And then they tried to cover it up. The company is denying the allegations even though they come from Halliburton employees. From the WaPo:
Troops and civilians at a U.S. military base in Iraq were exposed to contaminated water last year and employees for the responsible contractor, Halliburton, couldn’t get their company to inform camp residents, according to interviews and internal company documents.
Halliburton, the company formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, disputes the allegations about water problems at Camp Junction City, in Ramadi, even though they were made by its own employees and documented in company e-mails.
Water expert, Ben Carter, even resigned last April when Halliburton officials refused to take any action to inform the camp population. From his incident report:
It is my opinion that the water source is without question contaminated with numerous micro-organisms, including Coliform bacteria. There is little doubt that raw sewage is routinely dumped upstream of intake much less than the required 2 mile distance.
Therefore, it is my conclusion that chlorination of our water tanks while certainly beneficial is not sufficient protection from parasitic exposure.
It’s good to know our troops are being taken care of, especially by the company that’s making our Vice President tens of millions of dollars.