thedrifter
07-12-08, 06:45 AM
July 11, 2008, 11:58PM
Congress investigates electrocutions in Iraq
KBR, ordered to inspect facilities, being blamed in some of the deaths
By DAVID IVANOVICH
Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — Army Staff Sgt. Christopher Everett of Huntsville was power washing sand from the underside of a Humvee in Iraq on Sept. 7, 2005, when he was electrocuted.
The Army concluded the 23-year-old Everett was killed because a generator supplying power to the washer at Camp Taqaddum had not been properly grounded, Everett's mother, Larraine McGee, told a panel of Senate Democrats on Friday.
McGee said Army officials led her to believe her son was the first soldier to die in Iraq by electrocution. In fact, he was the fourth.
"Anger has taken over my grief," McGee said.
Pentagon officials have since revealed that between September 2003 and May 2008, 13 Americans — 11 military personnel and two civilian contractors — had been electrocuted in Iraq, while another three had died from electric shock in the U.S. and Germany during the same period.
Forcing inspections
Now the Defense Contract Management Agency has ordered Houston-based military contractor KBR to inspect wiring on nearly 4,900 facilities.
But KBR is the same company at least some of the victims' families blame for failing to ensure their loved ones didn't die in the first place.
KBR, which under its $26 billion contract with the Army provides a host of support services for U.S. troops, does not accept the contention it is responsible for these electrocutions.
"KBR has found no evidence of a link between the work the military tasked KBR to perform and the reported deaths that have resulted from electrocution," company spokeswoman Heather Browne said Friday.
"We continue to conduct technical inspections on all facilities serviced by KBR throughout Iraq to ensure safe and proper operations for those we serve."
Revelations about the electrocutions of service members and contractors working in Iraq have caused great consternation across Capitol Hill.
"You understand in war time there will be casualties," said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., chairman of the panel. "You don't understand why an American soldier is killed because of sloppy work of a contractor."
On Thursday, Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, sent a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates asking the Pentagon to provide a detailed account of measures taken to inspect and correct faulty ground equipment in Iraq and Afghanistan.
McGee said she had been assured that all generators would be inspected.
"That was the only consolation I had, that Chris' death would at least keep it from happening to someone else," she said.
McGee, speaking after the session, said documents she has seen indicated maintenance issues were directed to KBR, while the paperwork for work orders regarding the generator referenced Louisiana-based Arkel International.
Arkel President George Knost, contacted later, said his firm was responsible for changing oil filters, spraying out the radiator and providing other maintenance on the mechanical portions of the generator.
Arkel, Knost added, was a prime contractor for the Marines and was not a subcontractor to KBR.
'The Unexpected Killer'
The Army had been concerned about electrocutions at least since October 2004, when it issued a report, "Electrocution: The Unexpected Killer."
That was more than three years before Cheryl Harris' son Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, 24, was electrocuted on Jan. 2 while taking a shower at the Radwaniyah Palace Complex in Baghdad.
Maseth had been killed because an electrical water pump shorted out after he had stepped into the shower and turned on the water, Army investigators had concluded.
Gen. David Petraeus, now the top military commander in the Middle East, told lawmakers in a written statement that KBR had conducted an inspection at the Radwaniyah Palace Complex Feb. 10, 2007.
"These inspections revealed no deficiencies related to the water pump contributing to ... Maseth's death but did indicate other grounding issues," Petraeus wrote.
"How could something so simple as basic grounding not be done over there?" McGee wonders.
david.ivanovich@chron.com
Ellie
Congress investigates electrocutions in Iraq
KBR, ordered to inspect facilities, being blamed in some of the deaths
By DAVID IVANOVICH
Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — Army Staff Sgt. Christopher Everett of Huntsville was power washing sand from the underside of a Humvee in Iraq on Sept. 7, 2005, when he was electrocuted.
The Army concluded the 23-year-old Everett was killed because a generator supplying power to the washer at Camp Taqaddum had not been properly grounded, Everett's mother, Larraine McGee, told a panel of Senate Democrats on Friday.
McGee said Army officials led her to believe her son was the first soldier to die in Iraq by electrocution. In fact, he was the fourth.
"Anger has taken over my grief," McGee said.
Pentagon officials have since revealed that between September 2003 and May 2008, 13 Americans — 11 military personnel and two civilian contractors — had been electrocuted in Iraq, while another three had died from electric shock in the U.S. and Germany during the same period.
Forcing inspections
Now the Defense Contract Management Agency has ordered Houston-based military contractor KBR to inspect wiring on nearly 4,900 facilities.
But KBR is the same company at least some of the victims' families blame for failing to ensure their loved ones didn't die in the first place.
KBR, which under its $26 billion contract with the Army provides a host of support services for U.S. troops, does not accept the contention it is responsible for these electrocutions.
"KBR has found no evidence of a link between the work the military tasked KBR to perform and the reported deaths that have resulted from electrocution," company spokeswoman Heather Browne said Friday.
"We continue to conduct technical inspections on all facilities serviced by KBR throughout Iraq to ensure safe and proper operations for those we serve."
Revelations about the electrocutions of service members and contractors working in Iraq have caused great consternation across Capitol Hill.
"You understand in war time there will be casualties," said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., chairman of the panel. "You don't understand why an American soldier is killed because of sloppy work of a contractor."
On Thursday, Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, sent a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates asking the Pentagon to provide a detailed account of measures taken to inspect and correct faulty ground equipment in Iraq and Afghanistan.
McGee said she had been assured that all generators would be inspected.
"That was the only consolation I had, that Chris' death would at least keep it from happening to someone else," she said.
McGee, speaking after the session, said documents she has seen indicated maintenance issues were directed to KBR, while the paperwork for work orders regarding the generator referenced Louisiana-based Arkel International.
Arkel President George Knost, contacted later, said his firm was responsible for changing oil filters, spraying out the radiator and providing other maintenance on the mechanical portions of the generator.
Arkel, Knost added, was a prime contractor for the Marines and was not a subcontractor to KBR.
'The Unexpected Killer'
The Army had been concerned about electrocutions at least since October 2004, when it issued a report, "Electrocution: The Unexpected Killer."
That was more than three years before Cheryl Harris' son Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, 24, was electrocuted on Jan. 2 while taking a shower at the Radwaniyah Palace Complex in Baghdad.
Maseth had been killed because an electrical water pump shorted out after he had stepped into the shower and turned on the water, Army investigators had concluded.
Gen. David Petraeus, now the top military commander in the Middle East, told lawmakers in a written statement that KBR had conducted an inspection at the Radwaniyah Palace Complex Feb. 10, 2007.
"These inspections revealed no deficiencies related to the water pump contributing to ... Maseth's death but did indicate other grounding issues," Petraeus wrote.
"How could something so simple as basic grounding not be done over there?" McGee wonders.
david.ivanovich@chron.com
Ellie