Contractual treason & the Republican response

(The following is from an article titled "Contractors Gone Wild" by Bruce Falconer at MotherJones.com)

Falconer's article is dated May 2. He refers to testimony given by "three whistleblowers before the Senate's Democratic Policy Committee (DPC)." Said testimony "stands out for the sheer outrageousness of their accusations--namely that U.S. private contractors looted Iraqi palaces and ministries, stole military equipment, fenced supplies destined for U.S. troops, and even operated a prostitution ring that may have contributed to the death of a fellow contractor."

Falconer says in spite of the "salacious" nature of this testimony, it has been basically ignored by the media.

Naturally. It's much more important, so far as our media is concerned, to report Obama's bowling score, or that he had the audacity to play pool, which Chris Matthew's sneered was only for elitists these days!


The first man to testify, an ex-ice plant operator for KBR, said ice was so valuable in Iraq it "was regularly stolen and bartered for other goods." That meant our troops did not get the ice they needed. In one case, Marines about to head to the desert, requested 28 bags of ice. They only got three because the ice foreman "was trading ice for DVDs, CDs, food, and other items at the Iraqi shops across the street." Ice tally sheets were altered to indicate more ice had been handed out to the Marines than was actually the case.

Frank Cassady, the former KBR ice plant operator, also said he saw his "colleagues returning to KBR's camp with equipment they had stolen from the U.S. military, including refrigerators, artillery round detonators, two rocket launchers, and about 800 rounds of small arms ammunition."

Cassady reported this. Marines, with dogs, searched the camp and recovered their property. Cassady was jailed for two days in his tent by KBR security people and then "spent another four days in 'protective custody' before being transferred, against his will, to work in a laundry."


Linda Warren, who likewise worked for KBR said that when she arrived in Baghdad, "she was shocked by the number of contractors involved in criminal activity. 'KBR employees who were contracted to perform construction duties inside palaces and municipal buildings were looting.'"

It was a sophisticated operation that included a system to move stolen goods out of the country to be sold on eBay. Ms. Warren said "They stole artwork, rugs, crystal, and even melted down gold to make spurs for cowboy boots."

Ms. Warren complained to her superiors. For that egregious act, she lost her vehicle, she was spied on, she lost access to the telephone and the Internet and finally was transferred out of Baghdad.


Arguably the worst testimony came from Barry Halley, a former project manager for Worldwide Network Services, based in Washington, D.C. Halley claimed his site manager in Iraq, a "'major defense contractor,' moonlighted as the leader of a prostitution ring serving American contractors in Iraq that indirectly caused the death of a colleague."

Halley said his colleague was shot while riding in an "insecure" car. If he had been riding in an armored car, as he should have been, he would have survived. But the armored car was in use--by his site manager, transporting prostitutes from Kuwait to Baghdad.

Mr. Halley further noted that whistleblowers often jeopardized their jobs by speaking out against these kinds of abuses. "There's a no-talk, no-speak policy in effect in Iraq about what goes on."


This DPC hearing came about "two weeks after the military awarded a 10-year logistical contract worth up to $150 billion to DynCorp, KBR, and a third firm." This was, in fact, the 13th hearing established to investigate fraud by contractors in Iraq.

The DPC cannot pass legislation, but it can refer accusations and information to the Department of Justice and the Pentagon's Inspector General. That doesn't seem to have any impact at all. Senator Byron Dorgon from North Dakota has been trying to establish a bipartisan commission that would have some teeth to further investigate the kinds of revelations heard this week.

Guess what? "Senate Republicans have blocked the measure."


And so it goes. We have heard for years now of the fraudulent and criminal actions of contractors who have been given huge amounts of money to perform services in Iraq. Nothing has been done.

It is no wonder the people sit in awe of the parasites they have elected to public office. The government is moribund, unable to act even when confronted by massive criminal offenses on the part of those working for the government.

The prezident and his crooked cronies repeat over and over again how we are in a war! Our country is at war, they say, as if that justifies anything and everything they wish to do. And one thing they wish to do is overlook the treason on the part of their buddies running the corporations that are stealing and looting from occupation forces and corrupting the process of rebuilding that we are supposed to be about.

When a country is at war and an individual or a corporation steals military supplies to use or resell at a profit, that is treason. The punishment for treason is death.

Unless, of course, you're a Republican contractor with ties to the White House. The the punishment is more and bigger contracts.

Here's an interesting article from the Marine Corps Times

Another article dealing with this issue from the Chicago Tribune

One more article detailing contractual fraud and abuse by CBS News

Note the dates on the above articles. Ask why nothing has been done.