By Jonathan Bronstein, Talk Radio News

Senator Byron Dorgan

Ryan Masseth, a Staff Sergeant in the United States Army, was killed not by an enemy bullet, but by faulty electrical wiring. He was electrocuted while showering on a United States military installation in Baghdad during January 2008.

Yet, the company who wired the building, Kellogg, Brand and Root, also known as KBR, was aware of this issue some 11 months before Staff Sgt. Masseth’s death. The U.S. government recently reclassified Staff Sgt. Masseth’s death as accidental to gross negligence on the part of KBR.

“KBR’s shoddy electrical work wasted tax payer money,” said Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) at the Senate Democratic Policy Committee hearing, who continued to say, “and even worse put our service members at risk, sometimes for their lives. 18 people died as a result of this negligence.”

Senator Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), Chairman of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, was critical of the government for giving bonuses to KBR from 2004 to 2008 that totaled some $85 million, even though their work failed often to meet even the most basic standards.

The Army’s standard definition for awarding bonuses requires that the contractor’s “performance is of the highest quality that could be achieved under the contract. There are no areas of deficiencies or problems encountered during the evaluation period.”

The 2008 edition of the Defense Contract Management Report found that there were 26,205 incidents of improper wiring, 4,571 incidents of outlet box hazards, and 3,201 hazardous switches and fuses. All of these safety deficiencies pose an unneeded threat to American service people, according to Dorgan.

KBR Master Electrician, Eric Peters, estimated that 50 percent of all buildings were not wired properly, and it often took several visits before KBR’s poorly trained electricians could fix the problem. Each one of these visits was charged to the U.S. government, and therefore to the American taxpayer.

Lautenberg attributed KBR’s ability to obtain these large bonuses to the no-bid contracts given to corporations for the reconstruction of Iraq.

“I knew I could no longer work for a company so completely focused on the bottom line they would disregard the safety of their employees and those we were serving: our soldiers,” said Peters, who left KBR two months after being hired.

Jim Childs, another Master Electrician who worked for KBR, had similar gripes with the company and their complete disregard for safety.

“KBR did not do this work to any electrical code,” said Childs.

KBR even attempted to switch to the more lenient British electrical code, but upon re-inspecting the wiring according to the newly implemented standards he still discovered multiple violations.

Childs cited examples of safe buildings that KBR retrofitted and became dangerous, when he said “what had been a safe, properly wired building became a danger to those inside because the re-wiring performed by KBR was not done properly.”

When Childs attempted to solve the wiring problems with quick and cheap solutions, KBR refused to listen and wanted to re-wire the entire building, at the expense of the tax payer.

Childs travelled to Afghanistan to inspect KBR’s work their, but to his dismay, “I found the exact same code violations.”

This wiring situation, according to Childs, is an epidemic that needlessly endangers the lives of American servicemen and women.

Much like its own employees, the Department of Defense is also losing confidence in KBR’s ability.

Captain David Graff, Commander of Defense Contract Management Agency, said that “Many within the Department of Defense have lost or are losing all remaining confidence in KBR’s ability to successfully and repeatedly perform the required electrical support services mission in Iraq.”

By Celia Canon- Talk Radio News Service

“Our future is guaranteed from a national standpoint If we take care of our people,” according to Admiral Michael Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

This was one of the central points of Admiral Mullen’s talk on the “Future of Global Engagement” at the Brookings Institution today.

Afghani presidential elections coming up in August are forcing the U.S. military to draft a report on the effectiveness of the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan.

In addition, the law passed by Afghani President Hamid Karzai which prohibits a woman from refusing sexual intercourse with her husband may have signaled the need for yet more work and presence from the troops, implying the road is still long for the soldiers who are stationed there.

On his priorities, Mullen said, “The main effort right now is in Afghanistan. Increase the growth of the Army and the Marine Corps. But now those forces must be put together to rotate in the theater.”

Mullen added that because of the need for troops in different missions, “The numbers (of repeated deployments per soldier) we are getting right now are 3 and 4 but we’ve talked to families that are on their fifth and sixth deployment.”

“Even in our eighth year of war we’re in the beginning of getting at what I consider to be a debt that needs to be repaid for those sacrifices (by the troops), it’s for injuries seen but it’s also for injuries unseen,” said Mullen.

Mullen said that “what we should buy for their future is to make sure we get it right for our people, that’s health care, that’s housing, that’s benefits, that’s the compensation packages, that’s the bonuses… that’s where I spend an awful lot of my time with the services chief.”

By Celia Canon- Talk Radio News Service

Top Senate Democrats and State Department officials reiterated their intent to help Sudan and the DRC with its rape problem.

According to Melanne Verveer, the U.S. State Department Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues, “36 women are raped daily” in Sudan.

“This must stop,” said Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). “As colleagues we must come together – across all the lines that normally divide us – to end this madness…If raping an infant is not a crime against humanity, I don’t know what is.”

The attention of lawmakers was piqued after the release of reports by Human Rights Watch, which said that “the number of women and girls raped since January has significantly increased in areas of military operations by armed groups and soldiers of the Congolese Army.”

Boxer explained the need to intervene immediately as one representing more than a humanitarian crisis. “If raping an infant is not a rime against humanity, I don’t know what is” she said.

According to Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), “The United States has an important role to play, in helping to facilitate such initiatives and ensure sound policies are implemented”.

DRC-based journalist Chouchou Namegabe Nabintu said that “The rapes are targeted and intentional, and are meant to remove the people from their mineral-rich land through fear, shame, violence, and the intentional spread of HIV throughout entire families and villages.”

Verveer said that the problem can not be resolved by attempting to prosecute perpetrators. “The law enforcement personnel and magistrates continue to treat rape and sexual violence in general with a marked lack of seriousness,” she said. But, “a solution must be found to stop the war and restore an order that will have to be completely reshaped in order to reduce the power the soldiers now have,” she said.

”Ending the conflict is the most important direct and certain path to ending the violence. Peace negotiations … should remain our highest priority” said Verveer.

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

Correspondent Michael Ruhl’s investigative report into the recent pandemic of piracy off of the Horn of Africa. The report focuses on why the piracy is taking place and what can be done to stop it. It includes perspectives from Somali Ambassador-at-large Abdi Awallah Jama, George Mason University Political Science Professor Hazel McFerson, Maersk-Alabama Captain Richard Phillips, and CENTCOM Commander General David Petraeus. (07:30)

 

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By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

General David Petraeus
Photo By Michael Ruhl

According to General David Petraeus, an educated American soldier that can bridge the cultural divide with the Muslim world can more effectively fight the War on Terror. This soldier would understand the social context they are operating within, and would understand the broad implications and consequences of military action.

General Petraeus, Commander of U.S. Central Command, discussed U.S. military strategy in the Middle East and South Asia while testifying today before Congress.

“While additional military forces clearly are necessary (in Afghanistan), they will not by themselves be sufficient to achieve our objective,” said the General. America’s objective, he said, is to make sure extremists do not have a haven from which to plan and execute another attack on the level of the 9-11 attacks.

A smarter military can better understand the necessary social infrastructure to facilitate lasting peace within a region. This combined with intelligent military action, international cooperation, the building of infrastructure and a swath of other initiatives will help America secure the region, according to Petraeus. “You cannot kill or capture your way out of an industrial strength insurgency,” the General said.

“We also need to expand just the basic knowledge of Afghanistan among our forces,” Petraeus said. He continued that greater knowledge will lead to a “nuanced and granular understanding” that will enable the Army to undertake the kind of sophisticated reconciliation processes in Afghanistan that were important in Iraq.

Congressman Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) agreed that soldiers should be educated, and brought attention to the U.S. Army’s Homestead Program. Dicks said this program involves an Officer taking a year off from active service to live in a country, learn the language, and understand the culture. Retired Army General John Abizaid did a program similar to this. Abizaid was former Commander of U.S. Central Command.

The U.S. Army could not be reached for comment on the current funding of the program, but Dicks expressed concern on the small number of individuals enrolled in it.

The necessary approach to success involves placing security in the hands of the Afghans, Petraeus said, which means helping them collectively realize that the biggest security threat in the region comes from dissident extremist elements within the country, most notably Al-Qaeda. He emphasized that America’s presence in Afghanistan is not permanent, and that Afghanistan’s government and economy must be encouraged by its citizens.

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

General David Petraeus says before Congress that it is important for soldiers to have an expanded understanding of Afghanistan, so that the army can function better as a whole. (01:18)

 

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“We are working hard to work ourselves out of a job,” Army Col. Mark Dewhurst, commander of the 4th Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, said during a live brief from Iraq. The combined efforts with the Iraqi security forces are the cornerstone against insurgents, Dewhurst said, and he’s seen a lot of developments in the area in the year since he’s been there. Listed among the most surprising, “the amount of traffic jams,” was among them. This, actually, is evidence of how well the Iraqi Security Forces are functioning, Dewhurst said, because it means that people are coming out to the market places. Of particular note is a landmark in Baghdad that Dewhurst called the “Book Market.” Practically obliterated in March of 2007, the Book Market is due to open most likely by next week, and it was rebuilt on the initiative and work of the Iraq government itself, he said.

Also in Baghdad is the Embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team, with Team Leader Conrad Tribble helping the Iraqis find “Iraqi solutions” to their own problems. There are five main areas that the PRT is working on, Tribble said. Assistance with governance, political development, business and economic growth, non-governmental organizations, and reconciliations among communities, are the goals the PRT strives toward. Governance, specifically, was elaborated on, with Tribble saying they “Coach, Teach, Mentor’ the Iraqi people, specifically with municipal city works, planning, budgeting, resource management, and how to track service requests. “A lot of it is very mundane,” Tribble said, but they are being taught how to conduct day to day level things. It’s “very nuts and bolts,” he said, and “not very glamorous.”

I’ve never seen a better Army, said Major General Thomas P. Bostick, Commanding General of U.S. Army Recruiting Command, at a briefing on FY2008 Recruiting and Retention for the AVF (All Volunteer Force) Military, held at the Pentagon. Each person, Bostick said, became a hero the day they enlisted. Dr. David S.C. Chu, Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, echoed this sentiment by saying that a willingness to step forward and serve is a great tribute to our military.

Ninety-two percent of those enlisting overall in FY2008 had high school diplomas, with the Army having the lowest score, with only eighty-three percent having diplomas. The Air Force, at ninety-nine percent, is the branch of service having the highest amount of enlistees with diplomas in FY2008. One of the ways the Army is working with that, is by their Army Prep School, where potential recruits can get GEDs before they go to Basic Training for the Army.

All services met or even exceeded their recruiting goals for FY2008. At the end of the year, the totals for Accessions were 80, 517 Army; 38,485 Navy; 37, 991 Marine Corps; and 27, 848 Air Force. Of special note was the waiver system in place, where individuals are granted waivers to enter the military when ordinarily a medical problem, a criminal offense of some sort, or even their age wouldn’t have allowed them to do so before. Specific numbers were not announced for the waivers, though when the question was asked how many waivers were issued for overweight individuals Major General Robert E. Milstead, Jr, Commanding General, Marine Corps Recruiting Command, boomed from the back of the stage, “THE MARINE CORPS HAS NONE!!”

Rear Admiral Joseph F. Kilkenny, Commander, Navy Recruiting Command said in the Navy that they were successful in all fronts, and the total force team is “definitely firing on all cylinders.” The results achieved were “purely remarkable” and they were pleased they have exceeded retention goals in the Navy. But as Brigadier General Alfred J. Stewart, Commander, Air Force Recruiting Service pointed out, the retention in the Air Force is a little soft likely due to the high-skilled jobs competing with high paying competition in the private sector.

Of huge concern was how the economy affects recruitment. While Dr. Chu wouldn’t directly quote numbers, he did say that people are more willing to “give us a chance” because of it. Older adults, Chu said, need to be more supportive of young people’s decision to go into the military. If you treat people right, such as equal pay for a job they could hold in the civilian sector, good benefits, and use of deployments, they will stay in. There are many discussions about “public service,” said Chu, but few mention the military as a way to do that.

Former Army Vice Chief of Staff Jack Keane says that Saddam Hussein planned an insurgency long before the invasion of Iraq. (0:29)

 

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“As Marines we must be able to navigate the human terrain as well as we navigate the physical terrain of the battlefield,” said Brigadier General Richard M. Lake, during a House Armed Services committee hearing on transforming the U.S. Military’s foreign language skills, cultural awareness, and regional expertise capabilities.
The military representatives described a series of new programs aimed towards making U.S. forces more effective in dealing with different cultures, including financial incentives for Reserve Officers Training Corps students willing to study new languages, actively recruiting those who already have skills in foreign languages, and the creation of a personnel database that includes active members, retirees and separatees.
The Department of Defense contends that these steps have been successful. In 2001 there were 1,400 students studying Arabic, Persian, and Chinese at the Defense Foreign Language Center. Deputy Chief of Staff for Manpower and Personnel for the Air Force Joseph M. McDade, Jr. says that over the past seven years those numbers have doubled. There has been a similar increase in Foreign Area Officers (FAO).
“In 2001 there were 1000 army FAOs, and 149 Marine FAOs. In 2008 those numbers were 1,600 in the Army, Marines, and Air Force,’ said McDade”.