Electrical Hazards Plague Troops in Iraq

clipped from www.nytimes.com Shoddy electrical work by private contractors on United States military bases in Iraq is widespread and dangerous, causing more deaths and injuries from fires and shocks than the Pentagon has acknowledged, according to internal Army documents. During just one six-month period — August 2006 through January 2007 — at least 283 electrical fires destroyed or damaged American military facilities in Iraq, including the military’s largest dining hall in the country, documents obtained by The New York Times show. Two soldiers died in an electrical fire at their base near Tikrit in 2006, the records note, while another was injured while jumping from a burning guard tower in May 2007. Electrical problems were the most urgent noncombat safety hazard for soldiers in Iraq, according to an Army survey issued in February 2007.

Good thing we went with no-bid contracts, huh? Otherwise, totally disreputable contractors might be burning down buildings and electrocuting people in showers, instead of Kellog, Brown, and Root who coincidentally are big buds of the White House.

This way, we only get the very finest quality electrical hazards, fires, and deaths.