By Paddy
Oh gee, so what's another life lost to incompetence when our best buddies the contractors are raking in the big bucks? Can't have them held to any standards now can we.
PITTSBURGH—Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, says 13 Americans were electrocuted in Iraq since September 2003 and a contractor has been ordered to inspect the facilities it maintains there for electrical safety hazards, a Pennsylvania senator said.
The military had acknowledged that 12 Americans died in Iraq from accidental electrocution. Sen. Bob Casey said he learned last week from Petraeus that 10 soldiers, one Marine and two private contractors died. Casey said he was not given details on the 13th fatality.
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One of the soldiers killed was Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, 24, of Pittsburgh, who died Jan. 2 in his barracks in Baghdad. An Army criminal probe blamed improper grounding of an electric pump that supplied water to the building.
Maseth's family has sued KBR Inc., the Houston-based contractor responsible for maintaining Maseth's barracks.
Petraeus said KBR received $3.2 million for maintenance services as part of a February 2007 contract modification. According to Petraeus, KBR had previously provided "only limited technical inspections" at Maseth's barracks.
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