Further letter to the Chairman from Samer
Muscati
RE: ALLEGATIONS
OF ABUSE
BY KBR MANAGERS
IN BRITISH
EMBASSY BAGHDAD
As you know, it has been more than a year and
a half since my team in Baghdad first alerted the British Embassy
about alleged sexual misconduct involving British KBR managers
against locally employed Iraqi KBR staff on Embassy premises.
And it has been more that six months since I brought this matter
to the attention of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Despite significant evidence of abuse, including
three collaborating testimonies taken from local staff by the
Deputy Ambassador, it is clear that the FCO remains unwilling
and resistant either to hold anyone accountable for the abuse
that occurred at the Embassy or to address the fact that KBR's
own investigation into the matter was fundamentally flawed and
failed to follow the requirements of UK legislation. In the Foreign
Secretary's last correspondence with the Committee on June 24,
2008, he states: "I can understand the Committee's interest
in this case. There is however nothing more of any substance that
I can add to the account of FCO investigations into the KBR enquiry...
this is essentially an internal matter for KBR and questions on
the detail of their enquiry should properly be directed to them."
As outlined in my previous letter to the Committee,
the FCO does have both a legal and moral responsibility to all
persons working at the British Embassy, expatriates and Iraqi,
all of whom are risking their lives to further the Embassy mission
in Iraq. By washing his hands of this matter and by disingenuously
framing what has happened as simply an internal affair of KBR,
the Foreign Secretary brings the British Foreign and Commonwealth
Office into disrepute and diminishes the extreme sacrifices made
by all the outstanding British and local officials who work for
it in Baghdad and elsewhere.
Sadly, the FCO has refused to take anything
other than minor steps to address this matter. The three Iraqi
staff members who were fired by KBR (two for speaking out at the
behest of the Deputy Ambassador and one for resisting sexual advances
by KBR managers) remain unemployed. Meanwhile, the KBR perpetrators
are still employed at the British Embassy in Baghdad. And, perhaps
most alarmingly, it appears that the British Embassy is considering
renewing KBR's contract to provide services to the British Embassy.
I know that the Foreign Affairs Committee has
diligently pursued this matter with the FCO and I sincerely appreciate
all your assistance. I implore you and the other members of FAC
to continue pushing this matter and to resist the Foreign Secretary's
attempt to leave it swept under the rug. Only an honest and independent
investigation into both the abuse allegations and the subsequent
cover up will restore the reputation of the British Embassy and
bring a sense of justice to this shameful affair.
Thank you again and I look forward to receiving
your response.
8 December 2008
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