001 gift agreement). While there's nothing inappropriate about that from a legal perspective, it does demonstrate how the legislation, which was sold to the public as providing relief to Katrina victims, provided significant tax benefits to the VP (and potentially other wealthy individuals) in situations that have nothing to do with Hurricane Katrina.
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2006/04/kirsch_cheney_t.html

Readers of this blog are aware of American Enterprise Institute and their "advice" on PTSD, which boils down to they need to stop whining and go to work. See posts on Sally Satel here and on Screaming In An Empty Room at www.namguardianangel.blogspot.com