[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5569]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         BROKEN JUSTICE IN IRAQ

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, the justice system has broken down for Jamie 
Leigh Jones and other female contractors sexually assaulted in Iraq by 
their coworkers.
  In June 2005, nearly 3 years ago, Jamie Leigh Jones was drugged and 
gang raped by her KBR coworkers in Iraq. After 2\1/2\ years and no real 
answers from our own government agencies, Jamie decided to go public in 
hopes of finding the answers and getting justice. She testified before 
the House Judiciary Committee in December of last year. And despite 
Jamie's experiences and the national attention that this issue 
garnered, nothing changed in Iraq. There continues to be a hostile 
living and working environment for female contractors that are 
Americans working overseas for American employers.
  A ``boys will be boys'' atmosphere seems to appear where assaults 
occur, and then they're covered up. The Department of Justice says it 
has several active investigations, but it has not prosecuted any 
contractor for a sexual assault since the invasion of Iraq 5 years ago.
  The Justice Department has over 200 employees in Baghdad. The 
question is, what are they doing? Why aren't they prosecuting crimes by 
Americans against Americans? There are 180,000 civilian workers in 
Iraq; not all of those people are good folks, some of them have 
committed crimes, but yet not one of them has been prosecuted for an 
assault that has occurred. These assailants remain free and 
unaccountable while the victims continue to suffer.
  And yet there is more. This week we learned of another victim. She 
identified herself this morning at the Senate Committee on Foreign 
Relations as Dawn Lemon. Dawn Lemon's story is brutal. She went to Iraq 
as a KBR contractor. She was stationed in the hostile red zone as a 
paramedic. She awoke in January of 2008, just 3 months ago, to the 
sound of incoming rocket attacks. But when she woke up, she was naked 
in a chair, covered in blood and feces. She had feces in her mouth. She 
found a U.S. soldier lying naked in the bed next to her with his 
clothes and his gun on the floor. All she could remember was screaming 
at this unknown soldier that was laying on top of her. She sought help 
from a KBR colleague, thinking that he would save her, but he didn't. 
As a soldier anally raped her, her KBR colleague forced her to perform 
oral sex on him. And when Dawn told her KBR supervisor about the 
incident, she was told to be quiet. When she reported the incident to 
the camp's military liaison, she was told again not to say anything.
  In order to leave Iraq, Dawn had to cooperate with KBR. She had to 
sign documents agreeing not to discuss the rape in public. She decided 
to send those documents via e-mail to an attorney in the United States, 
but 20 minutes after she sent those documents Army investigators showed 
up and confiscated her computer. They were obviously tracking her e-
mail communications.
  Before she left Iraq on leave, she was assigned to sleep guarded by 
two Army Criminal Investigative Division officials to keep her safe. 
Her alleged assailants, however, were in the same camp, but they roamed 
freely, doing what they wished.
  As the Federal Government agencies refuse to take responsibility and 
implement change and as these agencies have continued to pass the buck 
back and forth, still, nothing has occurred in these cases. There are 
no jurisdictional problems. The law exists to prosecute these 
individuals in Iraq, and these laws have been applicable for some time. 
There is nothing but excuses from our government agencies for failure 
to prosecute these criminals.
  We knew in December that Jamie Leigh Jones was not alone. Three years 
later, this is still occurring. Dawn Lemon now joins a growing number 
of female contractors who have been sexually assaulted in Iraq by their 
coworkers.
  Justice has failed these women. Is our government hiding these 
crimes? Why don't companies like KBR cooperate rather than stonewall 
these investigations?
  Mr. Speaker, we will find the answers to these questions, I assure 
you. Victims like Jamie Leigh Jones and Dawn are to be admired for 
coming forward. Our duty is to protect them and their rights. We can do 
no less because, Mr. Speaker, justice is the one thing we should always 
find, even in Iraq.
  And that's just the way it is.

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