Taylor Marsh – TaylorMarsh.com – News, Opinion and Weblog on Progressive Politics

The Gang Rape of Jamie Jones and the KBR/Halliburton
Cover-Up

The good news is that Ms. Jones didn’t get 200 lashes. The bad news is that
even in Saudi Arabia the misogynistic criminals were punished, if only barely.
So far, that is not the case for the criminals employed by KBR who have been
accused of brutally raping a female colleague, then imprisoning her against
her will to keep her quiet. ABC
News has the full story.

Jamie Leigh Jones has charged that she was gang raped at the KBR facility in the Green Zone in Iraq, “both vaginally and anally”;
then after when she reported it she was put in a shipping container
under armed guards and threatened that if she left Iraq for medical treatment she’d
lose her job. She had no water during her forced confinement. To make matters worse, the
rape kit has conveniently disappeared.

Finally, one guard with a conscience handed her a cell phone so she could call
her father in Texas. From there it went to Rep. Ted Poe, a Republican, who immediately
called the State Department, citing a real emergency in rescuing an American
citizen. That she was being rescued from an American company, a subsidiary of
Halliburton, is the crowning irony.

Rep. Conyers, joined by Rep. Poe have written
the Justice Department:

December 11, 2007 The Honorable Michael Mukasey United States Attorney General U.S. Department of Justice 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20530 Dear Mr. Attorney General: We are writing to follow up on the letter sent yesterday by Representative Poe concerning the Department’s response to American Jamie Leigh Jones’ report that she was assaulted and raped by fellow employees of Halliburton/KBR in Baghdad, and that in the aftermath of this assault she was imprisoned under armed guard for over 24 hours without food or water.1 Ms. Jones further states that she was told she would be fired if she sought outside medical care and that the results of a medical examination documenting the alleged rape were given by U.S. Army personnel to KBR security and have now “disappeared.” This report of criminal misconduct directed against a U.S. citizen at the hands of employees of an American-based corporation working in Iraq at the behest of the U.S. Government, as well as a possible cover-up and destruction of evidence, is deeply troubling. It also raises broader concerns, which the Judiciary Committee has already been investigating, about the Department’s role in enforcing laws protecting Americans who are working in Iraq. In addition to the general questions in yesterday’s letter, we ask that you provide answers to the following specific questions as soon as possible, and no later than Tuesday, December 18, 2007: 1. Based on the facts as reported by Ms. Jones, does the Department believe that it has jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute in this matter under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act of 2000, 18 U.S.C. § 3261, or section 804 of the USA Patriot Act, 18 U.S.C. § 7(9)? Please explain. 2. Has the Department investigated Ms. Jones’ claims? a) If not, why not? b) If so, please describe the course and current status of the investigation and whether it includes the apparent destruction of evidence described above. c) If so, what offices of the Department have participated in the investigation? Which Assistant Attorney General is responsible for this and other investigations of alleged crimes within the Department’s jurisdiction committed in Iraq? d) If so, is the investigation limited to events alleged to have occurred in Iraq, or is the Department investigating events that may have occurred in countries other than Iraq, including the United States? 3. ABC reports a statement by KBR that “it was ‘instructed to cease its own investigation by U.S. government authorities ‘because they were assuming sole responsibility for the criminal investigations.” a) Did the Department issue such an instruction to KBR? b) If so, please describe the exact terms of the instruction and explain when, why, and by whom it was issued. c) If not, do you have any information regarding whether any other component of the US government issued such an instruction? Which one? d) If some other agency issued the instruction, what is the basis for an assertion that an agency of the US Government other than the Justice Department can have “sole responsibility” for all related criminal investigations? Do you agree that the Department should be involved from the outset of an investigation into a serious criminal matter such as this one? Please direct your responses and any questions to the Judiciary Committee office, 2138 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515 (Tel.: 202-25-3951; fax: 202-225-7680) and to Rep. Poe’s office, 1605 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515 (Tel.: 202-225-6565; fax: 202-225-5547). Thank you for your prompt cooperation in this matter. Sincerely, John Conyers, Jr. Chairman, House Committee on the Judiciary Ted Poe Member of Congress

Attorney General Mukasey
needs to get to the bottom of this case.

What fresh hell we have brought on ourselves in Iraq. We need to get out of
their before we lose our souls. Or have we lost them already?

David Brooks
doesn’t think so.