Don't Drink The Water II

Dozens of U.S. troops in Iraq fell sick at bases using "unmonitored and potentially unsafe" water supplied by the military. The contractor in charge? A company once owned by Evil Dick Cheney!

A report 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 Defense Department's inspector general's report, which could be released as early as Monday, 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." That's a polite way of saying it's their fault.

The report said KBR took corrective steps and was providing adequate water quality by November 2006, but military units at the two sites they controlled were still failing to perform required quality control tests and maintain appropriate records by that time.

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.

The KBR sites were Camp Ar Ramadi, Camp Q-West and Camp Victory. The military sites were Logistics Support Area Anaconda and Camp Ali.

Halliburton Co., then KBR's parent company, disputed the allegations even though they were made by its own employees and documented in company e-mails, because that's what greedy bastards will do, even when they're providing the proof. Back in March 2006, internal Halliburton report acknowledged, in one instance, the company missed contamination that could have caused "mass sickness or death" at Ar Ramadi. The report said the event at Ar Ramadi could have been prevented if KBR's reverse osmosis (sound familiar?) units on the site had been assembled, instead of relying on the military's water production facilities.

I can understand there not being the proper systems in place here in America to monitor water safety, but while we have our troops overseas waging war for oil profits, shouldn't the powers that be at least try and keep them in fighting shape so they can continue to fill their coffers?