[NYTr] Gang Rape Cover-up by Halliburton/KBR/US - Houston Woman Sues

Tue Dec 11 19:41:18 EST 2007

AP via Google - Dec 11, 2007
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ilYz6v1yfgxCsfcPZ84qLbMJrY_gD8TFHU080

DOJ Questioned About '05 Iraq Rape Case

By JOHN PORRETTO

HOUSTON (AP) — The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee asked the
Justice Department on Tuesday to give a full account of its
investigation into the alleged rape of a female contract worker in Iraq
two years ago.

Jamie Leigh Jones, a former Conroe resident, filed a federal lawsuit in
May against Halliburton Co., its former subsidiary, KBR Inc., and
others claiming she was raped by co-workers while working for a
Halliburton subsidiary at Camp Hope, Baghdad, in 2005.

The Associated Press usually does not identify people who say they have
been sexually assaulted, but Jones' face and name have been broadcast
by ABC News and appear on her own Web site.

In a letter dated Tuesday, Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., asked Attorney
General Michael Mukasey if his office had investigated Jones' claims
and whether the Justice Department has jurisdiction to prosecute under
military provisions of the USA Patriot Act.

Conyers also seeks clarification on a statement from KBR, the military
contractor that split from Halliburton in April, that says it had
initiated investigations into the alleged assault but later halted the
probe.

KBR has said it was "instructed to cease by government authorities
because they were assuming sole responsibility for the criminal
investigations."

Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr said Tuesday the agency was
reviewing Conyers' letter. "The Department is investigating this matter
and because it's an ongoing investigation, we are unable to comment
further," Carr said.

Jones' case got renewed attention this week after ABC News previewed a
report of the allegations it plans to air on "20/20" next month.

Jones began working for KBR as an administrative assistant in 2004 when
she was 19, but later transferred to Iraq with another Halliburton
subsidiary, according to her lawsuit.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Beaumont, claims Jones lived
in a coed barracks and, after enduring harassment from some of the men
in the quarters, was drugged and raped July 28, 2005. Her attackers
were Halliburton and KBR firefighters, the suit claims.

The petition says the facility was under direct control of the U.S.
government, KBR and Halliburton, collectively.

Jones' attorney, L. Todd Kelly, declined to say where Jones was living
now because she fears for her safety. He declined to elaborate.

Jones' Web site highlights her nonprofit foundation to help fellow
contract workers who may have been sexually assaulted, and displays her
"therapeutic" still-life paintings that she offers to paint on
commission. The site also mentions a screenplay of her story in Iraq.

In a statement, KBR said it couldn't comment on specifics of the case
but that the safety and security of its employees were its top priority.

Halliburton says it is improperly named in the matter and expects to be
dismissed from the case. "It would be inappropriate for Halliburton to
comment on the merits of a matter affecting only the interest of KBR,"
the oilfield services company said in a statement.

Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, who signed Conyers' letter, sent his own inquiry
to Mukasey on Monday. He said Jones' father contacted his office after
the alleged rape and said his daughter reported KBR/Halliburton was
holding her in a shipping container without food and water.

Poe said he then contacted the State Department, which dispatched
agents to rescue Jones.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack declined Tuesday to comment
on specifics of the case, but he confirmed its Bureau of Diplomatic
Security had responded to and investigated the incident. He said the
results were turned over to the Justice Department.

[Associated Press Writer Lara Jakes Jordan in Washington contributed to
this report.]

                              ***

sent by Jane Franklin - Dec 10, 2007

ABC News - Dec 10, 2007
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=3977702&page=1

Gang Rape Cover-Up by US, Halliburton/KBR

KBR told victim she could lose her job if she sought help after being
raped, she says.

By Brian Ross, Maddy Sauer and Justin Rood
ABC News

A Houston, Texas woman says she was gang-raped by Halliburton/KBR
coworkers in Baghdad, and the company and the U.S. government are
covering up the incident.

Jamie Leigh Jones, now 22, says that after she was raped by multiple
men at a KBR camp in the Green Zone, the company put her under guard in
a shipping container with a bed and warned her that if she left Iraq
for medical treatment, she'd be out of a job.

"Don't plan on working back in Iraq. There won't be a position here,
and there won't be a position in Houston," Jones says she was told.

In a lawsuit filed in federal court against Halliburton and its
then-subsidiary KBR, Jones says she was held in the shipping container
for at least 24 hours without food or water by KBR, which posted armed
security guards outside her door, who would not let her leave.

"It felt like prison," says Jones, who told her story to ABC News as
part of an upcoming "20/20" investigation. "I was upset; I was curled
up in a ball on the bed; I just could not believe what had happened."

Finally, Jones says, she convinced a sympathetic guard to loan her a
cell phone so she could call her father in Texas.

"I said, 'Dad, I've been raped. I don't know what to do. I'm in this
container, and I'm not able to leave,'" she said. Her father called
their congressman, Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas.

"We contacted the State Department first," Poe told ABCNews.com, "and
told them of the urgency of rescuing an American citizen" -- from her
American employer.

Poe says his office contacted the State Department, which quickly
dispatched agents from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad to Jones' camp,
where they rescued her from the container.

According to her lawsuit, Jones was raped by "several attackers who
first drugged her, then repeatedly raped and injured her, both
physically and emotionally."

Jones told ABCNews.com that an examination by Army doctors showed she
had been raped "both vaginally and anally," but that the rape kit
disappeared after it was handed over to KBR security officers.

A spokesperson for the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security
told ABCNews.com he could not comment on the matter.

Over two years later, the Justice Department has brought no criminal
charges in the matter. In fact, ABC News could not confirm any federal
agency was investigating the case.

Legal experts say Jones' alleged assailants will likely never face a
judge and jury, due to an enormous loophole that has effectively left
contractors in Iraq beyond the reach of United States law.

"It's very troubling," said Dean John Hutson of the Franklin Pierce Law
Center. "The way the law presently stands, I would say that they don't
have, at least in the criminal system, the opportunity for justice."

Congressman Poe says neither the departments of State nor Justice will
give him answers on the status of the Jones investigation.

Asked what reasons the departments gave for the apparent slowness of
the probes, Poe sounded frustrated.

"There are several, I think, their excuses, why the perpetrators
haven't been prosecuted," Poe told ABC News. "But I think it is the
responsibility of our government, the Justice Department and the State
Department, when crimes occur against American citizens overseas in
Iraq, contractors that are paid by the American public, that we pursue
the criminal cases as best as we possibly can and that people are
prosecuted."

Since no criminal charges have been filed, the only other option,
according to Hutson, is the civil system, which is the approach that
Jones is trying now. But Jones' former employer doesn't want this case
to see the inside of a civil courtroom.

KBR has moved for Jones' claim to be heard in private arbitration,
instead of a public courtroom. It says her employment contract requires
it.

In arbitration, there is no public record nor transcript of the
proceedings, meaning that Jones' claims would not be heard before a
judge and jury. Rather, a private arbitrator would decide Jones' case.
In recent testimony before Congress, employment lawyer Cathy
Ventrell-Monsees said that Halliburton won more than 80 percent of
arbitration proceedings brought against it.

In his interview with ABC News, Rep. Poe said he sided with Jones.

"Air things out in a public forum of a courtroom," said Rep. Poe.
"That's why we have courts in the United States."

In her lawsuit, Jones' lawyer, Todd Kelly, says KBR and Halliburton
created a "boys will be boys" atmosphere at the company barracks which
put her and other female employees at great risk.

"I think that men who are there believe that they live without laws,"
said Kelly. "The last thing she should have expected was for her own
people to turn on her."

Halliburton, which has since divested itself of KBR, says it "is
improperly named" in the suit.

In a statement, KBR said it was "instructed to cease" its own
investigation by U.S. government authorities "because they were
assuming sole responsibility for the criminal investigations."

"The safety and security of all employees remains KBR's top priority,"
it said in a statement. "Our commitment in this regard is unwavering."

Since the attacks, Jones has started a nonprofit foundation called the
Jamie Leigh Foundation, which is dedicated to helping victims who were
raped or sexually assaulted overseas while working for government
contractors or other corporations.

"I want other women to know that it's not their fault," said Jones.
"They can go against corporations that have treated them this way."
Jones said that any proceeds from the civil suit will go to her
foundation.

"There needs to be a voice out there that really pushed for change,"
she said. "I'd like to be that voice."

Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures

                      ***

The Telegraph - Dec 11, 2007
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/12/11/wtexas111.xml

Woman claims Halliburton-KBR rape cover-up

By Alex Spillius in Washington

A Texas woman who claims she was raped by male colleagues working for
Halliburton-KBR in Iraq is suing after the US government failed to
bring charges.

Jamie Leigh Jones, 22, alleged she was attacked by several men inside
Baghdad's Green Zone two years ago and then held in a shipping
container for 24 hours. Her captors then threatened her if she sought
medical treatment abroad.

Miss Jones, from Houston, told ABC News that she was warned: "Don't
plan on working back in Iraq. There won't be a position here, and 
there won't be a position in Houston."

According to her lawsuit against Halliburton-KBR, she was raped by
"several attackers who first drugged her, then repeatedly raped and
injured her, both physically and emotionally". She said she persuaded a
guard to lend her a mobile phone, which she used to call her father in
Texas.

He then alerted their Congressman, Ted Poe, who contacted the State
Department, which sent agents to rescue Miss Jones.

According to the alleged victim and her lawyer, the US authorities took
no further interest in her case. It is not clear if the case has been
investigated, they claimed.

Her alleged assailants may well be beneficiaries of a loophole that has
in effect left American contractors in Iraq beyond US law. Created in
part to prevent prosecutions by the Iraqi authorities, it has meant
that armed contractors have never faced legal action for several
instances of shooting dead Iraqi civilians.

Halliburton, which has won billions of dollars worth of contracts for
reconstruction work in Iraq, no longer owns KBR, an engineering firm,
and told ABC it was "improperly named" in the suit.

In a statement, KBR said it was "instructed to cease" its own inquiry
by the US authorities because they were assuming all responsibility for
investigations.

                      ***

Houston.com - Dec 11, 2007
http://www.click2houston.com/news/14826527/detail.html

Houston Woman Sues Company Over Alleged Gang-Rape

By Daniella Guzman

POSTED: 5:51 pm CST December 11, 2007

HOUSTON -- A Houston woman and a former employee of
then-Halliburton-KBR claimed she was drugged and brutally raped by
several KBR employees while working as an administrative assistant in
Iraq, KPRC Local 2 reported Tuesday.

Jaime Leigh Jones, 22, claims the rape happened in July 2005.

Jones and her attorney have filed a civil lawsuit in federal court
against the company. She claims she was abused and then locked in a
guarded shipping container for 24 hours without food or water. She also
claims she was threatened if she talked.

That's when Congressman Ted Poe said he got a call from her father
asking for help.

"She was able to borrow a cell phone from a compassionate guard. She
called her dad and then dad called us. Our immediate concern was to get
her to a safe environment," Poe said.

Within 48 hours, Jones was back in the U.S.

The lawsuit claims a medical exam showed that Jones had been raped.
However, those records have been lost.

None of the attackers has been arrested or charged.

Local 2 legal analyst Brian Wice said the State Department has not
brought any criminal charges against the alleged attackers because they
claim it's not their jurisdiction.

"This notion of it not being their jurisdiction is irrelevant. KBR is
claiming diplomatic immunity but these thugs are not diplomats," said
Wice.

Poe also said he hasn't had any luck getting a response from the State
Department to his questions about any arrests or criminal charges.

Jones started her own foundation for sexually abused employees and now
paints as a form of therapy.