Bush’s Contempt for Our Soldiers

Some may say that our soldiers are just fodder to the Bush administration.

It’s good, though, that the administration is watching out for every penny of taxpayers’ money, and holding THOUSANDS of soldiers accountable for fulfilling their missions or paying us taxpayers back: Although Bush called Jordan Fox’s mother last May to ask how her son is doing — Fox was sidelined when he was hit by a roadside bomb that injured his back and destroyed his vision in his right eye — his administration now wants the wounded soldier to return the re-enlistment bonus because he didn’t fulfill his three-month obligation. (Thanks to Brenda Stewart for the story and link.)

Compare and contrast how the Bush administration goes after the bad guys who steal and use the Iraq war to line their pockets: The Seattle PI carried a story about an Army captain who’s charged with “conspiracy, bribery and money laundering” for accepting “tens of thousands of dollars in bribes from contractors in Iraq to steer Army contracts to them.” TENS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS!

Sounds like the feds really investigated his crimes, and are gonna nail the bastard. But what about these other bastards? …

From TPM Muckraker’s “$20 Billion in Afghanistan, Iraq Contract Cash Goes to Unidentified Companies“:

Ah, Iraq. The land of milk and honey for a defense contractor. Not that all those contractors have such high profiles. In fact, due to a clever bit of disclosure chicanery, some of them are completely unknown, even to budget watchdogs.

The Center for Public Integrity’s brand-new report on Iraq contracting, Windfalls of War II, identifies at least $20 billion in contract money that has gone to non-U.S. companies that it cannot identify: … READ ALL.

And, from Charlie Cray’s story, “KBR’s Giant New Contract,” June 2007:

Just days after Stewart Bowen, the Special Inspector General released a new report which explains how KBR has been gouging taxpayers from inside the Green Zone, the Army announced that the company (which was split off from Halliburton this year) will divvy up another $150 billion with two other contractors — Fluor and Dyncorp — over the next ten years.

The results of Bowen’s audit come as no surprise, because they track the kinds of abuses that whistleblowers and others working for the company and the military have said are quite common. For example, one of Bowen’s conclusions is that the company lacks adequate inventory controls, and hasn’t kept good track of the fuel it is disbursing.

That problem should remind everyone of the situation that ultimately led the military to cancel a gasoline contract years ago.

In a report on that earlier scam, GAO report found “a pattern of contractor management problems” at KBR, including ineffective planning, a poor materials requisition system and inadequate supervision of subcontractors.

At one point investigators working for Rep. Henry Waxman reported that KBR had charged an extra $165 million to transport the gasoline into Iraq. The situation caused an embarassed Pentagon’s Defense Energy Support Center (DESC) to stop using KBR and take responsibility for its own fuel supply in April 2004. (A year after it lost the contract, KBR reportedly attempted to disrupt fuel deliveries by other subcontractors.)

Now, three years later, KBR seems to be up to its old tricks. The “inadequate controls” over the gas inventory provide another opportunity to cook the books and bilk the taxpayers. All from the comfort of the Green Zone.

And who was going to catch them if Bowen didn’t conduct the audit?

In its 2004 report, GAO criticized military officials for failing to properly oversee Halliburton’s work. GAO reported interviewing military officials who “told us that they knew nothing about LOGCAP before they deployed and had received no training regarding their roles and responsibilities.”

But now that they are promising KBR and the other companies another ten years and up to $150 billion worth of contract work, the Army says hold on, it has found a solution: To beef up its ability to provide adequate oversight, it hired another contractor. … READ ALL.

$20 BILLION DOLLARS.

$150 BILLION DOLLARS.

Army Capt. Cedar Lanmon’s take that’ll NO DOUBT land him in the slammer? “About $40,000.”

I’m glad the feds are catching the really bad guys.