Gang-Rape Cover-Up by U.S., Halliburton/KBR

[deep]

Victim: Gang-Rape Cover-Up by U.S., Halliburton/KBR



KBR Told Victim She Could Lose Her Job If She Sought Help After Being Raped, She Says

By BRIAN ROSS, MADDY SAUER & JUSTIN ROOD

Dec. 10, 2007—

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.

"It felt like prison," says Jones, who told her story to ABC News as part of an upcoming "20/20" investigation. "I was upset; I was curled up in a ball on the bed; I just could not believe what had happened."

Finally, Jones says, she convinced a sympathetic guard to loan her a cell phone so she could call her father in Texas.

"I said, 'Dad, I've been raped. I don't know what to do. I'm in this container, and I'm not able to leave,'" she said. Her father called their congressman, Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas.

"We contacted the State Department first," Poe told ABCNews.com, "and told them of the urgency of rescuing an American citizen" -- from her American employer.

Poe says his office contacted the State Department, which quickly dispatched agents from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad to Jones' camp, where they rescued her from the container.

According to her lawsuit, Jones was raped by "several attackers who first drugged her, then repeatedly raped and injured her, both physically and emotionally."

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.

A spokesperson for the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security told ABCNews.com he could not comment on the matter.

Over two years later, the Justice Department has brought no criminal charges in the matter. In fact, ABC News could not confirm any federal agency was investigating the case.

Legal experts say Jones' alleged assailants will likely never face a judge and jury, due to an enormous loophole that has effectively left contractors in Iraq beyond the reach of United States law.

"It's very troubling," said Dean John Hutson of the Franklin Pierce Law Center. "The way the law presently stands, I would say that they don't have, at least in the criminal system, the opportunity for justice."

Congressman Poe says neither the departments of State nor Justice will give him answers on the status of the Jones investigation.

Asked what reasons the departments gave for the apparent slowness of the probes, Poe sounded frustrated.

"There are several, I think, their excuses, why the perpetrators haven't been prosecuted," Poe told ABC News. "But I think it is the responsibility of our government, the Justice Department and the State Department, when crimes occur against American citizens overseas in Iraq, contractors that are paid by the American public, that we pursue the criminal cases as best as we possibly can and that people are prosecuted."

Since no criminal charges have been filed, the only other option, according to Hutson, is the civil system, which is the approach that Jones is trying now. But Jones' former employer doesn't want this case to see the inside of a civil courtroom.

KBR has moved for Jones' claim to be heard in private arbitration, instead of a public courtroom. It says her employment contract requires it.

In arbitration, there is no public record nor transcript of the proceedings, meaning that Jones' claims would not be heard before a judge and jury. Rather, a private arbitrator would decide Jones' case. In recent testimony before Congress, employment lawyer Cathy Ventrell-Monsees said that Halliburton won more than 80 percent of arbitration proceedings brought against it.

In his interview with ABC News, Rep. Poe said he sided with Jones.

"Air things out in a public forum of a courtroom," said Rep. Poe. "That's why we have courts in the United States."

In her lawsuit, Jones' lawyer, Todd Kelly, says KBR and Halliburton created a "boys will be boys" atmosphere at the company barracks which put her and other female employees at great risk.

"I think that men who are there believe that they live without laws," said Kelly. "The last thing she should have expected was for her own people to turn on her."

Halliburton, which has since divested itself of KBR, says it "is improperly named" in the suit.

In a statement, KBR said it was "instructed to cease" its own investigation by U.S. government authorities "because they were assuming sole responsibility for the criminal investigations."

"The safety and security of all employees remains KBR's top priority," it said in a statement. "Our commitment in this regard is unwavering."

Since the attacks, Jones has started a nonprofit foundation called the Jamie Leigh Foundation, which is dedicated to helping victims who were raped or sexually assaulted overseas while working for government contractors or other corporations.

"I want other women to know that it's not their fault," said Jones. "They can go against corporations that have treated them this way." Jones said that any proceeds from the civil suit will go to her foundation.

"There needs to be a voice out there that really pushed for change," she said. "I'd like to be that voice."

[Irvine511]

come to think of it, my post was inappropriate. not the time for an anti-Iraq war ironic point.

[deep]

Victim: Gang Rape Cover-Up by U.S., Halliburton/KBR

Jones, who told her story to ABC News as part of an upcoming "20/20" investigation, said an examination by Army doctors after the incident showed she had been raped "both vaginally and anally," but that the rape kit disappeared after it was handed over to KBR security officers.

Victim: Gang Rape Cover-Up by U.S., Halliburton/KBR

But Rep. Poe, whose office contacted the State Department to rescue Jones from the container, says neither the departments of State nor Justice will give him answers on the status of the Jones investigation. Frustrated, Poe told ABC News, "I think it is the responsibility of our government, the Justice Department and the State Department, when crimes occur against American citizens overseas in Iraq, contractors that are paid by the American public, that we pursue the criminal cases as best as we possibly can and that people are prosecuted."

Since the attack, Jones has started a nonprofit foundation called the Jamie Leigh Foundation, which is dedicated to helping victims who have been raped or sexually assaulted overseas while working for government contractors or other corporations. "There needs to be a voice out there that really pushed for change," she said. "I'd like to be that voice."

[deep]

“Democracy is messy,” Rumsfeld

send more handiwipes

[BVS]

That's awful.

[Irvine511]

Originally posted by deep


“Democracy is messy,” Rumsfeld

send more handiwipes

"stuff happens?"

[deep]

Originally posted by Irvine511
come to think of it, my post was inappropriate. not the time for an anti-Iraq war ironic point.

well

then my post is wrong, too


Rummy does not support rape, (for Americans)

non Americans? torture / rape


and no accountability for contractors

these rapers have immunity

should we even care?


why this time?

oh, she is not Muslim

[Irvine511]

and i just don't know where this thread is going to go ... going to tread lightly for now ... erm, "the surge is working?"

[deep]

It is obvious she got drunk and put out with all these guys (IT WAS CONSENSUAL!!!)


and then when she realized she was a slut

she decided to blackmailed them

[Irvine511]

Originally posted by deep
It is obvious she got drunk and put out with all these guys (IT WAS CONSENSUAL!!!)


and then when she realized she was a slut

she decided to blackmailed them

once again, we realize the importance of unit cohesion, and the fact that men can't be allowed to shower with the gays because this sort of thing will continue to happen.

[deep]

Who are you going to believe?

Heroic men that are putting their lives on the line for God and Country

or



A woman that looks like she is from an Escort Service?

[Liesje]

anyway...

[MrsSpringsteen]

Originally posted by Liesje
anyway...

Yes, anyway

[nathan1977]

Good for her for taking a stand. The men who did this should be prosecuted.

[Moonlit_Angel]

Indeed. I hope they get the proper punishment for this. That's awful, I"m sorry for what happened to her . I'm glad to see she's speaking out.

Angela

[sue4u2]

Originally posted by Moonlit_Angel
Indeed. I hope they get the proper punishment for this. That's awful, I"m sorry for what happened to her . I'm glad to see she's speaking out.

Angela

In the October issue of Vanity Fair, I was so outraged by an article I read regarding the billions of taxpayers money stolen, transferred to off shore banks or just given out by the millions to contractors, I thought it was inconceivable.

Of course that was before I read about the above.

That article stated:
In one of his last offical acts before leaving Bagdad, Bremer issued an order - prepared by the Pentagon, he says - declaring that all coalition force members "shall be immune from any form of
arrest or detention other than by persons acting on behalf of their Sending States" Contractors also got the same get-out-of-jail- free card. According to Bremer's order, "contractors shall be immune from"
...basically everything.
*****
How the hell can this happen. We, a civilized country being run by and to a greater extent, represented by - despots.
That makes us no better than the countries we are trying to defend against these types of atrocities.
I really just don't know what else to do, say or write to someone about. Just doesn't seem it will do any good.

It's completely reprehensible.

[CTU2fan]

Where are the apologists?









Nothing???



















Hmm...

[Moonlit_Angel]

Originally posted by sue4u2
In the October issue of Vanity Fair, I was so outraged by an article I read regarding the billions of taxpayers money stolen, transferred to off shore banks or just given out by the millions to contractors, I thought it was inconceivable.

Of course that was before I read about the above.

That article stated:
In one of his last offical acts before leaving Bagdad, Bremer issued an order - prepared by the Pentagon, he says - declaring that all coalition force members "shall be immune from any form of
arrest or detention other than by persons acting on behalf of their Sending States" Contractors also got the same get-out-of-jail- free card. According to Bremer's order, "contractors shall be immune from"
...basically everything.

Wow. That's really classy, lemme tell ya .

Despite that, I still hope she gives them some serious hell, 'cause quite frankly, they need it. There's no excuse for this. None.

Angela

[sue4u2]

Originally posted by Moonlit_Angel


Wow. That's really classy, lemme tell ya .

Despite that, I still hope she gives them some serious hell, 'cause quite frankly, they need it. There's no excuse for this. None.

Angela

You're right ... and even though I have these moments of feeling totally inadequate to do anything... I'll keep fighting and writing and ranting untill I loose my right or mind, to do so.

[BrownEyedBoy]

This woman is very brave. Poor thing. No one should have to go through these things in any lifetime.

I hope the culprits are punished gravely.