Congress to Probe Iraq Rape Allegations

Dec. 13, 2007 — -- A House panel is looking into charges of sexual assault made by a former Halliburton/KBR employee in Iraq.

At a hearing next Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee will hear testimony relating to allegations made by Jamie Leigh Jones that in 2005, a group of Halliburton/KBR employees in Baghdad drugged her and gang-raped her less than a week into her time in the country.

The hearing comes on the heels of numerous letters from lawmakers demanding answers in the case, which will be featured on ABC News' "20/20" this Friday.

Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, wrote earlier this week to Attorney General Michael Mukasey, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and a State Diplomatic Security agent who allegedly worked Jones' case.

Jones has said Poe's intervention with the State Department more than two years ago led to freeing her from the furnished container in which she says Halliburton/KBR held her following her alleged rape.

Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., also wrote to Mukasey, to ask for an investigation into Jones' claims.

And House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., also wrote a letter to Mukasey, which was co-signed by Poe.