IRAQ
Unaccountable Rape In Iraq

In July 2005, on her "fourth night in a Green Zone barracks in Baghdad," former Halliburton/KBR employee Jamie Leigh Jones says she "accepted a 'special drink' from male KBR employees," after which she doesn't "remember anything at all" until she "woke up naked," "bleeding," and "bruised." "I remember looking down and seeing the bruises between my inner thighs, at that moment my heart sank," Jones told an ABC-affiliate in Houston. According to Jones, "an examination by Army doctors showed she had been raped 'both vaginally and anally,'" but somehow "the rape kit" with her examination's results "disappeared after it was handed over to KBR security officers." After reporting her rape to KBR, Jones says "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." After "at least 24 hours" in the container "without food or water," a "sympathetic guard" allowed her to call her family in Texas, who contacted Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX). Poe then contacted the State Department, "which quickly dispatched agents from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad" to free Jones from the container. In the two years since Jones returned from Iraq, "the Justice Department has brought no criminal charges in the matter" and Poe says "neither the departments of State nor Justice will give him answers on the status of the Jones investigation." Frustrated by the government's inaction, Jones is now taking her case to the civil court system, but KBR is pushing for it to be heard in "private arbitration," without a "public record or transcript."

KBR'S 'INADEQUATE' DEFENSE: KBR, formerly known as Kellogg, Brown and Root and until 2006, a subsidiary of Halliburton, is "the largest" private "employer of Americans" in Iraq, with "nearly 14,000 U.S. workers." The company is aggressively resisting Jones's claims. In a memo to company employees, KBR CEO Bill Utt "disputes portions of Ms. Jones' version of the facts" and alleges "inaccuracies in the accounts of the incident in questions." In particular, KBR says "one of its human resources employees tended to Jones following the incident, provided her with food, and helped her contact her family." Jamie Armstrong, the human resources employee, confirmed to KBR's version of events to ABC News, but cautioned that "her memory may not be accurate" because "this happened several years ago." In his memo to employees, Utt emphasizes that the company "expressed" its "position in detail to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)," but the Houston Chronicle reports "that the EEOC's Houston office found KBR's investigation into Jones's allegations were 'inadequate and did not effect an adequate remedy.'" According to the Chronicle, KBR told the EEOC that "one of the men accused in the rape" said that Jones "consented to have sex with him." Jones's lawyers responded by to KBR's defense by saying that "attacking the victim is the oldest trick in the book."

CONGRESS STEPS UP: For the past two years, Poe has been championing Jones's case, pushing federal investigators to take action. "I think it is the responsibility of our government, the Justice Department and the State Department," Poe told ABC News. "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." After ABC News reported on Jones's case last week, the House Judiciary Committee announced that it would hold a hearing on Jones's allegations next Wednesday. In the past week, multiple members of Congress have written to the Attorney General, Secretary of Defense, and Secretary of State urging them to "act immediately to investigate Ms. Jones's claims." In his letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) raised concerns about a second KBR employee alleging sexual assault while working for the company in Iraq. "I am deeply troubled by recent reports that at least two women who worked in Iraq under contractors for the Department of Defense were sexually assaulted by male coworkers," Nelson wrote to Gates.    

NOT AN 'ISOLATED CASE?': In her lawsuit, Jones asserts that "KBR and Halliburton created a 'boys will be boys' atmosphere at the company barracks which put her and other female employees at risk." "I think that the men who are there believe that they live without laws," Jones's lawyer Todd Kelly told ABC News. Another former KBR employee, Linda Lindsey, supports Jones's claims about the "boys will be boys" environment of KBR barracks in Iraq. "I saw rampant sexual harassment and discrimination," said Lindsey in a sworn affidavit for Jones's case. During an appearance on CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight last week, Poe said he does not think that Jones's alleged rape "is an isolated case of sexual assault against American citizens in Baghdad by coworkers," and he wants "the other victims to notify" his office immediately. In his letter to Gates, Nelson mentions "a second alleged assault, this time of a woman from Florida who reportedly worked for a KBR subsidiary in Ramadi, Iraq in 2005." Houston's CBS affiliate KHOU says "a North Carolina woman, who also said she was assaulted by a KBR contractor," will testify along with Jones on Wednesday, though the House Judiciary Committee has yet to release an official witness list.

Under the Radar

CLIMATE CHANGE -- DELEGATES AT BALI AGREE TO CLIMATE CHANGE FRAMEWORK: After weeks of negotiation, delegates at the U.N. global warming conference in Bali "finally managed to agree on a roadmap for fighting climate change" after the U.S. accepted a framework that "in theory, would set the world on a course toward halving emissions of heat-trapping gases by 2050." The agreement by the United States to join the accord came as Yvo de Boer, the organizer of the conference, scolded the United States to to lead, follow, or "please get out of the way." The new roadmap includes "action for adapting to the negative consequences of climate change, ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, ways to deploy climate-friendly technologies and financing both adaptation and mitigation measures." While the U.S. acquiescence was widely welcomed, the Bush administration still refuses to accept a 25 percent to 40 percent mandatory target for emissions cuts.

CONGRESS -- GRAHAM PLACES HOLD ON ANTI-WATERBOARDING BILL: Last week, the House passed a bill that bans waterboarding and holds the CIA "to the interrogation tactics permitted by the Army Field Manual on Human Intelligence Collector Operations." President Bush has said he would veto the bill, but he may not get the opportunity. Shortly after the House vote, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) placed a hold on the Senate version of the bill, blocking it from coming to a vote. He claimed the bill was "ill-advised" and would "destroy" a "lawful" program. Graham's effort to protect Bush's torture policies directly contradicts his recent anti-torture rhetoric. Last week, Graham sharply criticized Brigadier General Thomas W. Hartmann, the legal adviser at Guantanamo Bay, for refusing to call waterboarding torture, even if done by Iranian "secret security agents" on an American pilot.

IRAN -- McCAIN LAUGHS OFF 'BOMB BOMB IRAN' MOMENT: In April, a questioner asked Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) if an attack on Iran was in the works. "Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran," McCain responded, to the tune of the Beach Boys song Barbara Ann. (Watch it.) NBC's First Read reports that, at an event in South Carolina on Saturday, a man reminded McCain of that moment and asked what he will do now in the wake of the National Intelligence Estimate that says Iran has shut down its nuclear program. McCain responded, "No thanks for reminding me, you jerk. [Laughter]. I don't know where the intelligence came from. ... I don't detect a change in Iranians behavior...they still pose a threat to our country." In September, when a high school student asked McCain whether he was too old and too conservative to be president, McCain responded, "Thanks for the question, you little jerk. You're drafted."

Think Fast

The Senate is set to begin debate today on a FISA bill that would overhaul the rules for electronic surveillance. Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) has elected to bring legislation to the Senate floor that would provide retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies that participated in the Bush administration's illegal spying efforts. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) will reportedly filibuster the bill. Firedoglake has more.

Saudi King Abdullah has pardoned a teenage gang-rape victim who had been sentenced to 200 lashes and a six-month jail term for "being alone with a man unrelated to her." A Saudi appeals court had punished the rape victim for going to the media with her story.

Pentagon officials are pressuring President Bush to "accelerate a troop drawdown in Iraq and bulk up force levels in Afghanistan. ... Senior administration officials now believe Afghanistan may pose a greater longer-term challenge than Iraq."

"While violence is down in Iraq, Americans continue to die and fall badly wounded, and suffer severe stress and trauma caused by 15-month tours of duty. A remarkable article on Friday in the Army Times is titled: 'Not us. We're not going: Soldiers in 2nd Platoon, Charlie 1-26 stage a mutiny that pulls the unit apart."

Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL) writes of "the case for impeachment hearings." Along with fellow House Judiciary Committee members Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Wexler is calling for the commencement of impeachment hearings against Vice President Cheney. 

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, yesterday promised that he will push forward with "a probe into the destruction of CIA videotapes of detainee interrogations, despite a Justice Department request that congressional inquiries be suspended."

The House-Senate conference report on the FY 2008 intelligence authorization bill "is heavily focused on the use of private contractors by intelligence agencies," stating that the intelligence community lacks clear definitions of functions to be performed by contractors and whether contractors are performing tasks "that should be performed by government employees."

And finally: President Bush has "a regular posse of eight to 10 cyclists" who join him on his 90-minute weekend bike rides. Legislative aide Barrett Karr, who often joins the group, said that Bush "usually takes the lead as the group heads out, but at some point will say, 'Let the dogs out' -- and the faster riders will zoom to the front." Another rider, economic adviser Edward P. Lazear, said, "We ride hard. There's no question. We ride really hard."

Good News

Diane Humetewa was confirmed late Thursday by the U.S. Senate as Arizona's U.S. Attorney, "the first Native American woman to serve as a U.S. Attorney."

State Watch

SOUTH DAKOTA: Gov. Mike Rounds (R) protects an American-Indian shrine from encroaching developers.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) places a hold on legislation funding the District's urban transit system.

ENVIRONMENT: Conservationists say the job of restoring the polluted Chesapeake Bay "is more difficult than they imagined, and they're battling fatigue."

Blog Watch

THINK PROGRESS: Keith Olbermann: I nearly left MSNBC in 2003 over Michael Savage's "spattering invective."

GLENN GREENWALD: Revelations of the National Security Agency's pre-911 efforts to tap into the nation's domestic communications network without warrants.

CROOKS AND LIARS: On C-SPAN's Washington Journal, Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) attempts to backpedal his comparison of waterboarding to swimming.

TPM CAFE: Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) says today's FISA vote is "an uphill struggle of those of us who want more court oversight" of the Bush administration's "broad new surveillance powers."

Daily Grill

"I don't think you have to have a lot of knowledge about the law to understand this technique violates Geneva Convention."
-- Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), 10/28/07, on waterboarding

VERSUS

"I think quite frankly applying the Army field manual to the CIA would be ill-advised and would destroy a program that I think is lawful and helps the country."
-- Graham, 12/14/07, on legislation that would outlaw waterboarding

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