WASHINGTON - Dozens of US troops in Iraq fell sick at bases using "unmonitored and potentially unsafe" water supplied by the military and a contractor once owned by Vice President Dick Cheney's former company, the Pentagon's internal watchdog says.
A report obtained by the Associated Press said soldiers experienced skin abscesses, cellulitis, skin infections, diarrhea, and other illnesses after using discolored, smelly water for personal hygiene and laundry at five US military sites in Iraq.
The Defense Department's inspector general's report, which could be released as early as today, found water quality problems between March 2004 and February 2006 at three sites run by contractor KBR Inc., and between January 2004 and December 2006 at two military-operated locations.
It was impossible to link the dirty water definitively to all the illnesses, according to the report.
The report said KBR took corrective steps and was providing adequate water quality by November 2006.
But military units at the two sites they controlled were still failing to perform required quality control tests and maintain appropriate records by that time.
The military has "taken the appropriate measures to correct the problem and ensure we provide the appropriate oversight of the system," said Navy Captain James Graybeal of the US Central Command, which oversees US troops in the Middle East.
