Disgusting, and another example of what you get when you privatize things that should be public (defense-related services in this case) (via pandagon, via Raw Story):
The Army’s field manual states that in the desert, the human body can lose as much as four gallons of water a day, yet soldiers were only receiving two to three liters of water per day from commanders. [...]US soldiers are now being forced to steal water in Iraq. With supplies tight, and the number of trucks carrying potable water even tighter, troops have resorted to stealing water from civilian contractors. Many have also reportedly suffered from dysentery because they were forced to drink untreated water from Iraqi wells. [...]
It gets worse. Soldiers say the situation has become so dire they were forced to raid the United States’ own airbase in Baghdad for bottled water. They found the water stored in pallets held by civilian contractors, who were supposed to be distributing it.
“It really hit me the day I was with my commander and we’re stealing water,” Army Staff Sgt. Dustin Robey told the station, describing his mission to collect water at the Baghdad International Airport. A second soldier said he’d also stolen water from civilian contractors: “We’d just run out and start grabbing cases of water and start throwing them in the gunner’s hatch,” Private Bryan Hannah quipped.
Much of the water-distribution has been contracted to mercenary outfit Kellogg Brown and Root, a subsidiary/spin-off of Cheney's old outfit, Halliburton.
Houston's KHOU has the story here.
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