U.S. contractors in Iraq accused of rape

On Wednesday December 19th a Judiciary Committee Hearing in Washington heard the testimony of a young married woman named Jamie Leigh Jones who claims that while she was in the employ of a defense contracting company in Iraq named K.B.R. ( Kellogg, Brown, and Root) that she was drugged and gang raped by some male fellow employees of the company after only having been in Iraq 4 days in the summer of 2005.
Jamie Leigh Jones, who was only 21 years old at the time, claims that shortly after arriving to work for K.B.R. in Iraq she was constantly and repeatedly subjected to cat calls and raunchy comments from her fellow employees. On the night of July 29th she was invited to a party by some other co workers. Once there she was offered a drink. She remembers that at this point she had passed out and the next thing she recalls is that she wakes up in a bed in a room with a man she does not know and that she had multiple bruises and that she was bleeding from between her legs. She testified that she asked the man in the room with her if he had sex with her to which the man replied yes. In a panic she finds her way to an army medical doctor on the base who confirms to her that she has in fact been raped. Evidence of the rape was then collected in what is known as a rape kit which is used to collect and preserve evidence in such instances. After reporting the incident to her superiors at K.B.R. she says that she was told by them to basically get over it and get back to work or you will lose your job. After she did not return to work she says she was locked in a shipping container with two armed guards outside for one day until she was sent back home to the States.
Once she gets back home to America she attempted to pursue criminal and civil action against the men and has discovered that she cannot. Apparently there was a stipulation in her employment agreement with K.B.R. which prevents her from bringing charges against them or any of its employees. She says that she did not know there was any kind of clause in her employment agreement and that when she signed it she was just excited about getting the job and she signed the agreement without reading it fully. It is over two years later and no charges have been brought against anyone involved.
Jamie Leigh Jones still continues to suffer some effects from the sexual assault. She has had to have reconstructive surgery due to the brutality of the attack and she is in counseling. Despite all this she has also managed to begin a foundation. It is called the Jamie Leigh Foundation and it provides counseling for victims of similiar kinds of assaults.