I've been waiting on this panel for quite a while. One thing that really struck me about IVAW in the first place was the "stop the corporate pillaging" line on their website, and so I want to see how other soldiers perceived the state of military contractors in Iraq.

Kelly Dougherty, IVAW Executive Director, deployed to Iraq as a Military Police NCO in March 2003, where she and her unit patrolled supply routes and escorted convoys of KBR and Halliburton supplies. Later in the tour, escort missions declined while protect and rescue missions increased, due to broken down KBR vehicles or vehicle accidents. If a vehicle was out of commission, civilians would attempt to loot the supplies. They were dealing with some of the most poverty-stricken people in the world, so it was understandable. As the crowds grew, however, safety became a major issue.

One minute, Dougherty and her soldiers were being told that the vehicles were important US assets worth using deadly force to protect, and the next minute, they were being told that the vehicles were not recoverable and to leave them and continue mission. Dougherty's unit deserted more and more KBR vehicles during the course of their tour. After two diesel fuel tankers were involved in an accident and disabled, crowds emerged to loot the valuable fuel (fuel lines in Baghdad, where I was, routinely stretched for blocks and blocks). Dougherty's unit were told to protect the tankers and used less-than-lethal means to do so. After the crowds seemed entirely unfazed by this, they were given orders to burn the fuel and destroy the tankers so that the Iraqis, who stand in line for hours in order to get fuel for their homes and cars, could not loot any.

This was Kelly's awakening, where she finally understood the absurdity of the mission. We all had our moment of clarity, (mine came in a parking lot in north Baghdad), and this was hers. What is a life worth? What is a hunk of metal worth? It seemed as if no one knew these answers and Dougherty and her soldiers routinely put their lives on the line for something that was later deemed to not be worth it. They risked their lives to recover an ambulance, only to burn it in front of the Iraqis. Same thing with a truck full of food; allowing the hungry Iraqis to take it wasn't "worth it."

Dougherty found herself aiming a SAW M249 machine gun at a group of Iraqis while her comrades burned produce in front of them. To the untrained eye, it may have seemed like a sadistic joke being played on the Iraqis. It made her think about what she had to be proud of in this country. She was a bodyguard for KBR, not only a war-profiteer, but one that employs third country nationals and treats them like garbage. When it was time to Kelly's unit to return home, they were housed for a short time in KBR-ran tent cities. These tents were covered in mold and have caused respiratory problems for a number of her friends. After risking your life to protect so much of KBR, it must be very difficult to depend on that same company for housing only to be put up in unhealthy tents.