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Ear to the Ground

Gang-Rape Victim Accuses Halliburton/KBR of Cover-Up

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Posted on Dec 10, 2007
Jamie Leigh Jones
abcnews.com

Jamie Leigh Jones, now 22, has started her own nonprofit foundation to help other women who have been raped or otherwise sexually assaulted while working abroad.

Over two years ago, Jamie Leigh Jones was working for Halliburton/KBR in Baghdad’s Green Zone when she was drugged and gang-raped, allegedly by several co-workers.  According to Jones, instead of attending to her injuries and bringing her assailants to justice, she was held by KBR for 24 hours in a shipping container without food or water and then told she would lose her job if she left Iraq.  Now, it’s unclear whether the case will go to trial, and her attackers may escape punishment due to a legal loophole regarding U.S. contractors working abroad.


ABC News:

“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.

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By Ernest Canning, December 12, 2007 at 5:35 am #
(1624 comments total)

Tim Kelly, your "enhanced affection"

Tim Kelly, your “enhanced affection” is classic.  Ever consider a job as the White House press spokesperson?

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By americatheblind, December 11, 2007 at 8:57 am #
(16 comments total)

Surprise, Surprise... "Jones told ABCNews.com

Surprise, Surprise… “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.” Boy, that really surprises me
that these sick, disgusting, mercenary, bottom feeders would discard the evidence.  To bad it wasn’t as easy to discard the evidence with
Clinton.  Our “leadership” in office today are no different than the crack dealers on the corner, except that they wear nice suits.  I wouldn’t
trust any of these so called leaders of the free world anywhere around me or my family.  An evil ora follows them wherever they go, and 99% simply cannnot be trusted.

Bush gave a speech the other day, or I should say damage control about the NIE about IRAN’s nuclear ambitions; one of the reporters ask Bush about the young girl that was gang raped in Saudi Arabia, and his recent phone call with one of the Sheiks over there, and if the topic of this girl came up and what was being done to protect this girl.  Supposedly the men who rapped this girl are getting off scott free and she is to be given 200 lashes and put it jail for going public with the allogations.  Bush gave some bullshit answer about they know where we stand on this issue, but continued to skate all around the question, and quicky went to another question.  This kind of thing is happening all the time, and our supposed “christian leaders” turn their head and look the other way.  Makes me really think, What Would God Do?, What would the Devil Do?  Which side do you think our so called “leaders” are on?

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By Ernest Canning, December 11, 2007 at 8:22 am #
(1624 comments total)

purplewolf, the rape victim analogy

purplewolf, the rape victim analogy you provide is a good one, though for those who were dumb enough to vote these suckers into office, it would be more like the victims of date-rape.

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By Tim Kelly, December 11, 2007 at 8:13 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

The U.S. does not rape.

The U.S. does not rape.  The woman was subjected to “enhanced affection.”

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By cHARLIE KASNICK, December 11, 2007 at 7:49 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

CRIMES COMMITTED AGAINST WOMAN IN

CRIMES COMMITTED AGAINST WOMAN IN THE MILITAY ARE ONE OF THE MOST UNDER REPORTED STORIES OF THIS WAR,ALONG WITH CORRUPTION.CRIMES OF THIS NATURE ARE COMMITED BY THE MOST VILE OF PEOPLE IN THE WORLD.MOST OF THESE CRIMINALS WOULD CRY LIKE A BABY
WHEN CONFRONTED BY CONCERNED AMERICANS,BUT ARE TOUGH
GUYS AGAINST SOMEONE WEAKER THAN THEMSELVES.THAT ATTITUDE PROBABLY EXPLAINS WHY WE WONT WIN IN IRAQ.

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By tomack, December 11, 2007 at 7:19 am #
(58 comments total)

Tony Soprano would know what

Tony Soprano would know what to do if it were his daughter. Not that I’m a violent sort but it would seem the only justice available here is a baseball bat to the knees. However, having two daughters of my own may cloud my vision in this matter.

“The best criminals hide under the cover of respectability.”

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By lodipete, December 11, 2007 at 6:24 am #
(83 comments total)

For some unexplained reason, comments

For some unexplained reason, comments on this subject have been closed at Huffington. As for Haliburton,Blackwater,etc., these are criminal organizations and need to be tackled under the RICO statutes.

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By Novista, December 11, 2007 at 3:27 am #
(30 comments total)

Well, Idree5, I hope you

Well, Idree5, I hope you will forgive my laugh when it’s your turn in the barrel.

“Wake up people” you said. I wonder what you’ve fixed?

As for me, not much accomplished, other than signing petitions, emailing congresscritters, no calls, not from half a world away. But, you continue to take the high moral ground, someone needs to do it, yeah.

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By don knutsen, December 10, 2007 at 8:45 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Wait...I thought the republican party

Wait...I thought the republican party was all about values. The party that has steadfastly given this corrupt administration everything they have asked for, no matter how ill-planned / conceived. Could it be that they were just pretending to care about the values that most of us have considered a part of a civilized society to be as quaint as say...the Geneva Convention, or Habeaus Corpus. My God, and I do mean, MY GOD, what are we to think ? Have we ridden this horse to a deadend long enough? Could it be time that we decide our future instead of Rubert Murdock or Dick Cheney ?

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By purplewolf, December 10, 2007 at 8:17 pm #
(567 comments total)

Is anyone else surprised that

Is anyone else surprised that the forensic evidence, naturally, is missing? Perhaps this was another reason Halliburton has decided to leave the US and make Dubai it’s new home. Out of the long arm of the law? No need to worry there Dicky boy, the law is broken and not working right, right now.

Why is it that rape victims end up being the ones to again be victimized by the very ones who are a part of the violation? Nothing much has changed in the way the law handles the American rapists especially when done to an employee, especially one in a foreign country. So this is how the “West” shows the middle east how we punish our rape victims. I guess she was lucky she was not stoned to death, lashed, imprisoned, fined or publicly beheaded.

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By PatrickHenry, December 10, 2007 at 7:04 pm #
(1112 comments total)

EC, the rope is for

EC, the rope is for our congresspersons who try to get us to stay there.

No incumbents in 08.

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By Ernest Canning, December 10, 2007 at 6:55 pm #
(1624 comments total)

And what makes you think,

And what makes you think, Patrick, that the Americans will leave?  Another provision forced down the Iraqi throats prevents the members of Iraq’s parliament from asking us to leave.  The bases we have built are permanent.  The embassy we are building is the world’s largest.  Given the executive orders now in place that would permit dubya to declare a national emergency, suspend the constitution and cancel the election in the event of a new terrorist incident on U.S. soil, I am not even certain that Bush/Cheney regime intends to ever leave office, let alone Iraq.  And if Clinton, Obama or Edwards gets elected and is true to their word, we will still be there in 2013.

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By PatrickHenry, December 10, 2007 at 6:21 pm #
(1112 comments total)

Re: #119328 by Ernest Canning EC,

Re: #119328 by Ernest Canning

EC, I’ll bet that constitution lasts less than 5 minutes after the last American leaves.

Meanwhile get some rope.

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By xuzi, December 10, 2007 at 5:43 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

According to a talk I heard by unembedded journalist Dahr Jamail ("Beyond the Green Zone"), ONE IN THREE women in the military—that’s our military, not just Halliburton & related lawless mercenaries—have been sexually molested. This one example of the photogenic blond being gang raped is happening all over Iraq.

Confirmation of that stat from AlterNet: A 2003 study reported that 30 percent of female U.S. veterans reported being the victim of rape or attempted rape during their military service. Last year there were 2,374 reports of sexual assault by service members. [snip] It’s a systemic part of a military culture that not only tolerates but frequently encourages the hatred and belittling of women.

Military veterans are twice as likely to be incarcerated for sexual assault than nonveterans.
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/52339/?comments=view& cID=669990&pID=669988

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By Ernest Canning, December 10, 2007 at 5:13 pm #
(1624 comments total)

Tried and sentenced by the

Tried and sentenced by the local government?  Patrick you do understand that part of the Bremer edicts, later written into the Iraqi constitution by Ambassador Khalizad was a law immunizing all coalition forces and contractors from Iraqi law.  That is why Blackwater security guards, so far, have gotten away with murder.  The same immunity that applied to Blackwater applies to these jerks from Halliburton as well.

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By cyrena, December 10, 2007 at 4:19 pm #
(4161 comments total)

There is only one thing

There is only one thing surprising about this, and that would be the fact that her dad was able to get such quick action from Poe’s office, and maybe that isn’t even a surprise. The only other surprise is that we’re even hearing about it, especially since it doesn’t involve her being raped by black or latino men, or those dreaded ‘others’ – the ‘foreigners’ – the Iraqis, but rather her own all white and only white co-workers at HALLIBURTON, located of course in Texas.(at least until last year when they moved to Dubai.) It might be interesting to find out how many non-Texans are employed by Halliburton. 

So, that’s really the only sort of unusual element to this story, just that any Texas politician, (or even citizen) would actually challenge the almighty Halliburton, (and in public) even in defense of one of its own.

As for loopholes, I don’t think that’s a good term for the vacuum of legalities in which Halliburton and Texas in general, operates. They are nations unto themselves, and they don’t operate under standard legal structures that the rest of the world recognizes. So, this is unusual in that she was able to reach her father, and that he could reach Poe, and that he could then instruct the Embassy to rescue her. If she’d been from any other state,(outside the good ol’ boy network) even that wouldn’t have happened, and she might still be in that container.

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By Don Stivers, December 10, 2007 at 4:02 pm #
(137 comments total)

Thanks Condolizza for the immunity.

Thanks Condolizza for the immunity.  What was the idea behind it?  Is it due to incompetence?  We see nothing is being done.

And an aside.  Now we know why Pelosi impeachment is off the table is because she reviewed those torture tapes and said nothing about the abuse. Should have been in combat Nancy.  The armed forces would have let you know what torture is.  You might have even experienced it in your special service training (Seals etc.) to prepare you for what barbarians do to their prisoners of war.

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By Douglas Chalmers, December 10, 2007 at 3:58 pm #
(2932 comments total)

Well, first of all, that

Well, first of all, that link to the ABC news item comes out on page 2 of a 3-page article. Very sloppy, Truthdig.

Quote ABC, page 3: “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.”

Obviously, they are not just “overlooked when their own employees are physically raped”, #119307 by Ernest Canning, and something else has been cultivated, not just happened.

Quote ABC: “...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...... Halliburton, which has since divested itself of KBR, says it “is improperly named” in the suit...”

Another one of Cheney’s achievements now coming home to roost, uhh......!!! Still, that could have been the ultimate reason for Halliburton breaking its links with KBR “...its contracting, engineering and construction unit as a part of the company for 44 years...” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halliburton

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By GrammaConcept, December 10, 2007 at 3:51 pm #
(189 comments total)

Cheers To Courageous Jamie!.........Strive On! The

Cheers To Courageous Jamie!.........Strive On!

The tormented agony of demons is relieved
only when human beings are suffering..

All war is always hell.
As we think so we become.
Yearn for peace.
Please.

Reply to this | Report this

By PatrickHenry, December 10, 2007 at 3:40 pm #
(1112 comments total)

I hope they're tried and

I hope they’re tried and sentenced by the local government who I’m sure hate Americans.

If her father got on the next plane and capped those assholes, it would surely be justified, fuck loopholes.

The more we integrate women in the front line military units and with contractors who support them, the more these episodes will occur.

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By Ernest Canning, December 10, 2007 at 3:21 pm #
(1624 comments total)

With Bush, Cheney, the neocons,

With Bush, Cheney, the neocons, Blackwater and war profiteers busy literally raping the nation of Iraq, it is no wonder they overlooked when their own employees are physically raped as well.

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By Thomas Billis, December 10, 2007 at 3:06 pm #
(238 comments total)

The wild wild west the

The wild wild west the moron has created in Iraq just continues to amaze me.I guess she will be brought to Guantanmo and tried by Saudi judges and if she is lucky get only 120 lashes.Remember the W in GWB stands for women.The funny thing is that the Sainted Laura Bush never speaks out for women’s rights when it is in some sort of conflict with the moron’s friends.I have always questioned her judgemet because when the preacher asked do you take this chimp to be your husband she said yes.

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