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Hearing today to focus on Iraq electrocutions

Accidental electrocutions have killed 11 soldiers and five Marines, injured dozens more troops and caused at least 283 fires at U.S.-operated facilities in Iraq.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee aims to find out Wednesday exactly what happened and why. It will focus much of its attention on facilities built or maintained by KBR Inc., one of the largest private U.S. contractors in Iraq, which oversees thousands of buildings there.

The hearing also will review the Pentagon’s policies and procedures for management and oversight of contractors.

The overarching question is, who’s responsible? KBR? The Army, which Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., says has “known of the immense safety problems posed by faulty wiring since the very start of the U.S. occupation in Iraq”? Or the Defense Contract Management Agency, which oversees Pentagon contract work?

In advance of the hearing, the Pentagon sought to counter any inference of malfeasance or management shortcomings. “Some seem to believe that this department and one of the Army’s lead logistical support contractors are so negligent or callous that we have failed to address these dangers,” spokesman Geoff Morrell said at the outset of a Tuesday news conference at the Pentagon. “I am here to tell you that characterization is flat-out wrong.”

Morrell said it is a “misperception” that U.S. facilities in Iraq are “replete with electrical hazards” and said that while “we grieve for each and every one” of the electrocution victims, half of them were the result of inadvertent contact with live wires.

However, the committee wants more information. In a July 18 letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates asking for additional documentation on the problems, committee chairman Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., pointed to “significant deficiencies in electrical systems throughout Iraq,” which he said “present an ongoing threat to our troops.”

Waxman also said that despite “hundreds” of electrical fires, the Defense Department and KBR “have done little to address the widespread safety risk.”

According to a February 2007 report prepared by DCMA, 283 fires took place at KBR-maintained facilities over a five-month period ending in January 2007.

In a memo accompanying that report, DCMA official Paul Dickinson described “theater-wide” safety problems posing “current and future high risk for many facilities at various sites.”

The “primary safety threat” in Iraq, he wrote, was from fire caused by “inferior 220-volt electrical fixtures,” as well as improper installation, improper insulation and heavy usage.

“KBR control of subcontractor safety programs must be more direct and accountable,” Dickinson wrote.

At the same time, Waxman told Gates, the DCMA report’s findings “appear to have been ignored [internally] until recently.” He noted a May 5 e-mail from a DCMA official who worked on the report and wrote that “lack of action ... results in direct liability issues for our Agency.”

KBR, formerly Kellogg Brown & Root, told The Associated Press in early July that its investigation has not turned up evidence of a link between its work and the electrocutions. “We continue to conduct technical inspections on all facilities serviced by KBR throughout Iraq to ensure safe and proper operations for those we serve,” spokeswoman Heather Browne said in the statement.

KBR’s electrical maintenance and repair duties have been limited since February 2007 due a contract change, according to Casey’s office. Casey became involved after the Jan. 2 death of Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth of Pittsburgh, who died while taking a shower at the Radwaniyah Palace Complex in Baghdad.

The cause, according to the Army, was a faulty ground on a water pump. The facility was overseen by KBR which, according to Casey’s office, was required under its contract to “conform the electrical systems of the living quarters to U.S. or British standards.”

Two former KBR electricians told the Democratic Policy Committee that KBR used supervisors with little electrical expertise to oversee subcontractors in Iraq, the AP reported July 11.

In April, Casey called for a Government Accountability Office investigation, a request that was declined because of a possible conflict with an ongoing inquiry by the Pentagon Inspector General. On July 25, Casey and Rep. Jason Altmire, D-Pa., met with KBR CEO William Utt to discuss the electrical problems.

Morrell acknowledged the likelihood of some problems with contractor performance.

“I am sure that there are instances where contractors did not do the job they were contracted to do,” Morrell said, but added: “It is wrong to suggest that all these deaths were the result of shoddy workmanship by defense contractors or lack of oversight by the Pentagon.

“In fact, half of those deaths — eight in all — occurred when troops operating outside the wire accidentally came in contact with live power lines, a constant risk in Iraq where low-lying electrical lines are often jerry-rigged from house to house and our troops are driving through narrow streets in large vehicles,” Morrell said.

Morrell said three more troops were killed while working with improperly grounded electrical generators, and one soldier was electrocuted in a pool.

The remaining four deaths, Morrell said, “do seem to stem from wiring problems, but only one of them involves work done by KBR, although the inspector general is still looking into all these incidents.”

“This is in no way an attempt to diminish these tragedies,” Morrell said. “Even one of them is too many. But they should be viewed in proper context.”

Gen. David Petraeus, the senior U.S. commander in Iraq, has ordered the creation of a uniform electrical code for all U.S. facilities in that country, Morrell said. According to a congressional source, the Pentagon IG’s interim report will be released in the coming weeks.

Speaking at Wednesday’s hearing will be Casey and representatives of the Pentagon IG’s office, the Defense Contract Management Agency, Army Contracting Command and KBR, Inc., the committee said.

Related reading:

Report seems to clear KBR in soldier death