October 05, 2009 03:39 PM Eastern Daylight Time

DCBureau.org Releases Investigation into American Troops Exposed to Carcinogen in Iraq

"No Contractor Left Behind” examines how contractor KBR and Pentagon officials withheld critical health information from U.S. troops

WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–DCBureau.org, an award-winning investigative journalism organization, today released a four-part special investigation, No Contractor Left Behind: KBR, the Pentagon and the Soldiers Who Paid, detailing how Pentagon contractor KBR exposed U.S. troops to a cancer-causing toxin in Iraq, and how Pentagon officials withheld information from the exposed solders. The series reveals it took six years, the cancer deaths of two National Guard soldiers, and the serious illness of dozens of others for the Pentagon to begin informing soldiers they had been exposed to highly toxic sodium dichromate while serving at the Qarmat Ali water treatment facility in Basra, Iraq, in 2003. Congress, instead of confronting the issue head-on, has relegated its investigation to a powerless and partisan Senate committee.

Using videotaped depositions from KBR workers and internal company documents, No Contractor Left Behind shows KBR knew about the presence of sodium dichromate at Qarmat Ali early in 2003, but failed – even after repeated warnings from its own safety managers – to properly notify KBR employees and military personnel. When the company finally performed an environmental evaluation of Qarmat Ali it found extremely toxic levels of the chemical at the facility. Yet KBR has continued to deny that it recklessly exposed U.S. troops to the deadly poison.

The Defense Department also tried to downplay soldiers’ concerns that their health problems are a direct result of their exposure at Qarmat Ali. The Army has relied on a faulty medical test performed on its National Guardsmen back in 2003 – a test that a leading sodium dichromate expert told DCBureau.org was inadequate. The Department of Veterans Affairs has used these findings to deny health coverage to sick veterans.

Congress, meanwhile, has entrusted the Qarmat Ali probe – and the slew of contracting scandals that have plagued the Pentagon over the past half-decade – to the Democratic Policy Committee (DPC). But the DPC lacks the power to subpoena documents and compel testimony, rendering it unable to conduct a full investigation. Despite Qarmat Ali being the most recent controversy in a string of accusations against KBR including contracting fraud, bribery, wrongful death, sexual assault, and shoddy work that has killed several soldiers, KBR remains the Army’s largest war contractor.

No Contractor Left Behind: KBR, the Pentagon and the Soldiers Who Paid unveils a web of negligence, incompetence, and lax oversight raising fresh questions about the military’s use of contractors and whether KBR, despite its dubious record, has become too big to fail.

All articles published by DCBureau.org can be reprinted for free with attribution by any outlet.

DCBureau.org is a non-profit journalism project staffed by award-winning reporters whose mission is to investigate news stories about significant issues and bring them to the attention of national and international audiences.

Contacts

DCBureau.org
Joseph Trento, 202-466-4310
mobile: 202-255-2441

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