Military Burn Pits, Soldiers Cough and Choke, Toxic Smoke

Taxpayers pay two and three and even four times for the same poor work, do-overs and lawsuits.  Hey, try and complain about it … LOL.  Oh yes, then the taxpayer must pay for studies to analyze the effects of poor work done by contractors.  BUT WAIT, There’s more!  These same contractors bill you again for their own studies to deny responsibility.  All the while they continue business as usual without fixing anything. LOL  What a system!  Taxpayers pay for teams of lawyers to put fine print into contracts that allow contractors to waste money on gas guzzlers,  replacement vehicles that are trashed or left behind to rot, and harm the same soldiers they are hired to help.  All at a cost of BILLIONS of taxpayer dollars.  Federal Funding is just euphemism for YOUR TAX DOLLARS.  You aren’t even told how many times you are paying for the same thing.  When the low bidder fails or screws up, you pay for do overs.  You pay for studies.  You pay for lawyers on both sides … yes, defendants use YOUR money to fight against your complaints.

Accountability has been OFF the table for too long.  America has to borrow from its own taxpayers, other countries and who knows where else, for BAD business practices.  We are suffering from bad business already.  The microscope needs to look at more than just Wall Street.  Pentagon has NO accountability … National Security is a huge cloak for screwing the taxpayer and getting away with murder …

Halliburton, KBR sued for alleged ill effects of ‘burn pits’

• 6 lawsuits filed Tuesday; 3 more are scheduled to be filed Wednesday
• Suits filed on behalf of veterans, contractors, their families
• Suits blame health problems, deaths on emissions from burn pits
• No long-term danger from smoke from Balad Air Force Base pit, military said in 2008

… KBR and Halliburton were paid millions of dollars to oversee the waste management for the military.

… the military’s report on the fumes also acknowledged it cannot account for all the items burned in the Balad pit. At one point the open pit burned everything from plastics and food to medical waste, with jet fuel used as an accelerant at times.

… there are 70 plaintiffs who will file suits.

“They sought profit in lieu of safety,” Burke said of the KBR and Halliburton.

Again, as long as the military does it, who cares.  The way the military is arranged,  anything can be done without impunity.  If its in the way, just burn it or bury it … who cares about the health and environmental impact.  Soldiers are expendable anyway.

Again, Halliburton and KBR run amok cutting corners at the expense of those who serve.  They cut corners and electrocute soldiers, they cut corners and expose people to toxic fumes, they cut corners and fail to enforce responsibility from its employees.  Lets just hire more psychos, give them guns and millions of dollars and forget about it all.  This is only your TAXPAYER DOLLARS making this possible.  Try complaining about it, LOL.  The government uses YOUR money to hire irresponsible, greedy low bidders to put you at risk and cause you to pay twice for the same thing.  TWICE?  Yep, you have to spend more money to fix whatever KBR and Halliburton screw up.  You have to spend more money to address the consequences of their irresponsibility by addressing law suits.

Congressmen want more info on ‘burn pit’ claims

• Congress wants information to see if there is validity to illness, disease complaints
• Military burned food, medical supplies in “burn pits” in Iraq, Afghanistan
• Soldiers talked of “Iraqi crud” — excessive coughing and black phlegm
• Military says tests show that emission levels are not harmful

“After years of helping veterans of the Vietnam and Gulf wars cope with the health effects of toxic battlefields, we have learned that we must take exposures to toxins seriously to ensure that this generation of service members does not face the same difficulties,” the congressmen say in the letter to be sent Monday to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology.