Ben Carter at Brave New Films

Benjamin Carter v. Hallibuton Company and KBR

2008-10-13T09:29:18Z

From Progressive Future's Kate Drazner:

Two weeks ago, when I first posted my interview with Ben Carter, many people applauded him for having the courage to come forward and talk about his first-hand experience in Iraq with Halliburton subsidiary KBR. He described, in great detail, KBR's negligence in their contract to provide safe non-potable water to the troops.

Hundreds and hundreds responded by e-mailing DoD Chief Financial Officer Tina Jonas, telling her not to give KBR another penny of the government's money until a full public investigation was fulfilled. Note: After receiving an influx of emails from activists, Ms. Jonas blocked her email address. We have now made the action into a petition which will be delivered to her. We also shared Ben's testimony on the Brave New Films documentary, Iraq For Sale.

Not everyone was supportive. One angry young man responded negatively on the blogs. He said I was presenting heresy as fact, and accused me of not providing enough evidence to back up Ben's claims. I guess he wasn't convinced of Ben's story, even though it perfectly aligned with previous reports in the press, ranging from the breaking of the dirty water story to Senator Clinton's push for an investigation of KBR.

My Boss at KBR: "The military is none of our fucking concern."

2008-07-14T15:09:10Z

*"Update:* After receiving an influx of emails prompted by this story, the Cheif Financial Officer, Tina Jonas, took down or blocked her email address. This may cause you to get an error message. We are now compiling signatures for a petition, which will be sent to her:

http://progressivefuture.org/cut-off-kbr?id4=BLFA"

From Ben Carter:

I had been operating my own company in the fall of 2004, when my 20-year-old son suddenly died from a bad combination of prescription medication. This tragedy caused my marriage to end only a month later. With little reason to stay in Utah, I pursued the opportunity of going to work for Halliburton, because I had gotten word that Halliburton was looking for people with expertise in water purification to operate their reverse osmosis water purification units (ROWPU). I had extensive experience with a wide range of water purification technologies, and I was attracted to the idea of providing a valuable service to our soldiers serving in Iraq.

At the time, I was very excited at the prospect of being an employee once again, doing great things with providing clean safe water to U.S. troops and seeing some exciting places around the world. This was before I learned anything about Halliburton and their business practices.

If you recall, in late 2004 the war in Iraq was thought to be over after the declaration of "mission accomplished" by President George W. Bush. This impression was clearly wrong once I arrived, and I was sent to the base at Ar Ramadi. The talk around the water coolers was that the KBR camp there was getting hit on a regular schedule with rocket and mortar fire. This was a surprise to me since my recruiter had told me that I would be sent to the green zone in Baghdad. When I arrived in Ar Ramadi I was anxious to get to work right away. It was at the air base, Al Asad, that I got my first indication that things were askew with their water treatment plants.

Iraq STILL for Sale

2008-10-03T14:03:33Z

When I first met Ben Carter by telephone in January of 2006, he was somewhat of a lone voice shouting into an empty stadium. He had been working for Kellogg, Brown, and Root (KBR)—a Halliburton subsidiary that had billions of dollars worth of government contracts in Iraq—as a water contamination specialist. I was working with Brave New Films on a documentary (Iraq For Sale) about war profiteering companies who used the war as a way to line their pockets with gads of tax-payer cash for such things a bag of washed laundry at $100 a pop, or $45 for a six pack of Coke.

The war had been outsourced and privatized, and the likes of KBR were not so privately robbing the country blind with cost-plus contracts. Based on this bright idea, the more a company spent, say, on that Hummer for the boss running the ice cream stand for the troops on leave in Kuwait, the more that company made. Or rather, when looked at from the public's side of the ledger, the more the taxpayer paid.