AP: U.S. Contractor Shot by U.S. Forces

[Eugene]

U.S. Contractor Shot by U.S. Forces
By Associated Press
12:20 PM PST, February 10, 2007

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The U.S. military confirmed on Saturday that American forces at Camp Anaconda,
the huge air base north of Baghdad, shot and killed a civilian contract truck driver.

A spokeswoman for KBR, a contracting subsidiary of Halliburton that was formerly known as Kellogg,
Brown & Root, said the shooting was under investigation.

Melissa Norcross, the KBR spokeswoman, said the company was not releasing the name of the dead
driver or a second person in the truck who was wounded "to protect the individuals' privacy."

In Baghdad, Lt. Cmdr. Bill speaks said, "There was an escalation of force incident at Camp Anaconda
on Feb. 5 (Monday) that resulted in the death of a civilian contractor. The incident is under
investigation by the Army Criminal Investigation Division and KBR."

-snip-

Full article: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-iraq-driver-shot,1,3940730.story

[Dhalgren]

1. What does "escalation of force incident" mean?

Are the troops getting jumpy? Or did the truck driver cross the wrong GI?

[seafan]

3. Escalation of force incident: Driver approaching checkpoint does not slow down and stop.

From the article:

In Baghdad, Lt. Cmdr. Bill speaks said, "There was an escalation of force incident at Camp Anaconda on Feb. 5 (Monday) that resulted in the death of a civilian contractor. The incident is under investigation by the Army Criminal Investigation Division and KBR."

An escalation of force incident normally means a driver approaching a checkpoint did not respond to military orders to approach slowly and stop.

"Sadly, 98 KBR employees and subcontractors have lost their lives, and more than 430 have been wounded by hostile action while performing services under the company's government contracts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait," Norcross said in an e-mail response to queries about the incident.

[Robbien]

5. An escalation of force is

whenever a soldier points a weapon at a civilian.

Many truck drivers are non-english speaking foreign workers who don't understand soldiers' instructions.

[rocktivity]

7. Maybe the troops are getting resentful

that the contractors are getting ten times their salary.

:headbang:
rocknation

[saigon68]

28. Good---- Another one bites the Dust

[IndianaGreen]

8. I dunno, the way they have butchered the English language, who knows?

Tony Snow said this past week that the US had no plans to invade Iran. Knowing them as we do now, the followup questions should have been, do you have plans to bomb Iran.

Republicans make Clinton's "whatever the definition of is, is" seem like child's play.

[kenny blankenship]

2. S'Okay. KBR still gets paid for the miles.

Heck, they'll be able to book a profit on the replacement of the truck.

[MidwestTransplant]

6. And possibly a life insurance contract on the employee

[MsKandice01]

4. I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often...

I can imagine that there's got to be quite a few instances of animosity between our men in the military and the civilian contractors.

[Divine Discontent]

9. my sis

worked as a seabee building schools and stuff, and worked with non military contractors making 8 times what the seabees get! nice treatment of the military personnel! and then they force em to stay 2 and 3 times longer than they were told... our military is FU*KED UP! our president is a drunk clueless piece of crap, and I think our Veep has connections to Satanic cult groups in the Grove...

(why don't you just tell us how you really feel? ha)


www.cafepress.com/warisprofitable TONS of 08 stickers now in!

[sanskritwarrior]

10. I don't know

I worked with a lot of KBR guys when I was in Iraq last time (2nd time)....Most of them were truck drivers, most of them were good guys, obviously a few scumbags, but so were some of my soldiers. Most were former military people (the American ones at least) that were trying to make some extra bucks and still feel like they were helping....at least that's what they said. They make a lot more money than we do, but so what.......I don't give a crap, when I get out in 6 more years I might look into the work myself. Most young soldiers don't care either, contractors are here to stay, it doesn't matter who wins the next election, so many day to day functions are now performed by contractors, I'm not sure the military could function without them. It is also a large fallacy to think that contractor only became prominent under Bush. I have been in the Army since 1994, there have always been contractors around, of course now there are more than before, but they have always been around. In my unit in Korea, I was Op conned to a Military Intelligence unit that was short a Sergeant promotable (my first MOS was Intel related, and I have been "drafted" by several S-2 shops in my time in the Army), we had about a dozen contractors to repair various software programs as well as the hardware platforms, I don't remember their being much animosity back then either. In fact my best drinking buddy was their supervisor........

I'm not defending contractor excess, but the demonization these guys and gals get is incredible. Many of these people are blue collar hard working Democrat voters, many of them are freeptards, the point is they are people that have decided to take these kinds of jobs for various reasons, some are psychotic, some want a big paycheck, some honestly feel they are serving their country, and others are just out for the adrenaline rush. Yet there is a "jackal faction" on this site that roots for their deaths and suffering. That is incredible and in no way progressive, these people by and large are Americans, I refuse to hate my fellow citizens for the work they do, unless they are engaging in immoral behavior or acting like barbarians, certainly some do that, but most drive trucks, fix food, do laundry, fix telephones, etc......I cannot and will not demonize such people, some of those people are my friends and I will defend the contractors that are chided here on this site. Unless of course they are engaging behavior that deserves rebuke.

Anyway let me get off my soapbox now, thanks for listening......

[BulletproofLandshark]

11. I'm not rooting for their deaths and suffering.

I'm rooting for everyone to get the hell out of there and come home.

[sanskritwarrior]

12. That's cool

there are about 5 or 6 people here that routinely post about contractor deaths and then revel in it........

[RetroLounge]

18. Please provide a link to revelling in a contractor's death...

unless you mean Blackwater, then revel away...

RL

[sanskritwarrior]

21. I bookmarked this thread

and will post a link the very next time I see one.....It's the same 4 or 5 people everytime so it shouldn't be that hard.

[RetroLounge]

24. The next time?

Sorry, you make a claim, you can't then wait for the *next* time as proof.

:eyes:

RL

[sanskritwarrior]

25. Sorry I am way too lazy

to use the search, sucks to be you......

[RetroLounge]

26. Actually, no it doesn't suck...

but it does suck to be called out on something and then refuse to back up the statement...

:hi:

lazy... :eyes:

RL

[sanskritwarrior]

29. Don't we have rules

against calling people out?? Nevermind irrelevant, off to the ignore list with you. Namaste........

[brentspeak]

32. I found some links that might help you

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=479031&mesg_id=479699

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2526619&mesg_id=2526936

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2526619&mesg_id=2527187

Here's somebody pointing out that a kidnapped Halliburton truck driver was simply an honest working man who took his Halliburton Iraq truck-driving job only because he was completely down-on-his-luck:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=479031&mesg_id=480331

And here's the response to that, which definitely fits in the category of a) "reveling in the contractor's deaths"; b) an embarrasment to the web-site:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=479031&mesg_id=480395

(Note: I despise Halliburton, Blackwater, etc. But that doesn't extend to the average Joes who are simply driving trucks and doing laundry, etc.)

[MsKandice01]

13. Just so we're clear...

I don't demonize the civilian contractors, nor do I revel in their deaths. I just said I was surprised it didn't happen more often. If it did happen more often, I wouldn't be happy about it.

[sanskritwarrior]

14. I'm sorry

I never meant you did......There's a few that seem to enjoy the bloodshed......

[dalaigh lllama]

16. This is why I love DU

Thanks for a perspective that has pointed out to me my own tendency to equate "contractor" with "evil moneygrubber." :blush: It's all too easy to paint any group of people with the same broad brush, and I've certainly been guilty of that. I'll try to remember in the future that it's not the poor grunts driving trucks in the field that I need to focus my animus at, but the Powers That Be that are hauling in the huge profits while comfortably and safely ensconced at a desk back in the States.

Thank you!

[brentspeak]

33. There was a time, before the 1990's, when the military didn't need contractors

to keep things working smoothly. The military was downsized internally, beginning in the mid-1980's, partially because bigwigs in government and the Pentagon wanted to give fat private contracts to their buddies.

[Hissyspit]

15. KBR Driver Killed By U.S. Forces In Iraq

http://www.chron.com:80/disp/story.mpl/headline/world/4543604.html

Feb. 10, 2007, 11:32PM
KBR driver killed by U.S. forces in Iraq
Military, firm team to investigate the Monday death of contractor

The shooting Monday of a civilian contract truck driver for KBR, a subsidiary of Halliburton, is under investigation by the company and by the U.S. Army.

The U.S. military confirmed on Saturday that American forces shot and killed the truck driver at Camp Anaconda, an air base about 42 miles north of Baghdad.

A spokeswoman for KBR, a subsidiary of Halliburton formerly known as Kellogg, Brown & Root, said the shooting was under investigation. Melissa Norcross, the KBR spokeswoman, said the company was not releasing the name of the dead driver or a second truck driver who was wounded "to protect the individuals' privacy."

"A KBR truck driver was fatally shot, and another wounded, by U.S. military personnel on the evening of February 5, 2007, at an entry control point just outside of Camp Anaconda in Balad, Iraq. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the truck driver who was killed," Norcross wrote in an e-mail.

- snip -

The Walker-Martin Funeral Home in Chesaning, Mich., posted an obituary on its Web site Saturday saying that a man named Donald Tolfree of nearby Owosso, Mich., had been killed Monday in Balad, Iraq, where he was employed as a civilian contractor.

MORE

[ohio2007]

17. Working for Halliburton just got a little tougher

Will the actual investigation results be reported by the media ? Their must have been something erratic about the driver that raised suspicion. The soldiers are not going to shoot the guy bringing their MRE rations.

[goforit]

20. Yes, I fear most imperialistic war profiteers like this will be facing more of this.

[sanskritwarrior]

22. What exactly does this comment mean??

Do you imply that every contractor is an imperialist money grubber? And if so what are you using as proof? Finally how do you feel when "imperialistic war profiteers" are killed?

[Nihil]

19. Oops

Maybe they thought he was an Italian Secret Service man ...
:shrug:

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

23. Army shooting Halliburton.

The truth will out.

[lovuian]

27. Being a mercenary or contractor in Iraq is getting more and

more dangerous

So Sad

[mrdemocrat78]

30. Hate to say it but...

Maybe this will have some of them rethinking what they are doing over there. If I was a soldier, I sure wouldn't give a crap. The soldiers money is taxed to pay these private contractors like 10 times what they are making, plus the contractors don't pay ANY taxes on the money. What bs is that?

[Marthe48]

31. Catch 22

Milo Minderbinder, the character who cornered the market on Egyptian cotton, and later strafed his own troops to recoup his losses, was the first thing I thought of when I read the headline.

No matter what the circumstances, too bad more people died today because of Bush.

I had an odd thought today --since the US military attracts many minority and low income peoples to it, isn't Bush creating a situation of double genocide?--killing off the Iraqi civilian population and US troops he obviously scorns?