According to an Associated Press Report today, "dozens of troops in Iraq fell sick" at bases using water supplied by a company that was, at the time, a subsidiary of Halliburton.

The report went on to say that the soldiers "experienced skin abscesses, cellulitis, skin infections, diarrhea and other illnesses." The water, described as being "discolored and smelly," was being used for personal hygiene and laundry at three sites run by the Halliburton subsidiary KBR Inc.

The Globe article said that employees of Halliburton had been unable to get the company to inform the people living on the bases of the problem, as revealed by interviews and internal company documents.

In considering the overall extent to which Halliburton and its subsidiaries have allegedly cheated the U.S. government and, essentially, our troops in Iraq, the words of Elizabeth Barrett Browning come to mind - "Let me count the ways."

Over three years ago, Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-CA), counted the ways. The then ranking minority member on the House Committee on Government Reform released a bulletin notifying his constituency that government auditors had issued at least nine reports criticizing Halliburton's Iraq work and that there were multiple criminal investigations ongoing into overcharging and kickbacks involving the company's contracts.

Halliburton's luster was further tarnished by accusations that it has avoided paying its fair share of taxes and also, that it was actually moving out of the country - yes, this country - the U.S.A.

Last Thursday, the Boston Globe reported that KBR, Halliburton's subsidiary until less than a year ago, had avoided paying hundreds of millions of dollars in federal, Medicare and Social Security taxes by hiring workers through purely shell companies that occupied nothing more than post office boxes in the Cayman Islands.