What Is KBR Hiding?

We are all familiar with the case of Jamie Leigh Jones, the KBR contract worker who was brutally raped on her first day in Iraq. She was then held hostage in a shipping container until she was able to get a cell phone to call her father. She was denied a day in court against KBR and her attackers because of an arbitration clause in her employment contract. Senator Al Franken (Awesome D-MN) sponsored an amendment to invalidate such clauses in defense contracts (and tied 30 Republican Senators in knots while doing it – double win). Well, KBR was not content with the bad publicity and they’re fighting back, by trashing Ms. Jones, of course:

But having lost at the trial court, again at the appeals court and then in the Senate as the Franken amendment was signed into law, KBR/Halliburton, in its petition to the Supreme Court last week, wasted no time at all in trashing her. While advancing its legal theory that Jones’s claim is unquestionably “related to” her employment, it also promises, in a footnote, that “The KBR Defendants intend to vigorously contest Jones’s allegations and show that her claims against the KBR Defendants are factually and legally untenable.” Er, where do they plan to show all that? In the secret underground arbitration lair of KBR?

In addition to going after her truthfulness in its court pleadings, KBR has mounted a zealous public campaign to “correct the facts” about the Jones litigation—urging, for instance, that “Ms. Jones’ allegation of rape remains unsubstantiated” and that she wasn’t locked in a shipping container but rather “provided with a secure living trailer.” Apparently KBR fails to appreciate the irony of demanding that all of its counter-facts come to light despite its love for secret arbitration.

I asked Franken what he thought of KBR’s latest efforts to trash Jones in public for her refusal to be trashed by them in private. Here’s what he had to say: “You know where a great place to try arguments is? In court. But they’ve spent five years fighting against her attempts to have her day there. It seems odd that they wouldn’t want to explain their side in the courtroom, since they’re willing to in the media.”

So I guess KBR is well on it’s way to be America’s most-hated company. Congrats, KBR, I’m sure you’ll pass Blackwater soon. BTW, the arbitration clause was written when Dick Cheney was Halliburton CEO (KBR is a Halliburton subsidiary). It’s amazing how many tentacles Dick Cheney has into wrongdoing isn’t it?