Congress keeps up pressure about sexual assaults of contractor employees

Associated Press

April 9, 2008

By SUZANNE GAMBOA

WASHINGTON (AP) _ The Justice Department has not prosecuted any cases involving sexual assaults against civilians who work for contractors in Iraq or Afghanistan, despite a law giving it that authority, according to written testimony submitted to a Senate subcommittee.

The department has taken action in 12 cases under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act and five of those involved sex crimes, according to Sigal P. Mandelker, deputy attorney general of the Justice Department's criminal division. Her comments came in prepared testimony obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.

In the five sex cases, four were successful convictions.

The convictions were for sexual abuse of a minor by a Defense Department civilian employee in Japan; child pornography crimes by DoD contractors in Iraq and Qatar and abusive sexual contact by a Pentagon contractor against a soldier in Iraq.

An indictment has been delivered in the fifth case, but Mandelker in her testimony did not provide details on that case, citing privacy, confidentiality and court-ordered restrictions.

Mandelker was scheduled to testify Wednesday before a subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chaired by Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat.

Jamie Leigh Jones, formerly of Conroe, Texas, drew national attention to the issue last year when she went public with allegations she was raped by co-workers while working in Iraq for KBR/Halliburton in 2005. Jones testified at a December House committee hearing she was assaulted after she was drugged. When she tried to report it she was held for a day in a shipping container.

Shortly after the hearing, Nelson was contacted by a constituent who alleged she, too, had been sexually assaulted while working in June 2005 for the same contractor in Iraq.

Two other women, Mary Beth Kineston of Ohio and another victim from Illinois whose name was withheld pending the hearing, were scheduled to testify about their assaults.

The Associated Press does not usually identify people who say they were sexually assaulted, but Jones and Kineston have made their identities public.

KBR Inc. spokeswoman Heather Browne said the company "in no way condones or tolerates sexual harassment" and employees are expected to follow the company's business code of conduct.

"When violations occur appropriate action is taken," Browne said in a statement. "Any reported allegation of sexual harassment or sexual assault is taken seriously and thoroughly investigated."

KBR split from Halliburton last year.

Nelson has been pressing the Pentagon and Justice Department for detailed information on how widespread sexual assaults of civilian employees of contractors are and how well their cases are investigated.

The Defense Department's inspector general told Nelson in a letter released Tuesday it has investigated 742 sexual assault cases during operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Most involved members of the military and at least 26 involved American civilians.

The Pentagon declined to comment until the hearing.

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