Pentagon plays down electrocution of US soldiers in Iraq

The London News.Net
Friday 18th July, 2008

A US Senate panel has been made aware of more inferior electrical work by a private contractor on military bases in Iraq.

The panel investigating the electrocutions of Americans on bases in Iraq was told last week by electricians who had been employed in Iraq, that employees of the KBR company had little electrical expertise and some could not even speak English.

While the Pentagon has said thirteen US soldiers had been electrocuted in Iraq since September 2003, the panel has now been informed the problems could be more widespread than the Pentagon has admitted.

The New York Times has reported that many more people have been injured, some seriously, by shocks.

At least 283 electrical fires also broke out in American military facilities, destroying or damaging property.

KBR said last week that an internal investigation had not turned up evidence of a link between its work and the electrocutions.

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