Why we need oversight! CSPAN has the video of the hearing http://www.c-span.org/
Here is a short clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv3MDlggwcA
Sept. 18, 2006, 11:35PM
Halliburton ignored dangers, drivers say
By DAVID IVANOVICH
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - Halliburton Co. officials knew a highway intersection near Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison was fraught with danger hours before the deadly ambush of a truck convoy known as the Good Friday Massacre, former company truck drivers told Democratic senators Monday.
And the Houston-based contracting giant may have tried to shield itself from lawsuits by including a clause in an application for a Defense of Freedom Medal, in which survivors would sign away their rights to sue, according to a document unveiled by the panel Monday.
"That is almost an unbelievable piece of paper," said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-S.D., chairman of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee.
Asked about the clause, Halliburton spokeswoman Cathy Mann said: "It was never KBR's intention to utilize any such release to preclude claims by current or former employees against the company. And we have no intention of doing so in the future."
Appearing before Dorgan's panel of Democrats, former workers accused Halliburton subsidiary KBR of sending unarmed civilians into an area they had been warned was the site of attacks by insurgents.
"One question haunts me: Why would KBR/Halliburton knowingly send unarmed noncombatant civilians in military tankers down a closed road where there was an ongoing battle?" said Ed Sanchez of Silver City, N.M., who survived the Good Friday Massacre.
Six KBR truck drivers and two soldiers were killed in that ambush. Another driver and one soldier are still listed as missing.
The leader of the convoy, Tommy Hamill, was kidnapped. He later escaped.
Mann said Halliburton's "priority has always been the safety and security of its employees, regardless of where they work around the world.
"The U.S. military," Mann added, "has command and control of all KBR convoys in Iraq, such as supplying pre-trip threat assessments and determining routes, and is required to provide security for KBR's employees through the company's contract with the Army."
Giving a warning
Sean Larvenz, a former civilian convoy commander for Halliburton subsidiary KBR, told the panel he had driven near that same intersection near Baghdad International Airport the morning of April 9, 2004.
Larvenz's convoy was attacked by small-arms fire, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.
He said he could see mortar fire landing in the road at the interchange of two main supply routes, called Tampa and Sword. Over his radio, he could hear the sound of explosions and the chatter of drivers as their convoys were attacked.
Larvenz sent a text message to company managers warning of the danger.
"There is absolutely no question in my mind that ... KBR/Halliburton was aware of the hostilities that existed at the juncture," he said.
Three hours later, Sanchez's convoy, trying to deliver jet fuel to the airport, came under attack in the same area.
Sanchez told senators he was shot twice but managed to help two other truck drivers escape. During the attack his tanker truck caught fire, and Sanchez and the others had to abandon the vehicle.
When he was picked up by a military Humvee crowded with survivors he was handed an M-16.
"I fired that weapon for the first time in my life," he said.
Appears in a movie
Sanchez is one of the former Halliburton workers who appear in a recently released film, Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers, directed by Robert Greenwald, who also produced The Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth about Enron. The film had its Houston-area theatrical release on Sept. 8.
Sanchez, along with other survivors of the ambush and family members of those who were killed, have filed suit against Halilburton in U.S. District Court in Houston.
Mann could not comment on the lawsuit, except to say that "Halliburton and KBR deny any allegations of wrongdoing and fully intend to vigorously defend our position."
T. Scott Allen Jr., a Houston-based attorney handling the case, said Halliburton is trying to get the case dismissed.
Release from liability
The panel also unveiled a letter from Halliburton's government operations office in Houston sent in November 2004 to one survivor of the ambush, Ray Stannard of El Paso.
Enclosed with the letter was a "medical records release form" which "authorizes me to share your medical records with the Pentagon Review Board for the purposes of awarding you the Secretary of Defense Medal for the Defense of Freedom."
The Defense of Freedom award, the civilian equivalent of a Purple Heart, was inaugurated in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to recognize civilians hurt or killed while aiding the military.
"You most certainly qualify," the letter assured Stannard.
Clause 9 of the form, however, would release KBR and the military "from any and all claims and any and all causes of action ... I may have against any of them."
Stannard could not be reached for immediate comment.
Democrats held the hearing on their own, arguing Republicans who control the Senate have showed little interest in pursuing the issues.
[email protected]
Former KBR/Halliburton employees Sean Larvenz, left, Edward Sanchez and Julie McBride, right, and McBride's lawyer Alan Grayson, testify before the Senate Democratic Policy Committee during a hearing about contracting abuses in Iraq on Monday on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.
Here is a short clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv3MDlggwcA
Sept. 18, 2006, 11:35PM
Halliburton ignored dangers, drivers say
By DAVID IVANOVICH
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - Halliburton Co. officials knew a highway intersection near Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison was fraught with danger hours before the deadly ambush of a truck convoy known as the Good Friday Massacre, former company truck drivers told Democratic senators Monday.
And the Houston-based contracting giant may have tried to shield itself from lawsuits by including a clause in an application for a Defense of Freedom Medal, in which survivors would sign away their rights to sue, according to a document unveiled by the panel Monday.
"That is almost an unbelievable piece of paper," said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-S.D., chairman of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee.
Asked about the clause, Halliburton spokeswoman Cathy Mann said: "It was never KBR's intention to utilize any such release to preclude claims by current or former employees against the company. And we have no intention of doing so in the future."
Appearing before Dorgan's panel of Democrats, former workers accused Halliburton subsidiary KBR of sending unarmed civilians into an area they had been warned was the site of attacks by insurgents.
"One question haunts me: Why would KBR/Halliburton knowingly send unarmed noncombatant civilians in military tankers down a closed road where there was an ongoing battle?" said Ed Sanchez of Silver City, N.M., who survived the Good Friday Massacre.
Six KBR truck drivers and two soldiers were killed in that ambush. Another driver and one soldier are still listed as missing.
The leader of the convoy, Tommy Hamill, was kidnapped. He later escaped.
Mann said Halliburton's "priority has always been the safety and security of its employees, regardless of where they work around the world.
"The U.S. military," Mann added, "has command and control of all KBR convoys in Iraq, such as supplying pre-trip threat assessments and determining routes, and is required to provide security for KBR's employees through the company's contract with the Army."
Giving a warning
Sean Larvenz, a former civilian convoy commander for Halliburton subsidiary KBR, told the panel he had driven near that same intersection near Baghdad International Airport the morning of April 9, 2004.
Larvenz's convoy was attacked by small-arms fire, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.
He said he could see mortar fire landing in the road at the interchange of two main supply routes, called Tampa and Sword. Over his radio, he could hear the sound of explosions and the chatter of drivers as their convoys were attacked.
Larvenz sent a text message to company managers warning of the danger.
"There is absolutely no question in my mind that ... KBR/Halliburton was aware of the hostilities that existed at the juncture," he said.
Three hours later, Sanchez's convoy, trying to deliver jet fuel to the airport, came under attack in the same area.
Sanchez told senators he was shot twice but managed to help two other truck drivers escape. During the attack his tanker truck caught fire, and Sanchez and the others had to abandon the vehicle.
When he was picked up by a military Humvee crowded with survivors he was handed an M-16.
"I fired that weapon for the first time in my life," he said.
Appears in a movie
Sanchez is one of the former Halliburton workers who appear in a recently released film, Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers, directed by Robert Greenwald, who also produced The Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth about Enron. The film had its Houston-area theatrical release on Sept. 8.
Sanchez, along with other survivors of the ambush and family members of those who were killed, have filed suit against Halilburton in U.S. District Court in Houston.
Mann could not comment on the lawsuit, except to say that "Halliburton and KBR deny any allegations of wrongdoing and fully intend to vigorously defend our position."
T. Scott Allen Jr., a Houston-based attorney handling the case, said Halliburton is trying to get the case dismissed.
Release from liability
The panel also unveiled a letter from Halliburton's government operations office in Houston sent in November 2004 to one survivor of the ambush, Ray Stannard of El Paso.
Enclosed with the letter was a "medical records release form" which "authorizes me to share your medical records with the Pentagon Review Board for the purposes of awarding you the Secretary of Defense Medal for the Defense of Freedom."
The Defense of Freedom award, the civilian equivalent of a Purple Heart, was inaugurated in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to recognize civilians hurt or killed while aiding the military.
"You most certainly qualify," the letter assured Stannard.
Clause 9 of the form, however, would release KBR and the military "from any and all claims and any and all causes of action ... I may have against any of them."
Stannard could not be reached for immediate comment.
Democrats held the hearing on their own, arguing Republicans who control the Senate have showed little interest in pursuing the issues.
[email protected]
Former KBR/Halliburton employees Sean Larvenz, left, Edward Sanchez and Julie McBride, right, and McBride's lawyer Alan Grayson, testify before the Senate Democratic Policy Committee during a hearing about contracting abuses in Iraq on Monday on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.
