All I know is that all this dirty, ugly

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Report: Untreated water at U.S. base in Iraq
Halliburton denies contamination of supply to American soliders, civilians

WASHINGTON - Troops and civilians at a U.S. military base in Iraq were exposed to contaminated water last year and employees for the responsible contractor, Halliburton, couldn�t get their company to inform camp residents, according to interviews and internal company documents.

Halliburton, the company formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, disputes the allegations about water problems at Camp Junction City, in Ramadi, even though they were made by its own employees and documented in company e-mails.

�We exposed a base camp population (military and civilian) to a water source that was not treated,� said a July 15, 2005, memo written by William Granger, the official for Halliburton�s KBR subsidiary who was in charge of water quality in Iraq and Kuwait.

�The level of contamination was roughly 2x the normal contamination of untreated water from the Euphrates River,� Granger wrote in one of several documents. The Associated Press obtained the documents from Senate Democrats who are holding a public inquiry into the allegations Monday.

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who will chair the session, held a number of similar inquiries last year on contracting abuses in Iraq. He said Democrats were acting on their own because they had not been able to persuade Republican committee chairmen to investigate.

The company�s former water treatment expert at Camp Junction City said that he discovered the problem last March, a statement confirmed by his e-mail the day after he tested the water.

Bottled water used only for drinking
While bottled water was available for drinking, the contaminated water was used for virtually everything else, including handwashing, laundry, bathing and making coffee, said water expert Ben Carter of Cedar City, Utah.

Another former Halliburton employee who worked at the base, Ken May of Louisville, said there were numerous instances of diarrhea and stomach cramps � problems he also suffered.

A spokeswoman for Halliburton said its own inspection found neither contaminated water nor medical evidence to substantiate reports of illnesses at the base. The company now operates its own water treatment plant there, spokeswoman Melissa Norcross said.

A military medical unit that visited Camp Ramadi in mid-April found nothing out of the ordinary in terms of water quality, said Marine Corps Maj. Tim Keefe, a military spokesman. Water-quality testing records from May 23 show the water within normal parameters, he said.

�The allegations appear not to have merit,� Keefe said.

Halliburton has contracts to provide a number of services to U.S. forces in Iraq and was responsible for the water quality at the base in Ramadi.

Year-long exposure?
Granger�s July 15 memo said the exposure had gone on for �possibly a year� and added, �I am not sure if any attempt to notify the exposed population was ever made.�

The first memo on the problem � written by Carter to Halliburton officials on March 24, 2005 � was an �incident report� from tests Carter performed the previous day.

�It is my opinion that the water source is without question contaminated with numerous micro-organisms, including Coliform bacteria,� Carter wrote. �There is little doubt that raw sewage is routinely dumped upstream of intake much less than the required 2 mile distance.

�Therefore, it is my conclusion that chlorination of our water tanks while certainly beneficial is not sufficient protection from parasitic exposure.�

Carter said he resigned in early April after Halliburton officials did not take any action to inform the camp population.

The water expert said he told company officials at the base that they would have to notify the military. �They told me it was none of my concern and to keep my mouth shut,� he said.

�They brushed it under the carpet�
On at least one occasion, Carter said, he spoke to the chief military surgeon at the base, asking him whether he was aware of stomach problems afflicting people. He said the surgeon told him he would look into it.

�They brushed it under the carpet,� Carter said. �I told everyone, �Don�t take showers, use bottled water.�

A July 14, 2005, memo showed that Halliburton�s public relations department knew of the problem.

�I don�t want to turn it into a big issue right now,� staff member Jennifer Dellinger wrote in the memo, �but if we end up getting some media calls I want to make sure we have all the facts so we are ready to respond.�

Halliburton�s performance in Iraq has been criticized in a number of military audits, and congressional Democrats have contended that the Bush administration has favored the company with noncompetitive contracts.

wraps herself up in the Bible and Jesus is her *special friend* and just gives her a wink and a nod every time she does something heinous. At least that's what she herself said in a post not long ago. (Aggressive denial by her to follow, I'm sure, like she lies about everything else.)

It's obvious that none of these people have Jesus in their hearts because there's no room for love and peace and truth in those jaded, hateful, dishonest, angry people. I wonder if they even have a hint of how laughable they really are! LOL!

The first of these is the utter incompetence of the battlefield vetting in Afghanistan during the early stages of the U.S. operations there. Simply stated, no meaningful attempt at discrimination was made in-country by competent officials, civilian or military, as to who we were transporting to Cuba for detention and interrogation.

This was a factor of having too few troops in the combat zone, of the troops and civilians who were there having too few people trained and skilled in such vetting, and of the incredible pressure coming down from Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and others to "just get the bastards to the interrogators".

It did not help that poor U.S. policies such as bounty-hunting, a weak understanding of cultural tendencies, and an utter disregard for the fundamentals of jurisprudence prevailed as well (no blame in the latter realm should accrue to combat soldiers as this it not their bailiwick anyway).

The second dimension that is largely unreported is that several in the U.S. leadership became aware of this lack of proper vetting very early on and, thus, of the reality that many of the detainees were innocent of any substantial wrongdoing, had little intelligence value, and should be immediately released.

But to have admitted this reality would have been a black mark on their leadership from virtually day one of the so-called Global War on Terror and these leaders already had black marks enough: the dead in a field in Pennsylvania, in the ashes of the Pentagon, and in the ruins of the World Trade Towers. They were not about to admit to their further errors at Guantanamo Bay. Better to claim that everyone there was a hardcore terrorist, was of enduring intelligence value, and would return to jihad if released. I am very sorry to say that I believe there were uniformed military who aided and abetted these falsehoods, even at the highest levels of our armed forces.

post, I know that Jesus is real and that He not only gives someone a new heart but a new mind, a mind not corrupted by the world as the majority of the minds are of you who responded here with your attacks. Of course, you think you are attacking me, some of you on a very personal level, not even knowing who I am, asking such a stupid question as to whether I have children or even suggesting sending brown envelopes filled with feces to people like me.

I don�t know who you are either, but I can tell you that I pray God forgive you for your blindness and hate just as He forgave me when I surrendered my life to Him.

This post is not about me. It is about innocent life, life that never asks to be born, defenseless life that no matter the circumstances of conception is holy and valued in the eyes of its Creator. For everyone of YOU reading this, someone gave you a chance at life. That is more than 50 million aborted babies and counting have had. Their lives have been snuffed out before they had a chance for life, liberty, and the pursuit of justice. They have been murdered for convenience and a lack of responsibility. We all have choices in life, and yes, responsibility does begin with conception. Even a baby conceived in a rape has the same right to life as any other. It didn�t have a choice as to its parentage or the circumstances of its conception.

The Red Envelope Project is to protest millions more innocent babies being murdered across the globe using U. S. taxpayer monies. Woe to you if you support this administration�s unbridled hatred of innocent lives.

I do put my money where my mouth is by working with pregnant women in my community, giving of my time, talents, energy, and financial resources in giving them an alternative to abortion. Many have become pregnant under the most awful circumstances imaginable to the human mind. Yet, these women are far more courageous than most of you who call us terrorists because we want to protect life. In fact, these women are thankful that there are those of us who are willing to sacrifice for them so that their babies have a chance at life. Not even the most vile of you on this board can take away the profound satisfaction and love we have of defending and protecting the most innocent among us. When I see a mother look into the face of her baby and know that she has chosen life, whether she has decided to raise her baby or to give it up for adoption, then I know that all my time, talents, energy, and financial resources have gone into and been made to that which is worthy and glorifies my Lord, and another child has been born who will have an opportunity to become all that God created him or her to be.

Someone made a choice of life for you. Why would you want to deny that for another innocent baby? Why would you want to support an evil president who celebrates death instead of life?

How dare you call someone names like that, simply because she disagrees with your political views?

The truth is that Sarah Palin doesn't even know what the job of Vice resident entails. She's an embarrassment to every intelligent, qualified woman out there who WOULD be ready to step in and take over if need be, and there are plenty of them. Kay Bailey Hutchinson comes to mind right now, along with Elizabeth Dole, just to name two.