Wrong on just so many levels
, and 38 other women have several things in common, other than the obvious.
- They all worked in Iraq or Kuwait
- They all worked for KBR (Halliburton subsidiary)
- They all were bound by arbitration clauses in their contracts
- they all were raped or otherwise sexually assaulted by fellow KBR contractors.
- They all were subsequently ignored by KBR and prevented from pursuing any action against the perpetrators due to those aforementioned arbitration clauses.
- They all got zero help, and in many cases real obstacles put in their way, from the US government departments that should have been helping them
Ms. Kineston is among a number of American women who have reported that they were sexually assaulted by co-workers while working as contractors in Iraq but now find themselves in legal limbo, unable to seek justice or even significant compensation.
Many of the same legal and logistical obstacles that have impeded other types of investigations involving contractors in Iraq, like shootings involving security guards for Blackwater Worldwide, have made it difficult for the United States government to pursue charges related to sexual offenses. The military justice system does not apply to them, and the reach of other American laws on contractors working in foreign war zones remains unclear five years after the United States invasion of Iraq.
and other companies, meanwhile, have required Iraq-bound employees to agree to take personnel disputes to private arbitration rather than sue the companies in American courts. The companies have repeatedly challenged arbitration claims of sexual assault or harassment brought by women who served in Iraq, raising fears among some women about going public with their claims.
The issue gained national attention when Jamie Leigh Jones, a 23-year-old former employee of KBR, testified at a Congressional hearing in December that she had been gang-raped by co-workers in Iraq in 2005. She appeared again on Tuesday and talked in detail about the episode, urging lawmakers to make it easier for crime victims to sue employers.
“Victims of crime perpetrated by employees of taxpayer-funded government contracts in Iraq deserve the same standard of treatment and protection governed by the same laws whether they are working in the U.S. or abroad,” she said.
Further proof, should you still actually need it, that under a GOP administration women are treated as property, not full citizens with the same rights as men. Can you imagine what the reaction would have been if men were complaining of being gang-raped by homosexual contractors? Can you imagine what would have happened to the perpetrators? Absolutely for certain it would not have been what happened to these women.
Congress, and the Democrats need to take responsibility for this as well as under Pelosi and Reid they have epitomized the caricatures of spineless wimps, has ensured that contractors in are beyond the reach of the law and that the only punishment they can receive is to have their contracts cancelled (which, you can be assured, will only happen if they fail to bribe the GOP members of congress sufficiently).
Forced is barely a step removed from forced slavery. It removes many of your rights as an individual. It’s bad in the financial sector as Shelley has pointed outmany times and it is beyond the pale of acceptability in situations like this.
Enough. Both and should be pressed hard on how they are going to bring back . They can start by declaring that any pardons issued by Bush will be declared null and void, that anyone, right up to the soon to be former occupant of the oval office, will be held accountable for any and all war crimes. They can start by vowing to reverse all legislation passed that has infringed on citizens rights. Unfortunately, neither have the guts or the intentions of following through on such a proper course of action. More’s the shame.
Related posts
WWJD »
