Halliburton, KBR slapped with class-action lawsuit

CLASS-ACTION: Halliburton and KBR have been hit with a lawsuit accusing them of exposing workers to unsafe conditions at an Iraqi military base. (Getty Images)

A civilian employee of US oil services giant Halliburton and government contractor KBR has charged in a lawsuit the companies exposed thousands of workers to unhealthy, contaminated conditions at an Iraqi military base.

The class-action lawsuit, a copy of which was obtained by newswire AFP, was filed Nov. 6 in a Texas court by Joshua Eller, a civilian who worked for the US Air Force in 2006 at the Balad air force base northeast of Baghdad.

The suit includes a long list of charges against Halliburton and KBR - formerly known as Kellogg Brown and Root, a former subsidiary of Halliburton and the US military's chief provider in Iraq.

Eller accuses that KBR "knowingly and intentionally supplied to US forces and other individuals food that was expired, spoiled, rotten, or that may have been contaminated with shrapnel, or other materials".

KBR "supplied water which was contaminated, untreated, and unsafe", Eller said citing several examples.

KBR also "failed to properly train its personnel in proper water operations, despite its acceptance of a contract to provide safe water to the US force in Iraq," Eller said

He also said the service giants "shipped ice served to US forces in trucks that had been used to carry human remains and that still had traces of body fluids and putrefied remains".

The lawsuit also said the "defendants burned medical waste that contained human body parts on the open air burn pit. Wild dogs in the area raided the burn pit and carried off human remains. The wild dogs could be seen roaming the base with body parts in their mouths."

Eller further said the companies "prevented their employees from speaking with government auditors" tasked with inspecting the military base.

Eller alleged in the suit that in May 2006 he developed lesions on his skin. The lesions spread, "filled with fluid and finally burst." He also "developed blisters on his feet", and "gastrointestinal problems".

In the complaint Eller also alleges severe mental anguish, prompting drug treatment for depression, after suffering "severe nightmares", including recurring dreams of dogs carrying human remains in their mouths.

A spokeswoman for KBR, Heather Browne, told AFP she was "not yet aware of the complaint", and so would not be making a comment at this stage.

KBR is already subject to several complaints about its role as a subcontractor through the Pentagon.

Halliburton, once led by vice president Dick Cheney before he took office in 2001, and KBR have come under scrutiny for contract controversies since Halliburton was awarded a no-bid $2.4 billion contract to supply the US military just before the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.

KBR agreed last year to pay the US government $8 million to settle fraud claims related to an army supply contract.

Halliburton was headed by Cheney from 1995 until 2000.

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