| MORE VETERANS SUE
KBR OVER IRAQ BURN PITS
Claim KBR burned human corpses,
biohazards, Styrofoam, tires, lithium batteries, asbestos, paint,
pesticides and latrine waste.
NOTE from Larry Scott, VA
Watchdog dot Org ... For more information refer to our
Iraq War Toxins page.
You'll find out more about the burn pits and hexavalent chromium
exposure.
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Disposal of toxic wastes improper,
servicemen claim
By Paul Bowers
Derrol Turner returned in
December 2005 to Goose Creek from the U.S. Air Force's Joint Base
Balad with a chronic cough and shortness of breath. A doctor told
him his lungs looked as if he had been smoking a pack of
cigarettes a day for 20 years.
Turner had never smoked a
cigarette in his life.
Turner, 50, a technical sergeant
in the Air Force Reserve, attributes the damage to the noxious
smoke he inhaled every day from a trash-burning pit on the Iraq
base. He is one of three Charleston-area servicemen who filed a
class-action lawsuit Wednesday against Kellogg, Brown & Root, the
company the Department of Defense hired to run day-to-day
services, including waste disposal, at many U.S. military bases.
"Balad was the M.A.S.H. unit for
Iraq," Turner said. "So you can imagine what they were burning."
The lawsuit alleges that KBR
burned hazardous waste on various U.S. military bases, including
not only human corpses and biohazardous medical supplies, but also
Styrofoam, tires, lithium batteries, asbestos insulation, paint,
items containing pesticides and latrine waste.
"The pit was in the northeast
corner of the base, and guess which direction 98 percent of the
wind came from? The northeast," Turner said.
 KBR
Director of Communications Heather Browne said in an official
statement that the company did not operate the Balad burn pit.
Browne did not comment on activities at other bases where KBR is
alleged to hold waste-removal contracts.
"It should also be noted that
any burn pit operated in Iraq or Afghanistan is done pursuant to
Army guidelines and regulations," Browne said.
Attorney Elizabeth Burke and the
Burke O'Neil law firm represent Turner and two other servicemen,
Vincent C. Moseley of Summerville and Alex Harley of Goose Creek,
in the case.
"KBR has just shown an utter
disregard for the health of the soldiers in Iraq," Burke said.
"They've put money over safety at every turn."
Turner's case is the latest in a
nationwide series of unresolved lawsuits against the company that
began with a Texas case in November. Other plaintiffs have
experienced cancer, gastrointestinal diseases and dermatological
conditions.
Houston-based Halliburton Co.,
which owned KBR until April 2007, also is named as a defendant in
the case. Its public relations personnel were unavailable for
comment.
Turner now must await the
lawsuit's outcome, but he has not sat idly. Turner traveled to
Washington, D.C., for a press conference Thursday with Rep. Tim
Bishop, D-N.Y., who proposed a bill to regulate the upkeep of burn
pits by contracting companies such as KBR.
"KBR thinks it's a joke," Turner
said.
He keeps a steroid inhaler on
hand for his weakened lungs, which have significant scarring and
seven hardened masses.
"I feel it getting worse,"
Turner said. "I've got shortness of breath, and I've got shorter
shortness of breath."
The lawsuit
Read the class-action lawsuit
against Kellogg, Brown & Root, (17 page PDF)
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TOPICS:
veterans, veterans' benefits, VA, Department of Veterans' Affairs,
burn pits, KBR, Iraq War, toxins |
