The federal government of the United States has filed a lawsuit against Kellogg Brown & Root, whose employees include Croatians, which is one of the main suppliers to the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan, reports abcnews.go.com.
The lawsuit was initiated, as the plaintiffs claim, due to inappropriate charges that the company billed the U.S. government for hiring private security agencies in Iraq. The largest American company whose employees are not unionized recently won a contract worth over two billion dollars for construction work it must carry out in war-torn Iraq. The lawsuit alleges that KBR, along with its 33 other suppliers, which were hired by KBR itself, used private security services from 2003 to 2006. The plaintiffs argue that KBR was prohibited by a contract signed with the government from using the services of private security companies and sending the bill for those services to the U.S. government. Although the dispute arose over a breach of contract between the U.S. government and the private company, it highlights a painful question that has been discussed since U.S. military forces entered Iraq in 2003 – by what right were a handful of private security companies armed and using force in an unstable country like Iraq?
KBR reported a profit of 4.8 billion dollars last year, all thanks to the fact that they performed logistical work for the U.S. military such as laundry, transportation, mail delivery, etc. However, according to the contract that the company signed with the U.S. government, KBR was not allowed to do anything other than logistical work, and the security of the company and its employees was to be provided by the U.S. military, not private agencies. However, in an official statement from KBR, it is emphasized that it was the U.S. military that violated the terms of the contract by leaving the company and its employees unprotected several times, prompting the company to hire private agencies. In the news that the government will sue the company that was a former subsidiary of Halliburton, whose president was also former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, there is no mention of the amount of the bill for the services of private security agencies. The entire case has come to light after a long-standing initiative, which began four years ago, to expose the questionable dealings that private companies have made with the U.S. government, and for this reason, it is very important that KBR is punished to serve as an example in future dealings between the private and public sectors. (T.Vi.)
