Recently, American soldiers have been killed by electrocution, the most recent was a soldier in a shower.

U.S. soldiers face death and danger from shoddy electrical work at their bases in Iraq, raising further questions about a heavy reliance on private contractors, the New York Times reported on Friday.

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

The Army says 13 soldiers have been electrocuted in Iraq since the invasion in March 2003 but the Times reported that internal documents show many injuries from shocks and losses from electrical fires.

As recently as June, an electrical fire destroyed 10 buildings at a base in Falluja, forcing Marines to ask for donations to replace their belongings, the paper said.

Congress and the Pentagon have started to investigate, it said, with Army officials this month ordering inspections of all buildings in Iraq maintained by KBR, a Houston company that provides basic services to U.S. troops in Iraq.

Officials noted the U.S. government contracted out so much work in Iraq that companies like KBR were overwhelmed and some tasks were given to subcontractors who hired unskilled Iraqis paid a few dollars a day, the Times said.

Government officials in charge of contract oversight were also unable to keep up, allowing unsafe electrical work to go unchallenged, it said.

It is bad enough that there are people killing Americans with guns and bombs, is it really necessary for the troops to be threatened by American companies?