Wednesday, March 28, 2007

3630

New assaults on Administration for deaths of U.S. civilians

USA Today ran an article today on the sad situation for U.S. civilians who are employees of companies who are working in Iraq. KBR, a subsidiary of Halliburton, figures prominently in the story, because the media know that will bring up mental images of Dick Cheney without ever mentioning his name. George Soros owns a lot of stock in Halliburton, according to what I've read, and Cheney doesn't, but the media isn't about to say "the left is making money from this war." KBR has had construction contracts for the U.S. military for over a half century, and bankrolled LBJ for his presidential bids. But, let's not confuse quacks and frauds. Nor should we ask why a man or woman, who could be doing something much safer and signs up for bonuses and huge paychecks to go into a dangerous war zone, should expect their families to be entitled to more than other construction workers on any other job if they are injured or killed on the job.

The story in today's paper (or you can google "Halliburton civilian workers in Iraq" and see this has been covered many times but right now is a pile-on) mentioned relatives who want extended COBRA, funeral expenses, cleaned up dead bodies returned to them, and new government regulations for the contractors. And of course, this: "Critics of the war are pressing the Bush Administration to disclose more details on injuries and deaths among private contractors."

2 comments:

ChupieandJ'smama (Janeen) said...

I'm speechless. This is the news. How is this news? You go over to war knowing that you could be killed. Then your family wants compensated for your death because it's the governments fault. I'm speechless.

Norma said...

I don't deny for a moment that these people provide a valuable service to the military which contracts for their services. However, they know going in and receive hazardous pay and bonuses for doing it. Those who go, work and come back safely, probably do very well financially, but it is a terrible risk and one they should clearly understand before signing on.