Army: KBR Committed 'Negligent Homocide'

clipped from hosted.ap.org An Army investigation calls the electrocution death of a U.S. soldier in Iraq "negligent homicide" caused by military contractor KBR Inc. and two of its supervisors. In a document obtained by The Associated Press, an Army criminal investigator says the manner of death for Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, 24, has been changed from accidental to negligent homicide because the contractor failed to ensure that "qualified electricians and plumbers" worked on the barracks where Maseth died. The Green Beret from Pittsburgh died of cardiac arrest on Jan. 2, 2008. He was electrocuted while taking a shower in his barracks in Baghdad.

Not surprisingly, KBR had no comment.

How are those no-bids contracts working out for us? Bush argued we had to hire them because they were so damned competent.

Of course, that's Bush's definition of "competence," so this shouldn't be a huge surprise.