Update [2005-3-31 18:47:57 by susanhbu]: Someone close to Ron is willing to answer our questions. See Recent Diaries, and please ask questions!
Cross-posted at Daily Kos.
In an exclusive interview today with Eli Chavez, 2004 Democratic candidate for Congress (1st District) in New Mexico, and the father of an employee of Halliburton subsidiary KBR in Iraq, Amy Goodman paints an dark portrait of the corrupt, racist, and dangerous environment among Halliburton/KBR employees at the Baghdad airport.
I have searched news and Web sites; there isn’t a single news story elsewhere about the shocking beating of Eli’s son, KBR employee Ronald Chavez — who is in a hospital ICU now — by eight fellow employees known as the “Red Neck Mafia” on Easter Sunday.
Eli Chavez, a decorated veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency, a former Drug Enforcement Agency Special Agent, and veteran of the 82nd Airborne Division says his son almost died and is being transferred by military aircraft for medical treatment in Germany.
: : : The story below : : :
From Democracy Now!:
Yesterday, the father of Ron Chavez [PHOTO RIGHT] — who is from right here in Houston, Texas — sent a letter to the US Justice Department. It reads:
“My son Ronald Lee Chavez, an employee of Halliburton in Iraq, was severely beaten by peer Halliburton employees. These employees are known in Iraq as the Leesville, LA “Red Neck Mafia”.
Ronald was med-evaced to Camp Anaconda where he is in a US Military Hospital and remains there. According to my daughter in law Patti, Ronald is to be transferred to a military hospital in Germany because of Atria Fibrillation to his heart due to the severe beating. What I understand, Halliburton has advised Patti, that Ronald needs a Passport to get medical treatment at a Military Hospital in Germany.
While Ronald was in Albuquerque on R & R, he advised me that his Boss did not like him because Ronald is Hispanic; and that the “Red Neck Mafia” ran the operation for Halliburton at Baghdad Airport. Ronald further advised me that he had reported by Memorandum to higher authority within the Halliburton Chain of Command the vulnerabilities at Baghdad Airport regarding to terrorist attacks. Ronald further stated that higher authority was upset at his recommendations.
According to Patti, Halliburton advised her that they had sent 3 of the “Redneck Mafia” members back to the USA; and that Halliburton was not going to file criminal charges against them. They further … [incorrectly cut off here on Web page, and there’s no other copy extant.]
It is unclear who gave the order to dispatch Ronald to the location and/or who called for medical assistance. According to Patti, Ronald is waiting for a military aircraft to transfer him to Germany for treatment. Ronald is presently in ICU in serious condition.”
Portions from the in-studio interview of Eli Chavez:
AMY GOODMAN: Well, we did call KBR and asked them for a response. We asked them to join us on the program. After all, we are here in Houston, Texas. They responded, and this is a letter from Jennifer Dillinger, and I have to say, although they made clear that we are talking to Kellogg, Brown and Root, the subsidiary of Halliburton, it was interesting that Jennifer Dillinger’s email is from Jennifer Dillinger at Halliburton. But she responded, “As we previously stated, KBR is currently investigating the situation and cannot provide further details at this time.”
ELI CHAVEZ: Well, apparently they are, because they did send three of those people back to the United States without any prosecution or any criminal complaints filed against them.
Who is the Red Neck Mafia?
ELI CHAVEZ: He explained to me at that time that his boss didn’t seem to like Hispanics, or he did not like a memorandum that he had written about the vulnerabilities at the Iraqi Baghdad Airport, and all he wanted to do was protect Americans and protect the people there, and it seemed like it backfired on him, and he became isolated by — it was a political thing, what he described to me, that he became isolated by the other employees and his boss.
AMY GOODMAN: And this group of people that beat him, who are they?
ELI CHAVEZ: What I understand and what Patti advised me, that these people were from Leesville, Louisiana, and Halliburton recruits heavily in that area and these are the people that they employed and sent to Iraq.
Next, Amy Goodman asks Eli Chavez about two e-mails from Ron, the “first, December 27, 2004, the second, January 11, 2005, just a few months ago,” and asked Eli Chavez to read his son’s e-mails:
AMY GOODMAN: And that’s the letter he wrote to you December 27, 2004. Just about two weeks later, January 11, he said, “I’m doing pretty good, I’m involved with this airport more than my job title would suggest. Yesterday, Globe Security threatened to walk off the job if they weren’t paid by 3:00 p.m. They had not been paid in eight weeks. The army was not ready to take over their position, so they finally settled on a handshake deal. The Iraq government was taking the money from the U.S. and not giving it to Global. The money is probably in a Swiss account somewhere. These people are the most corrupt bunch I’ve ever seen. Everyone is on the take.” This is your son Ron, writing to you January in 2005.
ELI CHAVEZ: That’s correct.
AMY GOODMAN: Do you think these emails had anything to do with his getting beaten up later?
ELI CHAVEZ: I don’t know any of the facts about whether he was beat up because of these emails, but I know that he was meeting a lot of resistance on the memorandum that he produced to Halliburton in regards to the security of the airport. He felt that the security of the airport was not secure. He felt that American lives were at stake and that he wanted to save those lives, and especially anybody that’s in that airport, he wanted to make sure everything was fine.
Do any of you know Eli Chavez? His son?
FULL TRANSCRIPT: Democracy Now!. NOTE: Portions of this transcript are missing. I’ve contacted DN to let them know about the errors. I’ve provided all I can. You can also listen or watch the show at Democracy Now!.
Eli Chavez believes that the U.S. government has jurisdiction over these eight men. He plans to pursue criminal charges against all of them.
this is the no.1 recommended diary at dKos and not a single comment here. You gotta start checking here first to feed your Susan jones.
of what the whole country is facing. The sad part is, most of America is in a dream world, or too concerned about the the turnout of a reality tv show.
The real reality of what’s happening there, will become the real thing here, before most of them get their ass outta the easy chair, and walk outside to look around.
Bigotry, Greed, and Lies, are what this country is faced with, and such a growing rate, it’s amazing. All around us everyday, and the sad thing is, the general public is just not awake = Zombies.
I just have to shake my head, for never in my life would I have imagined, that times would come to this.
But how can the country be awake when the news outlets aren’t reporting things like this? And how the heck can Halliburton get away with no criminal charges being filed? Never mind.
And that’s my problem. With so much injustice around us, and nothing being done, I feel like I’m on the losing end of a deadly game of dodgeball, non-stop, 24/7.
I hope the family finds justice, and I admire the man’s father for coming forward with this issue.
it’s my sad duty to report that when I last checked, a couple hours ago, not a single other news outlet — not even local New Mexico TV or newspapers — had picked up this story. Search results only return the Democracy Now interview. It can’t be an issue of credibility because the interview of the father is on video for anyone to see. And, with his background as CIA, DEA, and Congressional candidate, you’d think the press would want to swarm all over this.
I wish I could say “that’s unbelievable, Susan” – but it’s not anymore. I guess this story wasn’t one of the prepackaged “news” items promoted through the White House propaganda machine. Then we’d be sure to see it on every station.
I’m particularly surprised that it wasn’t reported at least in the local area of the victim.
remember the movie with Robin Williams, Good Morning Viet Nam? where all the news had to go through the military sensors…well, Daddy Bush started that lil’ deal then, is it any wonder the son is following daddy’s lead.
Not enough people are looking back in history enough to know where this all started, and I’m telling you, the apple don’t fall far from the tree.
You’ll also find the list of W’s croanies, started with daddy…
Who daddy didn’t/doesn’t like at all.
What really blew me away was hearing that Rummy was considered too “dovish” in the Nixon administration. And it wasn’t an issue of the rest of the administration being off the charts in their hawkishness – apparently Rummy was actually a dove. (Unfortunately, I’m not in a position to site my source – I heard the discussion during an NPR interview about a year ago.)
Rummy was in training then, and actually considered a “pawn” in those days, until he proved his worth, then he became a “knight” ; )
Well checkmate is loooooong overdue.
Lest we forget the Mannelick/Ackermann case, another instance of “curious” circumstance. Lately it seems too many stories of bad people and bad decisions are related to the Baghdad Airport Road.
Time said Ultra Services executives could not be reached for comment.
Gordian knots.
Halliburton (and others) are employing Americans from poor areas, in my opinion, people who would either:
1) not even think about going to Iraq if they had a decent job here in America
2) can’t wait to go over there and be a hero and make money at the same time
Now, I’ve been thinking about those in the first category. Pratap Chatterjee, who’s work I’ve been following, goes into the details surrounding “the lure” and “the reality” of work in Iraq.
Halliburton does not discriminate. They hire from economically desperate areas in the world. Iraqis perform many of the dangerous jobs, and at the lowest wages. Third-world foreigners perform jobs closer to Americans, food prep, latrine duties ect. Americans do the most sensitive jobs, but are paid only enough to get them out of America.
Remember going through the classifieds and finding those courier jobs that promise “as much as $2500 a week.” And then you realize all these people ahead of you, paying for your own gas, there is never enough business to really make that much. I think many in America are sucked in by the big number and find out later “only under optimal circumstances” do these wages materialize.
Meanwhile, Halliburton rakes in the profits. Low wages – high bills – war profiteering.
I can see in Iraq the first group kept in check by the second group. It is important to think about the dynamics involved on the field. I am sure there are many contractors in Iraq who went over there naive, misguided, forced/ persuaded economically, and find themselves surrounded by many who “keep the line” through inferred and blatant pressure. I can picture the rhetoric, jokes made, statements, warnings, hints that make people think twice before saying anything, reinforce their status as outnumbered, a sole voice, better keep quite.
What a tough position to be in. The world of contractors is complex… I don’t envy it.
Trying to recall: Wasn’t one of the hostages a man who was fending off bankruptcy so he went over there to make some money?
A lot of these guys driving trucks over there have families to support, debts to pay off, obligations they are not willing to balk on. Halliburton (and others) are exploiting these people.
and I am aghast.
Thanks for alerting us to this incident and I’m hoping it does reach the US courts and congress.
Fortunately diaries here on The Tribune do not disappear rapidly and we are able to go back and cover what we might have missed.
This is an old, old, practice.
Visit the site of the Custer massacre, and read the names of Custer’s troops. Guess what? They were not the blue-eyed sons of the republic that you see in the movies. No, they were desperate immigrants recruited from the urban poor of New York, Boston, and Philadelphia.
Fast forward to Vietnam, when the white suburban kids got deferments of various sorts, and the ranks were filled instead with black kids, hispanic kids, guys who would never see the inside of a university classroom.
At the bottom of this pool of recruits, we have criminals and psychopaths–the sorts of guys who enjoy the torture, who collected ears from their victims in Vietnam, who form groups like the “Red Neck Mafia”, who find opportunities on the side for drug-dealing, extortion, and murder in a lawless environment. It is not rhetorical flourish to call them criminals and psychopaths: it is plain old description.
These are the people who are doing the dirty work of our empire. It’s an ugly, ugly picture.