Brought to you by KBR:
U.S. soldiers at a military base in Iraq were provided with treated but untested wastewater for nearly two years by KBR, the giant government contractor, and may have suffered health problems as a result, according to a report released yesterday by the Pentagon’s inspector general.
The inspector general said that from March 2004 to February 2006, KBR inappropriately distributed chlorinated wastewater to 5,000 U.S. troops at Camp Q-West, located at the Qayyarah West airfield about 180 miles north of Baghdad. The wastewater had been processed by a reverse-osmosis purification system and treated with chlorine before being distributed to showers and latrines on the base.
The report said that from October 2005 to June 2006, sick-call records showed 38 reported illnesses that “an attending medical official said could be attributed to water, such as skin abscesses, cellulites, skin infections and diarrhea.” The report said it was impossible to definitively link the treated water to all the illnesses.
And what will be done about this? Nothing. It’s just another chapter in the Republican book for “screwing life for profit”. KBR is allowed to poison our soldiers, rape American citizens and do whatever they want. In other words they can be just like a tyrant dictator (you know like Saddam) and we continue to support them by giving them more contacts. All this so Dick Cheney can keep getting richer. God bless the GOP!