This Just Gets Worse
I read and saw the testimony of Jaime Leigh Jones before the House Judiciary Committee who was gang raped by KBR employees in Iraq. I am absolutely horrified at what she endured at the hands of her co-workers, and moreover, utterly sickened by the apparent cover-up. I could be wrong but contractors are under the jurisdiction and protection of the DoJ, yet the DoJ is not responding to this crime and perhaps countless others. The DoJ didn't even bother to send someone in which Representative Conyers slammed them for their particular absence and silence.
Seriously, WTF?! When is the DoJ going to start to stand for justice?!?
3 comments:
Theres a lot of rape that goes on over there by contractors. Specifically a lot of male on male rape. It sickens me...and had me a bit more than concerned every time I went to the shower trailer.
Good gawd. =/
I just wrote a pretty long response to this one, but I forgot to log in so I lost it. :(
Here's the Readers Digest version. This really sucks what happened to this woman. The problem here is that contractors fall into a gray area in the government that isn't fully afforded the same legal protections as other full on members of the government. When I first came into the business, contractors were few and far between. Most of the people that I knew that were contractors were serious engineers that built aircraft; something the government couldn't afford to do on its own. No one ever thought that the engineer that put the new avionics system into the F-14 would need to be a part of the same legal framework that the armed forces deployed to an armed conflict would need. It just never came up.
With Iraq, the government has been using more contractors than ever and they're integrated into jobs anywhere from administrative to flying aircraft. The necessary legal framework to protect them just hasn't caught up yet...but it will. With courageous people like this young woman testifying, it will eventually. You can bet on it.
Conduct like the one the woman in the video described is NOT tolerated and it is not as widespread as it would seem. Sexual harassment....yes. There are people from some of the more uncivilized parts of this country that haven't quite picked up on the whole "women are people too" movement that we've experienced in the past 100 years or so. Rape...that's not happening all over the place. From my personal (non-scientific) estimation, its only a little less common that murder in the military. My two cents.
Anyway, enjoy Chicago. Drop me a line when you can. Curious to hear about what you've been up to.
Peace.
Rich
Post a Comment