Concern about bad wiring known, panel says

WASHINGTON, July 31 (UPI) -- Concerns about faulty wiring in Iraq were aired months before a solder was electrocuted in a shower, documents released by a U.S. congressional panel indicate.

U.S. Army Sgt. Justin Hummer said he completed the paperwork to fix the problem in 2007, nearly a year before Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth was electrocuted in the same quarters in 2008, CNN reported Thursday.

During a U.S. House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing Wednesday, Hummer said he completed a work order.

Army records indicate electricians from contractor Kellogg, Brown and Root found "several safety issues concerning the improper grounding of electrical devices" in February 2007 and a report after Maseth's death found "nearly all of the same problems," the committee's investigators said.

The U.S. Defense Department's inspector general's office concluded KBR and the Pentagon unit overseeing contractors didn't know of the problem, committee Chairman Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said during the hearing. The panel is investigating a series of electrical accidents Waxman said may have resulted 19 U.S. troops and contractors dying.

During the hearing, KBR's Baghdad engineering and construction manager Tom Bruni blamed the Army for the deaths, a charge challenged by some committee members.