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A congressional committee is looking into allegations of a woman raped in Iraq while she was working for a Houston-based company.
Former Conroe resident Jamie Leigh Jones went before the House committee on crime, terrorism and homeland security to tell her story of alleged gang rape and injustice while working as a contract worker in Iraq.
“I took two sips from the drink and don’t remember anything after that. The next morning, I was extremely sore between my legs and in my chest. I was groggy and confused,” Jones said.
She told the House panel that in 2005, she was drugged and sexually assaulted by Halliburton and KBR co-workers while at Camp Hope in Baghdad. Jones filed a federal lawsuit against her attackers, the company and the U.S. government.
More than two years after the attack, she said no one has been prosecuted in her case. “I was later interviewed by two Halliburton supervisors and it was made clear to me that I had essentially two choices — one, ‘Stay and get over it,’ or two, ‘Go home with no guarantee of a job either in Iraq or Houston,'” Jones said.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 {PRNewswire-USNewswire) — The Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape (PCAR) commends the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr., (D-MI) and the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security Chairman Bobby Scott (D-VA) for their leadership in calling an investigative hearing into the mishandling of sexual assault crimes on U.S. citizens working for government contractors overseas.
The committee heard testimony from Ms. Jamie Leigh Jones, a former employee of Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR), a former subsidiary of the Halliburton Corporation. Ms. Jones provided details of her attack and said she was imprisoned by her employer after she reported the crime. Congressman Ted Poe (R-TX) testified on how he was able to convince the State Department to go into Baghdad and rescue Ms. Jones after hearing about her attack from her father. Congressman Poe testified that despite numerous inquiries from his office, the Justice Department has not provided any answers to what is happening with Ms. Jones case. Although the Justice Department was invited to testify at the hearing, they declined to attend.
U.S. Rep. Ted Poe, R-Houston, and Jamie Leigh Jones said they have been unable to find out whether her assault was investigated or anyone held accountable. Jones said photos, doctors’ notes and physical evidence were taken when she went to the Army hospital the day after the rape.
The doctors gave the evidence to KBR security, she said. A State Department official told Jones in May the photos and notes are missing from the rape kit.
Several members of Congress have criticized the Justice, State and Defense departments for the way the case was handled.
The Justice Department was a no-show at the hearing, which drew heavy criticism from Rep. John Conyers Jr., chairman of the full House Judiciary Committee. “It is unacceptable for our own Department of Justice to refuse to testify today,” Conyers said.
Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr said the department gave Congress a “detailed explanation of its authority to investigate and prosecute criminal misconduct involving U.S. persons who are contract employees in Iraq.”
He said Justice officials decided not to testify so it would not compromise the ongoing investigation.
Jones and others are suing the company, but must contend with an agreement they signed at hiring requiring them to settle disputes through private arbitration.
“What is to stop these companies from victimizing women in the future?” Jones said. “The U.S. government has to provide people with their day in court when they have been raped and assaulted by other American citizens, otherwise we are not only deprived of our justice in the criminal courts but in the civil courts as well. The laws have left us no where to turn.”
Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., has sponsored a bill that would make such agreements invalid in certain cases.
A National Employment Lawyers Association analysis found that an arbitrator ruled in favor of Halliburton 82 percent of the time between Jan. 1, 2003, and March 31, 2007.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
