BERRIEN
COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY
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WAR PROFITEERING AND CORRUPTION (Click on blue text to link to the source)
NEW AUDIT REVEALS LONG-LASTING PROBLEMS WITH RECONSTRUCTION: In a Jan. 31 report, Stuart Bowen, the U.S. special inspector general for Iraqi reconstruction, details how "millions of dollars in US rebuilding funds have been wasted in Iraq" and "casts doubt on Iraq's ability to maintain the reconstruction projects that have been completed." Among the wide-ranging findings, "the audit says that corruption continues to plague Iraq and infrastructure security remains vulnerable." Bowen's findings show "major flaws" with how facilities have been built that all have "common roots: The government's failure to monitor how contractors were spending taxpayer money." Specifically, the report details how the State Department "paid $43.8 million to contractor DynCorp International for the residential camp for police training personnel...that has stood empty for months. About $4.2 million of the money was improperly spent on 20 VIP trailers and an Olympic-size pool." U.S. officials spent another $36.4 million on weapons and body armor that "can't be accounted for." "Too often, the administration has failed to learn from its mistakes in Iraq, wasting billions in taxpayer dollars," Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) said recently. "We should not make the same mistake ourselves." $1.2 trillion: With the money going to the Iraq war, the United States could set up a universal health care system, provide universal preschool, carry out the recommendations of the 9/11 commission, double cancer research funding, increase funding to Gulf Coast reconstruction, and enact a "global immunization campaign to save millions of children's lives." MILITARY -- REPORT SAYS PRIVATE DEFENSE CONTRACTORS INCREASE RISK OF INJURY TO U.S. MILITARY: "Private military contractors are earning billions of dollars in Iraq -- much of it from U.S. taxpayers," CNN reported. "Lucrative U.S. government contracts go to firms called on to provide security for projects and personnel -- jobs that in previous conflicts have been done by the military." Many of these contracts are secret, and there is a debate "about how far these private contractors should go, what authority they have and who should police them," but there are "no hard and fast answers." Yesterday, the Government Accountability Office released a report that found "coordination between the U.S. military and private security providers still needs improvement." The report's findings: "First, private security providers continue to enter the battle space without coordinating with the U.S. military, putting both the military and security providers at a greater risk for injury. Second, U.S. military units are not trained, prior to deployment, on the operating procedures of private security providers in Iraq." Additionally, "private security providers and DOD have difficulty completing comprehensive criminal background screenings"
for these contractors, and no standards "exist for
establishing private security provider and employee qualifications." IRAQ -- $1 BILLION STOLEN FROM IRAQ'S DEFENSE MINISTRY: The Iraq Defense Ministry is the victim of one of the largest thefts in history. One billion dollars meant to buy arms from Pakistan and Poland was siphoned off, resulting in overpayment for inferior equipment such as "armored cars... so poorly made that even a bullet from an elderly AK-47 machine-gun could penetrate their armor." The deals that resulted in lost money and inferior equipment were quick, awarded without bidding, paid up front, and signed with a Baghdad-based company, instead of directly with a foreign supplier. Officials are unclear where the money has gone, but have put out an arrest warrant for Ziyad Cattan, the defense ministry's procurement chief at the time, whose appointment was approved by Paul Bremer, then US viceroy in Iraq. Iraqi officials say that, "[t]he carefully planned theft has so weakened the army that it cannot hold Baghdad against insurgent attack without American military support...making it difficult for the US to withdraw its 135,000- strong army from Iraq."
HALIBURTON, DAN QUAYLE, PRIVATIZATION & WALTER REED HOSPITAL: On March 2, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee headed by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) released an internal memo from Sept. 2006 describing how the Army's decision to privatize support services at Walter Reed was causing an exodus of "highly skilled and experienced personnel," placing the entire hospital and its patient care services "at risk of mission failure." In Jan. 2006, against the wishes of numerous progressive members of Congress, Walter Reed finalized a five-year, $120-million "cost-plus" contract to IAP Worldwide Services for hospital support services, including facilities management. IAP is led by Al Neffgen, a former senior Halliburton official who testified in 2004 "in defense of Halliburton's exorbitant charges for fuel delivery and troop support in Iraq," and former Vice President Dan Quayle serves on the board. IAP has "grown exponentially in recent years in part because of contracts in Afghanistan and Iraq," in 2005, it received a contract to deliver desperately-needed ice to victims of Hurricane Katrina, but "millions of pounds of ice were sent to storage, some as far away as Maine." As Waxman writes, "It would be reprehensible if the deplorable conditions were caused or aggravated by an ideological commitment to privatize government services regardless of the costs to taxpayers and the consequences for wounded soldiers."
PRIVATE CONTRACTORS HAVE BECOME A 'VIRTUAL FOURTH BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT': "Without a public debate or formal policy decision, contractors have become a virtual fourth branch of government," the New York Times reported. "On the rise for decades, spending on federal contracts has soared during the Bu$h administration, to about $400 billion last year from $207 billion in 2000, fueled by the war in Iraq, domestic security and Hurricane Katrina, but also by a philosophy that encourages outsourcing almost everything government does." Competition for contracts has "sharply eroded" since 2001, and "the number of government workers overseeing contracts has remained level as spending has shot up," leading to stark examples of mismanagement. The Washington Post revealed that Lurita Alexis Doan, the chief of the U.S. General Services Administration, "attempted to give a no-bid contract to a company founded and operated by a longtime friend, sidestepping federal laws and regulations." The latest report by Stuart Bowen, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, detailed "government's failure to monitor how contractors were spending taxpayer money." House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) will begin hearings focused on contracts in Iraq and at the Department of Homeland Security. Waxman introduced the "Clean Contracting Act" last year with the goals of promoting competition, increasing oversight, and deterring corruption.
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) has introduced legislation to raise the "veil of secrecy" on the work of military contractors. The bill requires several departments to report the number of contractors and subcontractors employed in Iraq and Afghanistan, a description of their work, and the total costs of contracts there.
"After 10 years and $1.7 billion, this is what the Marines Corps got for its investment in a new amphibious vehicle: A craft that breaks down about an average of once every 4 1/2 hours, leaks and sometimes veers off course," the Washington Post reported, "And for that, the contractor, General Dynamics of Falls Church, received $80 million
RUMSFELD REMAINS DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 'CONSULTANT,' OPENS 'TRANSITION OFFICE' NEAR PENTAGON: Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld "has left the Pentagon, but not the Defense Department." The Washington Times reported that on Jan. 4, Rumsfeld "opened a government-provided transition office in Arlington and has seven Pentagon-paid staffers working for him." Rumsfeld is listed as a “nonpaid consultant,” a status he needs "in order to review secret and top-secret documents, the official said." The Times reports that Rumsfeld has brought with him close adviser Stephen Cambone, a fierce advocate of the Iraq war and the chief planner of questionable interrogation tactics at military and CIA detention sites around the world. Though former secretaries "are entitled to a transition office to sort papers," Rumsfeld's transition office has raised eyebrows inside the Pentagon. "Some question the size of the staff, which includes two military officers and two enlisted men. They also ask why the sorting could not have been done from the time Mr. Rumsfeld resigned Nov. 8 to when he left the building Dec. 18." Rumsfeld’s predecessors, William Cohen and William Perry, both returned to private life immediately after leaving the Defense Department. Cohen had “two military personnel…sort through his papers for about six weeks,” while Perry had his papers mailed via compact disk to Stanford University.
PROFITEERING - CHENEY CURSES OUT HALLIBURTON CRITIC: During a routine Senate photo session June 24, Cheney cursed out Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) because the Democrat had the nerve to push legislation restricting war profiteering by Halliburton. Despite proof that his office has been involved in Halliburton's federal contract negotiations, Cheney has claimed no connection to the company. Yet, apparently, he took criticism of Halliburton personally, "telling Leahy to 'f--- off' or 'go f--- yourself,'" according to aides who witnessed the exchange. The tactics stand in sharp contrast to Cheney's promises as a candidate in 2000. On 7/25/00, Cheney said he wanted "to change the tone in Washington, to restore a spirit of civility and respect and cooperation." On 8/4/00, he said he was "absolutely determined [to] restore a tone of civility and decency to the debate in Washington." One reason Cheney might have gotten so upset about an attack on Halliburton: Even though it represents a "potential conflict of interest," Cheney currently receives deferred compensation from the company and owns more than 400,000 company stock options. Check out the US Government-Halliburton connection for yourself – and for some fun, play Contractopoly to discover just how many companies have cozy deals with our government.
"Halliburton agreed to withhold billing on an additional $140 million in food services for U.S. troops and other personnel in Iraq and Kuwait after the Pentagon raised concerns that it
engaged in
'substantial overcharging' on millions of overseas meals." -
Wall Street Journal WAR PROFITEERING In November, Republican House negotiators blocked a provision that would have created criminal penalties for war profiteers and cheats who try to defraud American taxpayers and cash in on the relief and reconstruction efforts in Iraq. Why would anyone "look the other way" for war profiteers who defraud American taxpayers? Why did the GOP refuse to prohibit profiteering and fraud relating to military action, relief, and reconstruction efforts in Iraq? This is hardly a radical or controversial proposal, as similar laws were enacted after World War I, World War II and the Korean War.
This bill sent a message: if you cheat American taxpayers while our men and women are dying in Iraq, you will NOT go to jail.
GOP House negotiators stripped the provision from the measure that provided $87 billion for Iraq and refused to either negotiate on a compromise or to even provide a strong argument for their action on the issue. Now, the Pentagon said a draft audit found Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root overcharged $61 million to bring fuel into Iraq from Kuwait.
Also, under the Halliburton KBR contract, auditors deemed the company had overcharged $67 million for mess facilities. The overcharge was discovered before taxpayers were billed. (The New York Times)
*Houston-based Halliburton, headed by Vice President Dick Cheney from 1995-2000, is still making annual payments of as much as $1 million a year to Cheney.
"Going in and occupying Iraq, thus unilaterally exceeding the United Nations' mandate, would have destroyed the precedent of international response to aggression that we hoped to establish. Had we gone the invasion route, the United States could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land." - George H.W. Bu$h (Bu$h senior) and Brent Scowcroft in their 1998 book, A World Transformed.
Al Gore: "I have absolutely no plans and no expectations of ever being a candidate again." When asked how the U.S. would be different if he had won in 2000, Gore responded: "We would not have invaded a country that didn't attack us," he said, referring to Iraq. "We would not have taken money from the working families and given it to the most wealthy families. We would not be trying to control and intimidate the news media. We would not be routinely torturing people. We would be a different country." Story
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