GREEN BERET’S DEATH WHILE SHOWERING TIED TO KBR’S NEGLIGENCE

In one of the saddest, and most infuriating pieces of bad news to emerge from Iraq to date, it turns out that a highly decorated, 24-year-old Green Beret died after being eloctrocuted while showering at his base in Iraq, due to shoddy electrical work performed at the base by former Halliburton subsidiary KBR , according to reports from today’s CNN News and NY Times .  KBR is the largest U.S. contractor in Iraq.

The Penatagon has reported that 18 service men and women have been electrocuted in Iraq since 2003 due to faulty wiring.  Army investigators, who initially classified the Green Beret’s death as a mere “accident,” have now begun viewing it as a negligent homicide.

In a related story, we learn, courtesy of the Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog , that the VA just paid $350,000 to settle a Federal Tort Claims Act suit by the family of an Iraqi War veteran who returned to the U.S. with post traumatic stress disorder and suicidal ideations.  The vet apparently received some psychiatric treatment at his local VA hospital, but was allegedly turned away at the time he needed help most–just before he hanged himself in his family’s garage.