For women in Iraq, the terrorist could be the guy working beside you

She launched the Jamie Leigh Foundation to help others in her situation, and says that dozens of women have contacted her about being sexually harassed or abused while working for Halliburton/KBR.

She has been testifying before Congress, pushing for changes that will expand the law to cover all government contractors overseas and require the FBI to set up on-site teams to investigate crimes in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. A bill sponsored by Representative David Price, a Democrat from North Carolina, passed the House overwhelmingly last October, and Barack Obama introduced a companion bill in the Senate.

Meanwhile, women victims can't even get the satisfaction of suing KBR. The company requires all employees to sign an agreement saying that their complaints will go through private arbitration — meaning no judge, no jury, and no public record of the trial.

Jones has sued KBR and Halliburton, claiming the companies created a "boys will be boys" environment that allowed her assault to occur. She's fighting to keep her case in the public courts and out of arbitration. Pamela Jones won an undisclosed settlement through an arbitrator, as did the woman in Oklahoma.

Kineston was also forced into arbitration. It wasn't pleasant. After nearly three years mired in the system, she settled for $35,000 — less than half the salary she would have received if she'd stayed in Iraq. Arbitrator Marshall Bennett ruled in her favor, but with a rather strange compromise: He found that she had been sexually harassed on the job and deserved compensation for her "emotional distress," but that KBR was not wrong to fire her. He argued that she had a pattern of disobeying orders (mainly, parking her truck where it was prohibited). Plus, he said the speeding incident was "dangerously reckless."

Kineston's lawyer, Michael Conway, calls this ruling "bullshit," contending the arbitrator was going soft on a politically powerful company. He's convinced a jury "would've given her the big bucks." But KBR never wanted the public to hear her story.

The company's own investigators conceded that Yanik sexually assaulted Kineston. They noted in a written report that he was permanently banned from Camp Anaconda after the attack. But that's pretty much the only thing the company and Kineston agree on.

KBR spokeswoman Heather Browne said she was not available to be interviewed and would answer only e-mail questions. The company does "not agree with the facts as presented by Ms. Kineston, or the results of the arbitration," she writes. But she refuses to comment on whether the co-worker who stuck his hand down Kineston's pants remains on the payroll. She wouldn't even say whether the incident was ever investigated. "KBR will not comment on specific issues raised in the arbitration or on the employment status of current or former employees," she wrote.

Gerald Warner, the former project manager at Camp Anaconda, did not respond to a written request for an interview.

Kineston's supervisor no longer works for KBR. He has his own construction company in Brady, Texas, but no listed phone number. He did not respond to Scene's letter requesting an interview. But in depositions from the case, he vehemently denied exposing himself to Kineston. "That did not happen, and it is completely bogus," he said.

As for the notion that women are routinely harassed and abused while working for KBR, Browne denies that too. Her office has issued a press release saying that it will "vigorously defend" against allegations made by Jamie Leigh Jones, which "we believe are without merit."

But she refuses to say how many reports of sexual harassment or abuse the company has received.

Back home in Olmsted Falls, Kineston has a tough time swallowing the company's claims. Her tour in Iraq left marks even her kids couldn't ignore. Once, she would have described herself as the kind of boundlessly cheerful lady who "could get to know you in three seconds and . . . befriend you in four." Now she protects that woman with a hard, cynical shell.

She's gained weight, along with permanent bags under her eyes. She tried talking to a psychiatrist; she even tried drinking. It was a long time before she could make love to her husband again.

To make matters worse, she couldn't get another truck-driving job. Employers would hear why she left KBR — those dreaded words "sexual harassment" — and "the door was slammed," she says.

So she got a license to drive school buses. Now she totes little ones to Y programs in Lakewood. She made only $11,000 last year.

But she stopped seeking comfort in the bottle, and plans to testify before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations this week. She wants to make sure women who suffer as she did can press charges against their attackers. "Your tax dollars and my tax dollars pay KBR's salary. That's what makes me the angriest," she says.

Her husband, meanwhile, is back in Iraq, still trying to pay the bills.