American Servicemen Dying From Shoddy Reconstruction Work In Iraq

Shortly after the 2003 Iraq War began, most Americans had hoped that questionable deals such Dick Cheney's former company Halliburton getting a lucrative no-bidder contract for Iraq reconstruction the Pentagon would be the very worst of the questionable reconstruction deals. But then a steady drip-drip of information about shoddy reconstruction work by a number of American firms who were given reconstruction contracts began to surface in the news including leaking substandard plumbing in a major office building that made it nearly useless and it only sat empty after taxpayers paid top dollar for work that a contractor did using the cheapest possible labor and materials.

Now shocking news that a total of 16 U.S. servicepersons have been killed by shoddy and dangerous electrical work in Iraq has emerged under testimony to the Senate Democratic Policy Committee.

Debbie Crawford testified about her experiences working as an electrical supervisor in Iraq for contractor KBR(Kellogg, Brown and Root), and the shocking conditions that existed with some contractors who sought to cut corners with labor or materials in order to pocket the difference. In some cases, green wires that were supposed to be ground wires were used as hot leads for some electrical work, creating a hazard that would either destroy electrical equipment or could case electrocution or fires.

Crawford was so concerned about the shoddy and dangerous state of some of the work done by KBR that she started a website www.mssparky.com that educates the public on how billions of their tax dollars are being spent with Iraq War contractors that are doing extremely substandard and dangerous work and pocketing much of the money. It is indeed an important website and another bad side of the Iraq War that the mainstream media seems to often ignore. It is also important because 16 servicepersons have needlessly lost their lives to shoddy reconstruction work electrocution deaths.

Crummy reconstruction companies with multibillion dollar contracts since the start of t5he 2003 Iraq War have proven just as lethal as some insurgents to some of our U.S. servicepersons.

Senator Bryon Dorgan(D-ND) has taken note of Crawford's website and was instrumental in scheduling testimony from her and starting a process of cracking down on these lethal Iraq War reconstruction contractors and saving American lives as well as looking out for the taxpayer who is paying billions for terrible work that is often overinflated in price and substandard in safety and quality.

Some Iraq War contractors think that operating outside of the U.S. means that safety standards can be ignored and they can inflate the costs of some projects as long as the taxpayer is paying the bill. With no OSHA operating in Iraq, it is often anything goes in reconstruction quality for many contractors looking to pad profits.

It is also the same old bunch of large GOP donors who were given these huge contracts by the Pentagon and who were big supporters of Bush and now are concerned with elected McCain.

John McCain who claims to be a "reformer" has only so far claimed that his campaign will "review" bundled donations from such long time GOP supporters as Halliburton and it's spinoff KBR subsidiary. Whether this is real commitment to not accept donations from some corporations that some claim to have taken advantage of the Iraq War with rampant profiteering and who endanger American lives with crummy work remains to be seen. It will be another test of McCain's word.

On August 7, a Queen's NY couple with only modest jobs and driving a 1993 Chevy Cavalier made a questionably large donation to the McCain campaign of $61,600 which is probably more than their total yearly income combined. It all raises the question whether big corporate donors are using people of modest means to shield their identity to elect McCain and drive his policies to keep more of the same old government in the White House.