The military contractors Halliburton and KBR have withdrawn an appeal asking the Supreme Court to block a lawsuit by a former employee who says she was raped by co-workers in Iraq. Jamie Leigh Jones sued Halliburton and its former subsidiary KBR over claims she was drugged and gang-raped by co-workers in Baghdad. Jones also accused the company of keeping her in a shipping container without food or water for at least twenty-four hours after the alleged crime took place. Halliburton and KBR had long maintained Jones’ contract requires claims to be settled through arbitration, not trial. But the companies now say they’ve withdrawn their appeal to avoid violating a recent congressional measure protecting employees who bring cases similar to Jones’.