Attorney Mike Papantonio checked to see if the 30 Republican Senators who voted against the Jamie Leigh Jones' anti-rape bill this past October had wives and daughters. He found that most of them did. He also found that their love for defense contractor PAC money was even greater than love for their own daughters.
The Senate bill stated, "if a contractor like KBR has an employee who is sexually assaulted on the job, then the employee has a right to have a jury hear and decide the facts of the case. If the contractor denies the victim that right, then the U.S. government won't do business with that contractor."
In 2005, Jones, a KBR employee, was gang-raped in Iraq by KBR workers. After she was gang-raped, KBR security held her prisoner inside a 5' x 6' shipping container to make sure she kept her mouth shut.
Jamie was also drugged while held prisoner in that shipping crate, so no one would hear her cries.
The vote to enact the bill was 68 to 30.
Dissenting Republicans argued "that it was too harsh to force a valued defense contractor like KBR or Halliburton to appear in front of a civil jury to face outraged and repulsed fathers, mothers, and sisters when stories like Jamie's are told."
The GOP Senate leaders were not in the dark about the details of Jamie's rape. The knew she had been repeatedly sodomized and that her body was so torn up that she needed reconstructive plastic surgery. They knew that KBR's own security force had held Jamie as a prisoner after the rape where she was denied food and medical treatment.
Two of the Republican senators who voted against the bill were Louisiana's David Vitter and Nevada's John Ensign.
As Papantonio concludes, stories like Jamie Leigh's are never convenient. They need to be heard in open courtrooms and not behind closed doors of some corporate arbitration panel where the victim's chances to obtain justice are over at "hello."
I'm astounded by this case but was ignorant of it till now.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair to Republicans in general... it was a Republican member of Congress that - on being called by the father of Jones - contacted the State Department which initiated her rescue.
However, in reference to this segment from an article I've read...
"An army doctor collected DNA evidence, including vaginal swabs and scrapings from her fingernails, and placed them in a box for evidence. Ms Jones said the doctor gave the box to a KBR security officer but it went missing. A State Department diplomatic security agent recovered the kit in May 2007, but the doctor's notes and photographs are now inexplicably missing, undermining any chances of bringing the case through the criminal courts."
... I say "conspiracy".
Conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. At the very least, criminal negligence in duty of care.
I mean... that's THREE entities there: the US Army, KBR and the State Department.
And why the hell give it to a KBR operative? And I wonder where the State agent recovered the kit from after it went missing.
It seems to me that, given Jones has indicated her case is not unique, that there may have been a culture of sexual violence flourishing precisely because the perpetrators knew they were out of reach of the law. Her lawyer commented "one of the men who raped Jamie was so confident that nothing would happen that he was lying in bed next to her the morning after".
In a case with allegations as dire as these... any NORMAL company does not point to a clause in contracts saying "disputes" are to be resolved by internal arbitration.
That's utterly preposterous.
A NORMAL company says "holy shit, yes we will co-operate totally with all authorities and if any employee has been found to have acted with criminal conduct we will terminate their employment immediately". Because they want to protect their reputation.
Unless...
... they feel thoroughly protected already.
Very good. And thanks for the additional information. I'd been sitting on this for over a week, so by the time I could get to it, I didn't feel I could spend much more time researching. Thus, your added background is more than appreciated.
ReplyDeleteNot just as a woman but as a human being and a U.S. citizen, I find this story shitty stinky from the get-go and all across the board. I'm actually surprised that someone isn't quoted as saying Jones asked for it.
I wrote about this twice, myself. Once when the original story broke and once when a conservative blogger (who, ironically, claims Democrats are misogynists and that real feminists should vote Republican)posted a ridiculous and dishonest post about the Democrats 'politicizing rape.'
ReplyDeleteThis story is disgusting. The fact that partisan loyalty to a government contractor should trump what is a truly disgraceful aggravation of the atrocity this woman suffered is unbelievable.
The fact that anyone on the right (let alone a putative 'feminst') could try to spin it as dishonest and politically motivated legislation to 'pick on' Halliburton is worse.
As a casual note, KBR officially denies the rape happened at all. Despite the injuries suffered, they claim the alleged victim had consensual sex with one man.
Thanks for yet more info, Ecclectic. I've been so limited in what and how much I can research, I realize I'm falling a little short. Hopefully I will get my computer back this week and won't have to rely on teeny snatches of time on these dinosaurs at the apt. and the library.
ReplyDelete