The Halliburton Gang-Rape Story

[Paulie]

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/CNN_legal_analyst_Alleged_Halliburton_rapists_1212.html

(snip)

Because of an employment contract signed by Halliburton employees requiring that all disputes be settled out of court, a legal analyst for CNN says employees alleged of gang raping a former employee may go free.

Former employee Jamie Leigh Jones is filing a federal lawsuit claiming she was gang-raped by employees of Halliburton in Iraq and held shipping container with a bed, then told she would be fired if she sought medical treatment.

"She signed an employment contract and there is a mandatory arbitration clause in that contract," CNN legal analyst told Kiran Chetry on CNN's American Morning Tuesday. "It says if there's any dispute arising out of your employment or related to your employment, that dispute doesn't go before a jury, doesn't go before trial judge, goes before an arbitrator."

So is Halliburton/KBR going to be held acountable for this, or are they going to go the way of Blackwater, and like all major government-connected corporations profitting from this war, be let off the hook via a shoddy investigation from INSIDE the government?

Is anyone else tired of seeing the federal government handle investigations into crimes from corporations that have so much influence on said government?

Before I rant pre-maturely, let's see how this plays out.

What are some thoughts?

 

[DeadCanDance]

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/CNN_legal_analyst_Alleged_Halliburton_rapists_1212.html



So is Halliburton/KBR going to be held acountable for this, or are they going to go the way of Blackwater, and like all major government-connected corporations profitting from this war, be let off the hook via a shoddy investigation from INSIDE the government?

Is anyone else tired of seeing the federal government handle investigations into crimes from corporations that have so much influence on said government?

Before I rant pre-maturely, let's see how this plays out.

What are some thoughts?

My understanding is that the contractors don't operate under US law. They're on iraqi soil. And they don't operate under USMCJ either.

They should be subject to iraqi law, but BushCo brilliantly made the contractors exempt from iraqi law.

 

[Paulie]

My problem really isn't with the contracts that the employees sign, or what country's law they have to abide by, but more that WHEN these companies become involved in a crime, they get so easily let off the hook with little to no condemnation from the US media, or the federal government.

It gets downplayed so dramatically, that it seems to always end up being perceived by the powers that be and the media as the equivalent of an employee from 'Mildred and Harold's General Store" in Bumblefuck, Idakotaho getting caught skimming 10 bucks during his shift so he could cop a pack of cigarettes afterward.

We're in a time of war. If these major companies that have vested interest in maintaining US Security, as per their presence in the country to begin with, I want the UTMOST of credibility among the participators.

I haven't yet seen exactly who is going to head the 'investigation', which the Feds told Haliburton itself that it was taking over due to it being a matter of federal interest.

I just hope it doesn't end up being yet again, someone who is in a position of conflic of interest. The guy who headed various investigations of private contractors in the DoD, and has helped to clear their name of any real wrong-doing, was actually recently appointed Blackwater's COO.

JUST ONCE, I'd like to see some real retribution come from this. And again, this might appear partisan to others, but I just have a really hard time believing that any real accountablity is going to come out of it, considering Dick Cheney's own personal stake in, and relation to, Haliburton.

I wish it didn't have to be considered so 'tin-foil hat' to be suspiciously concerned about these kinds of things.

 

[JimH52]

Easy solution!

Put DICK cheney in charge of the investigation. I would think that a couple days of waterboarding will make this chick forget about the rape!

You know waterboarding, right. The interrigation method that was unlawful by Geveva standards and the Army manual until 9/11 and bush decided otherwise.

bush and DICK = THE BIGGEST SCREW THE COUNTRY HAS EVER ENDURED!

 

[Annie]

Just suppose, it wasn't true. What then?

 

[Waterrescuedude]

How can you rape the willing???? No i'm just kidding.

Umm I don't think that they should get away with it if there is enough proof though. Just castrate them and be done with it.

 

[Gunny]

Just suppose, it wasn't true. What then?

Oh come now, Kath ... you know how it is with the "Bush & Cheney are Evil, Mean and Nasty" crowd. Of course they're guilty.

They've been accused, haven't they?

 

[Paulie]

Just suppose, it wasn't true. What then?

Do you have complete trust that the federal government will properly and fully investigate the matter?

 

[Gunny]

Do you have complete trust that the federal government will properly and fully investigate the matter?

I have complete trust in the fact that they will investigate the matter with their usual level of competence. I do NOT however expect them to display a higher level of competence on this issue than any other.

IMO, regardless the contract employees sign, since a crime was allegedly committed, it should be investigated. I'm not a lawyer, but it seems to me that a contract that exempts one party from adhering to the law would not be legal if taken to court.

 

[Paulie]

I have complete trust in the fact that they will investigate the matter with their usual level of competence. I do NOT however expect them to display a higher level of competence on this issue than any other.

IMO, regardless the contract employees sign, since a crime was allegedly committed, it should be investigated. I'm not a lawyer, but it seems to me that a contract that exempts one party from adhering to the law would not be legal if taken to court.

I feel handcuffed in trying to argue my side, because her contract states that it doesn't even get to go to public trial. It has to be handled in private arbitration, in a company where 80% of their arbitration cases were won by the company.

I just see the proverbial river of dirty money that flows through the US government containing a little tributary leading to Haliburton.

Kathianne says what if it wasn't true. Well what if it WAS?

 

[Gunny]

I feel handcuffed in trying to argue my side, because her contract states that it doesn't even get to go to public trial. It has to be handled in private arbitration, in a company where 80% of their arbitration cases were won by the company.

I just see the proverbial river of dirty money that flows through the US government containing a little tributary leading to Haliburton.

Kathianne says what if it wasn't true. Well what if it WAS?

We have a couple of lawyers here, maybe they'll weigh in. I think the legality of the contract would have to be challenged first. The outcome of that would determine whether or not they could be prosecuted.

Except that this would involve a Federal investigative agency since it happened outside the US, I don't see that it involves the government at all. IMO it is a legal issue between a corporation and one of its employees.

It being a US corporation and the people involved US citizens, I do not see where they are above US law, but on that I don't know. Whenever we (US military) were overseas, we were subject to both the laws of the country we were in, AND the UCMJ/US laws.

 

[JimH52]

I don't care what her contract says! She can still sue in US courts. She should do that and give everyone involved a black eye. These are things that need to be made public is a big way.

I would advise her to find a competent attorney and sue. Haliburton is still a US company.