Kilmeade on NY Times report of American deaths in Iraq due to faulty wiring: "They had to find the negative story in Iraq?"
SUMMARY: On Fox & Friends First, after Gretchen Carlson reported that "The New York Times says shoddy electrical wiring has killed 13 Americans and injured many more," Brian Kilmeade stated: "They had to find the negative story in Iraq?" When Carlson again discussed the Times story on Fox & Friends, Kilmeade stated: "So, this is America bad?"
On the July 18 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends First, co-host Gretchen Carlson reported: "Where U.S. troops sleep, eat, and relax in Iraq may be as lethal as a combat zone. The New York Times says shoddy electrical wiring has killed 13 Americans and injured many more." Co-host Brian Kilmeade said: "They had to find the negative story in Iraq?" After Carlson reported that "[t]he Pentagon is investigating" the allegations, she said: "I love having my gallery to the left when I read the headlines."
When Carlson again discussed the Times story on Fox & Friends, Kilmeade said: "So, this is America bad?" Carlson did not respond, moving immediately to the next story.
In its July 18 article, the Times reported that "[s]hoddy electrical work by private contractors on United States military bases in Iraq is widespread and dangerous, causing more deaths and injuries from fires and shocks than the Pentagon has acknowledged, according to internal Army documents. ... The Army report said KBR, the Houston-based company that is responsible for providing basic services for American troops in Iraq, including housing, did its own study and found a 'systemic problem' with electrical work." According to the article:
Since the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, tens of thousands of American troops have been housed in Iraqi buildings that date from the Saddam Hussein era. KBR and other contractors have been paid millions of dollars to repair and upgrade the buildings, including their electrical systems. KBR officials say they handle the maintenance for 4,000 structures and an additional 35,000 containers used as housing in the war zone.
The reports of shoddy electrical work have raised new questions about the Bush administration's heavy reliance on contractors in Iraq, particularly because they come after other high-profile disputes involving KBR. They include accusations of overbilling, providing unsafe water to soldiers and failing to protect female employees who were sexually assaulted.
Officials say the administration contracted out so much work in Iraq that companies like KBR were simply overwhelmed by the scale of the operations. Some of the electrical work, for example, was turned over to subcontractors, some of which hired unskilled Iraqis who were paid only a few dollars a day.
Government officials responsible for contract oversight, meanwhile, were also unable to keep up, so that unsafe electrical work was not challenged by government auditors."
From the July 18 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends First:
CARLSON: Where U.S. troops sleep, eat, and relax in Iraq may be as lethal as a combat zone. The New York Times says shoddy electrical wiring has killed 13 Americans and injured many more.
KILMEADE: They had to find the negative story in Iraq?
CARLSON: An electrical fire in June chased Marines out of a base there. A former employee of KBR, the Houston-based contractor, says supervisors frequently didn't know --
KILMEADE: Right.
CARLSON: -- what their subcontractors were doing. The company denies it. The Pentagon is investigating. I love having --
KILMEADE: Right.
CARLSON: -- my gallery to the left when I read the headlines.
KILMEADE: Well, listen to this, Gretch. Can I just say one thing?
CARLSON: What?
KILMEADE: Violence is down 85 percent in that country. OK, now back to the action.
CARLSON: OK. Steve, could you provide commentary on the next story please?
DOOCY: Can somebody please get me a sock?
CARLSON: Your fist will work.
From the July 18 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:
CARLSON: When the troops come off of the battle line in Iraq, they're not necessarily finding things safer. The New York Times says sloppy electrical work at U.S. bases in Iraq has killed 13 Americans and injured many more. A former employer of the contractor for the work, Houston-based KBR, says supervisors were often hired without knowing much about wiring. The Pentagon says it's looking into it and the contractor denies the story.
KILMEADE: So, this is America bad?
Support the troops. Well, unless they've been killed by contractors.
I wonder if Doocy would consider this not worth reporting if it had happened to one of his friends or family members. Oh, who am I kidding? A rich, elitist Republican talking points parroting idiot like Doocy wouldn't be caught anywhere near an actual soldier, sailor, airman, or marine.
If only Doocy was the reporter over there;
(headline) Plenty of Electricity in New Cradle of Democracy !!!!!
Fox Middle East Headline News
I was with you until you got to the part about the light in the refrigerator going on when the door is opened.
That implies that the light goes out when you close the door. I've never seen any empirical proof that the light goes out. If you have the proof please provide a link.
I'm getting pretty darned tired of the lefts' false claims about science.
http://www.brokennewz.com/displaystory.asp_Q_storyid_E_1465refriglight
I stand vindicated.
KILMEADE: So, this is America bad?
How did he get there? More like KBR/Haliburton/privatization of war fighting is bad
Hulk say America not bad. Hulk getting angry at liberals saying America bad. Hulk smash things!
This Burt & Ernie clown show is by far the most pathetic thing on cable news. It pains me to think that even one person watches this show from beginning to end, much less that anyone thinks they are getting news from them.
Oh - and way to support the troops
USA! USA! USA!
So, this is America bad?
Doocy, syntax this incoherent is? It's like Frankenstein's monster meets Yoda, or am I just not reading it properly?
USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!USA!!
Fireworks?
Damn you're good Col, really good. ;-)
KILMEADE: So, this is America bad?
NO... that's not what the story was about.
The story was about Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR), out of Houston Texas. They're the ones who built and maintain the buildings and electrical sytstems, that have killed and injured so many U.S. Troops in those buildings... That's what the story was about, KBR.
This is KBR bad... which is why Fox spun it into being about America, and away from being about KBR.
Those contractors also allow the Prez to claim that our military was capable of doing this job. Without the mercenaries and the contractors, we'd have been up the creek without a paddle in the first year.
The US military has done a great job. They needed the additional feet on the ground, and it's been little noticed in the media how large a part of the effort they've been, and how little they've been supervised, disciplined and criticized and how much they've been paid!
"They had to find the negative story?"
Well, genius, some of us would like to be informed that our soldiers are dying from stuff like this. I never even considered them dying from shoddy electricians. Stupid New York Times: you guys have totally blown my perception of all the great things America is doing!
America bad? No, Fox & Friends terrible.
If you read the Times article about how dangerous and hazardous are the electrical systems in the buildings wired by Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR) out of Houston Texas, then you probably read that there are Soldiers who report that in those death-trap KBR built and maintained buildings, getting shocked is almost a daily occurrence: I took that to mean that over the course of a day, you were likely to get ZAPPED at least once, plugging in or unplugging an electrical device, or flipping a lightswitch, or pushing a button or something, or touching any light fixture for any reason... at least once a day: ZAP!
You know, in all seriousness (but with a touch of resigned humor), to live under conditions like that, where you're likely to recieve almost on a daily basis, a random and unpredicted electrical shock ZAP... you know, that can frazzle your nerves in addition to the hair on your body in the place you got ZAPPED... that can throw you into a kind of a rage, where you start screaming loudly about how "I'm Sick And Freaking Tired Of The Fuched-Up Wiring In This Fuched-Up Building!" I mean really raging and angry you can get under prolonged circumstances like that (where you will get the occasional ZAP, but you can never be sure just where or when)... and these guys, they have access to some serious stuff, some of it explosive BOOM: it wouldn't surprise me to someday hear of a particular Soldier who had just been ZAPPED one time too many, flip out and start yelling at everybody to "Get the F out of the building NOW!" ...and then maybe the guy fixes the job just right, and sets a few charges here and there and blows the freaking KBR built thing up BOOM!
"Take that you bunch of morons at KBR who wired this stupid building so bad, BOOM!"
"That's the last freaking time that KBR is going to ZAP me!"
BOOM!
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health reports that an average of 411 deaths occur every year on job sites because of hazardous electrical contact with thousands more victims of serious electrical shocks, burns and fires. Sadly, most of these accidents could have been prevented with proper hazard detection and prevention procedures. The threat of electrocution is present in situations involving direct contact by professionals such as electricians and engineers with powerful electric objects including power lines. Other threats are found with indirect contact by office employees, restaurant workers and homeowners.
The stats above are for just 1 year in the safest country in the world. Throw in the difficulties of war and terrible infrastructure to begin with, is it really surprising that accidents like this occur? Its sad, and I morne the loss of any human life, but in this case, making an issue out 13 accidental deaths since 2003 from electric shock in a war zone seems to be reaching for the "bad" story.
"Violence is down 85%"? Could be. I think I heard a couple of years back that the fighting drops off in the summer because it's too farkin' hot. But whatever the reason or size of the drop I wonder if it's down to pre-invasion levels? I suspect not.
"KILMEADE: So, this is America bad?"
Uh, no... 13 Americans die anyplace from faulty wireing = news story. Not reporting it would be a cover up.
Yeah d**khead.....er Brian Kilmeade
"They had to find the negative story in Iraq?"
Negative?? Negative? You jerk! Our sons and daughters are dying in a war that never should have been fought and you think that the reporting of those soldiers deaths is the only negative thing to write about?
Your right about one thing...... the reporting of soldiers deaths is not the only negative thing that the NYT could have wtote about.....
It could have written about how illegal, immoral, and inhuman it was to have gone into Iraq in the first place and to have placed these young people in harms way so that oil companies can have their blood money!
Fox Noise IS NOT true MEDIA!! It is a three ring circus with the worst clowns I have ever seen!
If Faux News has such confidence in no-bid contractors, they should send reporters over there and tape them in the showers and other places where fatalities have occurred. I'd start with Chief Cheerleader Brit Hume. Put up or shut up, hypocrite!
Worst fault: confusing America Bad with Current Administration Bad. So simple a concept, yet beyond the wingers' grasp.
1.Teenager from poor neighborhood coerced into signing up for military duty.
2.Sent immediately to Iraq.
3.Electrocuted due to shoddy wiring care of penny pinching KBR scumbags.
4.Sent home to Walter Reed.
5.Stop gapped,sent back to Iraq.
6.Leg shattered by bullet.
7.Sent home to Walter Reed.
8.Discharged.
9.Awaiting compensation while living under bridge.
10.Too depressed to continue,leaps in front of train.
A tip from reader W.T. contributed to this item. Thanks, and keep them coming!
I did exactly this about three weeks ago about Glen Beck..... I sent in a tip to you guys over there at MMfA about how Glen Beck way back last year asked of Keith Ellison (D - MN), the senator and a muslim on whether or not he was working with our enemies and on the day I sent the tip Glen Beck told Bobby Jindal (R - LA), the governor and also a muslim that his being a muslim was not in question nor did it matter...... painfully obvious double standard at play here!!!!!
And yet, I never saw a follow up on it?? I check MMfA everyday..... I may have missed it.... if so.... can you guys provide a link to it? I know you guys check these threads......
I don't know Kilmeade, but I didn't really get this story until I saw the video and saw the anger and weirdness with which Kilmeade replied. It's interesting that everyone around him seemed uncomfortable with his tone as well.
Guy's a total jerk.