Raped by Halliburton
As if it’s not bad enough that private American and other western militias are terrorizing Iraq, and that private companies with ties to the Bush Administration are engaging in massive war profiteering at the expense of both Iraqis and American taxpayers, consider this:
A Houston, Texas woman says she was gang-raped by Halliburton/KBR coworkers in Baghdad, and the company and the U.S. government are covering up the incident.
Jamie Leigh Jones, now 22, says that after she was raped by multiple men at a KBR camp in the Green Zone, the company put her under guard in a shipping container with a bed and warned her that if she left Iraq for medical treatment, she’d be out of a job.
“Don’t plan on working back in Iraq. There won’t be a position here, and there won’t be a position in Houston,” Jones says she was told.
In a lawsuit filed in federal court against Halliburton and its then-subsidiary KBR, Jones says she was held in the shipping container for at least 24 hours without food or water by KBR, which posted armed security guards outside her door, who would not let her leave.
Make sure to read the whole article. It’s horrifying, but at least, at the very least, Ms. Jones got out and is now telling her story. (One key detail: “Jones told ABCNews.com that an examination by Army doctors showed she had been raped ‘both vaginally and anally,’ but that the rape kit disappeared after it was handed over to KBR security officers.” Disappeared, huh? How convenient.)
Please note that Halliburton is one of the Bushies’ favourite companies (just like Enron). It is now headquartered not in the U.S. but in Dubai. Dick Cheney was the company’s CEO from 1995 to 2000. As a preferred and politically friendly (and occasionally no-bid) contracter, it has made billions of dollars off Bush’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well off the Bush’s so-called war on terror. In Iraq, its multi-billion dollar Restore Iraqi Oil contract was a massive failure. It has worked for Iran, supporting the development of its oil industry. And it is profiting off post-Katrina reconstruction.
And now we learn that some of its employees brutally gang-raped one of its own, that the woman was threatened, terrorized, and held against her will, and that the company has been covering up the incident for two years.
Quite the company — and one with some very good friends in some very high places.
(Cross-posted from The Reaction.)
22 Responses to “Raped by Halliburton”
Its true, Chimpy McBushitlerburton and Darth Cheney personally participated in the rape – that’s why the poor woman was drugged, they’re too easy to recognize and have played an integral part in the cover-up. But, before we jump to the obvious conclusion, perhaps we should wait to hear the entire story and hope for that we aren’t playing the Al Sharpton role to Ms. Jones’ (or Mrs. Daigle’s) Tawana Brawley.
Geez PWT!
Your snark on this is pretty uncalled for. I would hope that under this snark you are as appalled as I am about the whole situation. Rape knows no political boundaries, it’s not a right or left issue! I sincerely hope that you don’t have a loved one who’s ever been raped, I’d be amazed if you could look her in the eye with an attitude like yours.
I can’t help myself, after all, I am PWT (poor white trash).
That said, I am appalled if what has been alleged actually occurred. If it did not occur, I am, again appalled.
Anna,
The reason why not very many center right people bother to ever participate here anymore is in plain evidence above.
Absolutely, the allegations are horrific (but to PWT’s point, a little early to rush to convictions).
However, it is also repugnant that authors of Mr. Stickings ilk take the opportunity to parlay the badness of employees into de facto badness of a corporation and a politician 6000 miles away.
I would like for you to now denounce Hillary Clinton because one of her fundraisers is a criminal.
Just when I thought Michael’s extremism (even among liberals on this “moderate” [sic] site) needed a med change, along came PWT — wow.
As for Mike’s posting: the normal person’s response isn’t horror, or shock, but anger and — disgust. (Indeed, rather than anger, it would be annoyance combined with disgust.) Even most liberals on this site (provided they’re not also too extreme) will say that such a thing like this is no surprise given it involves Halliburton in Iraq.
These are accusations. They are not proven facts. But if true it is still unlikely that there will ever be any adequate proof unless someone who took part develops a guilty conscience.
And the conservatives “screaming” about the post somehow always find liberals here but think of themselves as “center right” when others tend to eliminate the center part of that description after reading some of their posts.
casualobserver:
A few things:
First, I think that even if Haliburton was as chummy with a Democratic administration and the same chain of events occurred that Michael would’ve written the very same post changing the name Bush to whoever the president was. As I stated, rape isn’t political and I imagine that most decent people would agree with that statement.
Secondly, there are very few cases where women will accuse someone of rape falsely. Perhaps it’s because I am a woman, but I tend to give a rape victim the benefit of the doubt. Hell, Army doctors examined her and confirmed that she was raped! Will authors of Michelle Malkin’s “ilk” go looking into this rape victim’s political affiliation?! I’d certainly hope not.
Lastly, what the hell does Hillary Clinton have to do with this?! I denounced no one in my post other than to chastize PWT for the snarky comment. Here, I will denounce the scumbag rapists that will most likely never be punished for their crime. Even Rep. Poe (who is a Republican and takes the victim’s side) is getting the runaround on the investigation in this 2 years after it happened! Last I checked, Justice was not supposed to be in the exclusive purview of any political affiliation.
With woman in combat, even US woman soldiers are assaulted.
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/03/07/women_in_military/index_np.html
Considering the situation in Basra and woman in the conservative Muslim world, one scenario for this situation is NO fraternization between local woman and US soldiers and contractors. From WWII to Vietnam, young GI’s “hooked up” with local woman. In the strict Arab world it won’t happen.
Anytime a well-connected company is allowed to operate overseas above the law there’s bound to be abuses. It makes no sense that these companies shouldn’t at least be bound by US law- otherwise the arrangement invites horrible abuses and cover-ups like this one (assuming its true of course).
He would denounce her instead for taking the US’s honest side in its conflict with Iran rather than Iran’s dishonest side.
DLS, when I glanced at PWT’s comments earlier this morning I just thought it was you mocking Stickings…
In the beginning of October, Congress passed a bill to hold contractors like Blackwater accountable for their criminal behavior. It’s HR 2740 in case anyone wants to read about it. I’d like to see Congress pass a similar bill specifically for Haliburton. As it is right now, the slimeballs who did this and whoever covered up the story will most likely never be charged with their crimes, thanks to huge loopholes in the law that exempt contractors in Iraq from U.S. or Iraqi law.
And we don’t need to worry about Bush vetoing a bill like this. HR 2740 passed overwhelmingly, with only 30 kooks voting against it. And I’m sure enough people in the Senate can put aside their differences and vote “yes” so that Mitch McConnell won’t obstruct.
By the way Stickings, thanks for writing about this scandal. For a while, I couldn’t understand why it was on the news but nobody here was talking about it.
This is about rape, but Hirllary Clinton and Iran are brought In?
Is there such a thing possible as talking the topic instead of making every thread a personal blog for unrelated obsessions?
Given the history of rape in the military, this is about male behvior, regardless of party affiliation.
Always, that history includes an initial resistance to facing up to the problem.
CNN announced that other women have come forward with similar accusations. We’ll be hearing more, I’m sure.
Megaman_X said:
This is good news although I doubt that they’ll make it retroactive to the start of the contract. In other words, for crimes already committed the perpetrators will get off scot-free but hopefully this will prevent future crimes.
Doma, I agree with you 100%. Funny how with just my 1 post to PWT, others decided to judge my political affiliation even when my post was not about politics but about rape.
Anna,
Excuse my bluntness……..but can you read headlines???
If you and Doma want to accuse people here of going off on unjustified tangents……….keep repeating the headline of this post to yourself……..until the fog of BDS begins to clear away………..PWT’s original comment was snarky only to Stickings’s case of BDS, not even remotely to the subject of rape…………sheesh!
Casual-
The headline is : RAPED BY HALIBURON
The stroy is about an alleged repe by Haliburton personel. The only thing missing in the headline in the word ‘alleged’.
if you pay the least attention to how headlines are consturcted in newspapers, magazines and blogs, you will see that the first rule of thumb iis to draw attention to the story.
The hope is, of course, that people will be capable of reading the story.
Having read it, I can say that it has no retion to Hillary Clinton or Iran.
Therefore, as I said, commenters do veer off topic to vent their personal and irrelevant obsessions.
And resorting to claims of BDS instead of dtaying with the topic is just pure BS.
If you have a problem with any factual context in the post, say so.
Otherwise, irrelevant is still irrelevant. and snark is still sanrk.
Thank you Doma!
casualobserver:
My only mention of Bush in any of my posts was to say that if this had been under a Democratic administration that Bush’s name would be changed to the appropriate name. How in the heck is this BDS?! Yes, I can read headlines and as Doma has pointed out, only the word ‘alleged’ is missing but as I stated before, I tend to give rape victims the benefit of the doubt. I have been focusing on the crime of rape committed and reiterating that rape is not political. I could also be blunt and ask if you’re able to read & comprehend what I’ve written so far but I tend to be too respectful to do that.
It seems “BDS” is the new penicillin! It can cure any woe.
Is the theory here that rogue employees locked the girl into the container without management’s permission? That these same rogue authorities threatened her future employment should she leave the country for medical treatment?
Look folks, we’ve all be anally raped by Halliburton.
Rather than just posting to be snarky, I do have problems with the factual content of this post. My initial problems stemmed from reading the following:
But today, I’ve come across a more authoritative examination of the case.
Davebo, “watch out for your corn-hole”
PWT-
Your ‘authoritative source’ consists of a lot of claims and counter claims.
It’s certainly additional information, to the news story the post reported. Whether or not ir contradicts ti will be determined by the investigaions that are under way.
It would be a terrible thing for women who are raped, if this claim were false. On the other hand, since so many of the criticisms were based on procedural rules and appearances rather than fact finding, it would be way out of line to presume that to be the case.
I, for one, need to see what the investigaions uncover before passing judgment either way.
I admit I might have a bias, because I remember what ‘suspicions’ were hurled at female members of the military and West point in similar cases.
Character assasination is so much easier than proving rape.
I just hope the investigaions come to a clear conclusion, so this doesn’t become another political football.
I too hope that it doesn’t become a political football, however I believe that in this day and age, it is already too late. Anna is correct, rape is not a left/right issue, but it is presented that way in this case by both ABC News and by Mr. Stickings. More to the point, we don’t really know much about the case and whatever differences of opinion there may be about its validity may stem only from the poor presentations of both ABC and Mr. Stickings.