Senators seek review of wiring at Iraq bases

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Five Democratic senators called on Friday for an independent review of electrical work at U.S. bases in Iraq where more than a dozen soldiers have been electrocuted and others injured.

In a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, the senators objected to KBR Inc, the Pentagon's largest private contractor in Iraq, reviewing its own performance. The Houston company previously has faced accusations of overbilling, providing unsafe water to soldiers and other lapses.

The lawmakers said inspections should be conducted independently by someone "both well-qualified and objective."

A Pentagon spokesman said KBR was inspecting its own work but that the Army Corps of Engineers and other military agencies were also conducting reviews.

Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, who chaired a hearing last week on electrocution of troops in Iraq, urged the Pentagon to suspend KBR's contract in Iraq and replace the company with "people who know what they are doing."

The action followed a report in The New York Times on Friday that U.S. soldiers face death and danger from shoddy electrical work at their bases in Iraq, raising fresh questions about the Bush administration's heavy reliance on contractors.

KBR spokeswoman Heather Browne said the company had found no link between its work and the electrocutions.

The Times said the Pentagon knew about the problems but did little to address them until Ryan Maseth, a member of the Green Berets, was electrocuted in January while taking a shower.

The Army says 13 soldiers have been electrocuted in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003. But the newspaper reported that internal documents show many injuries from shocks and losses from electrical fires.