Latest Jamie Leigh Jones News

Jill Filipovic posted a letter from Louise Slaughter's office. Zac Petkanas, Slaughter's Director of Internet Communications, is asking bloggers to put pressure on Congress and the White House to investigate the accusations leveled by Jones against KBR.

Dear Friends,

I need your help.

Two years ago, 20 year old Jamie Leigh Jones was drugged, assaulted, and viciously gang raped on the job by her fellow coworkers. Learning of the attack, her employers placed her under armed guard in a shipping container for 24 hours without access to food or water.

Two years later, these horrific acts of unspeakable violence, as well as, the unbelievable reaction by her employers have gone unpunished and justice has not been served.

Why? How this could this happen? Because the 20 year old victim was a government contractor at KBR in the Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq.

Jamie Leigh Jones, an American citizen, while employed by KBR, a former subsidiary of Halliburton was brutally gang raped by fellow KBR employees two years ago while stationed in Iraq. Army doctors performed a medical examination which showed that she had been raped both anally and vaginally. However, the rape kit was turned over to KBR and portions of the rape kit have vanished. Jamie was then ordered by her KBR employers to remain in a shipping container under armed guard for 24 hours without access to food or water until she was rescued after her Member of Congress demanded action by the State Department.

After two years, not only has the Justice Department not brought any criminal charges, but ABC News recently reported that they could not confirm that any federal agency was investigating the case at all.

There are over 20,000 Americans employed by US government contractors in Iraq. These individuals have the same right to treatment, services, and proper investigations when they are the victims of violent crime as those of us here at home. Their offenders, who are paid with American taxpayer dollar, should be held accountable.

Since Jamie has gone public with her story, it is clear that this is not an isolated incident; many women working for US Government contractors face sexual assault and harassment. Yet, the perpetrators of these violent crimes are not held accountable and justice is not served.

The current state of affairs is absolutely unacceptable. Action is required.

This is where I need your help.

I, along with Congressman Ted Poe and Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, am taking the first step to ensuring accountability by sending letters to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice demanding answers in the KBR rape cases and asking them to clearly define the steps they are taking to ensure that what happened to Jamie will ever happen again.

I need your help to get your Member of Congress to sign on to these letters. It’s been two years and it is obvious that the Departments of Defense and State are not taking this issue seriously. We need to show them that the House of Representatives demands action.

Please call your Member of Congress as soon as possible and ask them to contact me, Louise M. Slaughter, to sign on to the letters to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice demanding answers about the KBR rape cases and how they plan to prevent these occurrences in the future.

With your help, we can take the first step to preventing what happened to Jamie from ever happening again.

In solidarity,

Louise M. Slaughter

Member of Congress

Here is contact information for the Florida Congressional delegation.

Miller, Jeff; Florida, 1st
Phone: 866-367-1614
Email link

Boyd, Allen; Florida, 2nd
(202) 225-5235
(202) 225-5615 Fax

Brown, Corrine; Florida, 3rd
(202) 225-0123
Fax: (202) 225-2256

Crenshaw, Ander; Florida, 4th
Main: 202-225-2501

Brown-Waite, Ginny; Florida, 5th
1-866-GWAITE5

Stearns, Cliff; Florida, 6th
(202) 225-5744

Mica, John L.; Florida, 7th
Email link

Keller, Ric; Florida, 8th
(202) 225-2176

Bilirakis, Gus M.; Florida, 9th
Email link

Young, C.W. Bill; Florida, 10th
(202) 225-5961

Castor, Kathy; Florida, 11th
Phone: (813)871-2817

Putnam, Adam H.; Florida, 12th
202-225-1252
866-534-3530

Buchanan, Vern; Florida, 13th
(202) 225-5015
Email link

Mack, Connie; Florida, 14th
Email link

Weldon, Dave; Florida, 15th
202-225-3671

Mahoney, Tim; Florida, 16th
Email link

Meek, Kendrick B.; Florida, 17th
Email link

Ros-Lehtinen, Ileana; Florida, 18th
Telephone: 305-220-3281
Fax: 305-220-3291

Wexler, Robert; Florida, 19th
Email link

Wasserman Schultz, Debbie; Florida, 20th
Contact page

Diaz-Balart, Lincoln; Florida, 21st

Klein, Ron; Florida, 22nd
202-225-3026

Hastings, Alcee L.; Florida, 23rd
Email

Feeney, Tom; Florida, 24th

Diaz-Balart, Mario; Florida, 25th

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Jamie Leigh Jones posted a video thanking her Facebook supporters.

In other news: the Departments of State and Defense blew off Congressman Ted Poe's request for information on the Jones case.