As we enter Year 4 in Iraq, it’s getting tougher to track the extent of waste, fraud and war profiteering perpetrated every day. This is the first in a series of entries on The Notion that will attempt to do just that–by featuring revelations made by the media, whistleblowers, the inspector general, and other activists as they emerge. To read my previous posts on the need for an Independent War Profiteering Commission, click here and here.

Entry 1: Root’s Dirty Water

Dick Cheney’s favorite Halliburton subsidiary, Kellogg Brown & Root, is back in the news, and its already infamous reputation is sinking to even lower, Enron-like depths. An internal company memo recently obtained by the Associated Press reveals that it provided American soldiers in Iraq with tainted water from the Euphrates.

Larry Margasak of the Associated Press reports that Halliburton water expert, Wil Granger, wrote that KBR’s failure to use water purification equipment "…should be considered a ‘near miss’ as the consequences of these actions could have been very severe resulting in mass sickness or death." Granger further cited that throughout Iraq "there is no formalized training for anyone at any level in concerns to water operations," and inadequate or absent records on water quality audits.

KBR’s water expert at the base, Ben Carter, initially discovered the contaminated water at Camp Ar Ramandi. Carter said he resigned when his supervisors told him to stop e-mailing company officials off-base and that he was not to inform the military. It was only through the threat of litigation that the event was reported to senior management and Granger investigated.

But last Thursday–on the same day that the Pentagon announced that its internal watchdog will investigate the matter–Halliburton released a second report attempting to cast doubt on Granger’s assertions. The new Halliburton report offered such stellar alternative explanations as larvae found in a commode could have actually been an "optical illusion caused by a leak in the toilet fixture."

Indeed. The same optical illusion that caused Harry Whittington to look like a pheasant.

Good to see that the Pentagon is investigating, but how much faith can the American people have in its ability to reach an independent conclusion? Or even if it does, that Halliburton’s patron saint won’t intervene on the company’s behalf? Another case underlining the need for an independent, bipartisan commission on war profiteering if we are to ever learn the truth about any of this waste, fraud and corruption.