February 28, 2007
Army May Not Pay $400 Million to KBR
The US Army may challenge up to $400 million billed by Halliburton's KBR subsidiary under the company's "$20 billion" military logistics contract because of unauthorized charges for private security in Iraq.
KBR announced the possibility in its latest Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Wednesday. The news follows on the tail of the Army telling Congress last month that it was withholding $19.6 million for costs that KBR had billed for services rendered by Blackwater Security to a subcontractor. That task resulted in four Blackwater guards being attacked and killed in Fallujah on March 31, 2004.
The Houston Chronicle has the story.
KBR said the Army could withhold 6 percent of all past and current subcontractor costs credited to private security charges that may not have been reported. KBR may dispute this:
The company said that while its contract with the Pentagon is clear that KBR cannot bill the government for private security to protect its workers, it does not prohibit subcontractors from doing so. In addition, because KBR often accepts lump-sum bids from subcontractors, it often doesn't receive details of costs outlined in the bids.
Posted by davidphinney at 11:28 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
It's in the Mail (Yeah, Sure)
When posed with a question that's off the daily script or unrelated to a planned press event, government public affairs people sometimes put reporters on the "slow roll." Frequently that means that they don't have a clue about how to answer a question or that the person who knows the answer would prefer not share it. (The real payoff for a cynical bureaucrat is if the reporter gets distracted by another story long enough for everyone to forget about it.)
FOIA requests can invite the same treatment: How else to explain MY three-dozen unfulfilled Freedom of Information Act requests sent to the Pentagon and elsewhere over two years ago when it allegedly takes just 20 working days to deliver the goods?
In fact, I hear that one request of mine is one of the top ten oldest requests around. It is a request for information on the food contractor at Abu Ghraib that screwed up so badly that prisoners started rioting en mass. Do doubt, the request being passed from desk to desk is now crawling with worms and is as rancid as the food the contractor was serving. (And the FOIA is sort of important. The food riots led to the crackdown in security that led to the torture that led to....well, lots of things.)
I'M NOT ALONE IN THE WAITING GAME.... (But darling, I have moved on):
New research by the Coalition of Journalists for Open Government shows that the government's overall FOIA performance remains at the lowest point since agency reporting began in 1998, despite President Bush's executive order last December [2005] directing agencies to become more service oriented and reform legislation introduced in the Congress
Here's the report: The Waiting Game: FOIA Performance Hits New Lows.
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Contractors on the Battlefield Here to Stay
Using civilian contractors to support and accompany US military actions is "here to stay," according to a new study unveiled yesterday by the Lexington Institute:
"There is no going back: they are now part of force deployment and, as such, must be included at all levels of pre-contingency planning and training...Contractors are now an integral and permanent part of battlefield logistics and support. ...The issue is how to manage this presence to the greatest benefit, with the greatest safety.
THAT'S THE PARADIGM on which the study is founded.
Don't expect any mention about theold way of doing things by returning support services to uniformed personnel. Contractors on the Battlefield has all the makings of a position paper for the neo-con proposal to establish a Civilian Reserve Corps being promoted by President Bush for wartime surge. And some may argue that the idea would further imbed contractors with decisionmakers at the Pentagon and on congressional appropriations committees.
There is very little discussion about cost-containment, the efficiency of government versus private sector or theft and fraud. The Lexington study largely casts a blind eye on those debates, claiming: "The work done by contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan is absolutely essential to the prosecution of those two efforts."
LOOKING AT IT A DIFFERENT WAY: Some critics of the war might conclude that without the use of contractors, there would be no war in Iraq or Afghanistan.
AND SO: The report recommends a six-point plan to "reflect and sustain this new reality" of contractors working alongside the military on the battlefield:
#1) Establish a mutual, collaborative relationships between the Defense Department and contractors. (Contractors don't have that already?
#2) Include contractors in contingency planning, e.g. strategic planning sessions, war games, mission training
plans and mission readiness exercises. (That's a good idea, seeing as KBR was woefully unprepared for sustaining the military invasion and occupation.)
#3) Provide combatant Commanders with flexible contracts to meet the changing logistics requirements of the theater.
#4) Provide proper training to DoD oversight personnel; deploy and keep experienced personnel
in the field (No holing up in the relative safety of the Green Zone making phone calls to the contractors to ask how the job is going?)
#5) Establish a doctrine for contractors regarding force protection,
security. (And investigate and prosecute indiscriminate shootings by private security personnel?)
#6) Develop and implement a consistent communications doctrine between contractors and Combatant Commanders.
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Al Gore Taps the Internet
From the man accused of taking credit for inventing the internet, a new political crusade is heating up to fight global warming.
Fresh off his Oscar winning power-point presentation, An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore launched a chain email lobbying effort this week to pressure Washington into heeding his documentary's warning: time is running out for the world to reverse climate change. The email has a link to Gore's Web site.
THE IDEA IS: Every recipient who gets his email forward it to ten friends. No doubt, the effort will explode exponentially and create a shock and awe capable of making Washington take notice -- especially when Gore unloads those emails before Congress on March 21. (No word about whether the will be printed on recycled paper.)
Will this be a prelude to another bid for the White House? A number of prominent netizens predicted in Rolling Stone that the Democratic nomination would be his for the taking:
"If Howard Dean could raise $59 million on the Internet," says (veteran Democratic consultant Bill) Carrick, "the mind boggles as to what Al Gore might do." Joe Trippi, who managed Dean's campaign, believes Gore could raise as much as $200 million on the Internet: "Gore may have more money than anybody within days of entering the race."
Then again, Gore may have his eye on winning the Nobel Peace Prize. That would be a first for him. He already sort of, kind of, maybe won one presidential bid in 2000.
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February 25, 2007
Worth a Read: Mercenaries Pick up the Slack,
Custer Battles Off the Hook, Missing Billions
The Scotsman reports mumblings that private security may be used to fill gap left by UK drawdown in Iraq:
Officials from the Foreign Office and Ministry of Defence will meet representatives from the private security industry within the next month to discuss "options" for increasing their business in Iraq in the coming years.
Custer Battles exonerated: Michael Battles tells The Providence Journal of his frustration in having his private security company nailed as the poster child for war profiteering in Iraq. The news media portrayed his company, Custer Battles, as a participant in a modern-day Wild West -- that being post-invasion Iraq.
....fraught with prospects for fast money and for violence in the months after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. Battles said such images live on in Google and other Internet search engines, despite the fact that the civil accusations against him and Custer have come to nothing. He said that he and Custer have never been told that they were the target of any criminal investigations.
Seymour Hersh in The New Yorker suggests some of the missing cash from Iraq reconstruction may be funding covert operations against Iran and clandestine work in Lebanon:
The clandestine operations have been kept secret, in some cases, by leaving the execution or the funding to the Saudis, or by finding other ways to work around the normal congressional appropriations process, current and former officials close to the Administration said....
A Pentagon consultant added that one difficulty, in terms of oversight, was accounting for covert funds:
"There are many, many pots of black money, scattered in many places and used all over the world on a variety of missions," he said. The budgetary chaos in Iraq, where billions of dollars are unaccounted for, has made it a vehicle for such transactions, according to the former senior intelligence official and the retired four-star general.
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More Digging waste fraud
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/070223/23dems.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/23/AR2007022302049.html
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February 24, 2007
Former Sandi Management
RUBAR S. SANDI
Chairman and CEO
Mr. Sandi is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of The Sandi Group. For the past twenty years, he has directed, financed and managed various international projects worldwide. Mr. Sandi led The Sandi Group in the assessment of business opportunity, negotiation of governmental acceptance, arranging and structuring of project equity and debt financing, restructuring companies, and assembly of multinational team to insure success of the projects and those companies. He also has established residency in many countries including Middle East and Asia Pacific countries, to oversee and insure the success of the operations. Mr. Sandi's engagement in the US political arena complements his worldwide network and reputation. Mr. Sandi holds a Bachelor's of Science degree in Management Information Systems and a MBA degree in international business from Hamilton University, Virginia Campus. He has received numerous awards from national and international institutions for his leadership, achievement and contribution worldwide, and is currently a member of many of these institutions.
EMINE E. CETINKAYA
President
Ms. Cetinkaya is an international executive with comprehensive experience in international business. Her expertise includes building corporate value, managing projects, identifying and implementing strategies to sustain growth for international companies. Ms. Cetinkaya received her Bachelor's of Science degree in finance and international business from Georgetown University in Washington, DC. She has received her MBA degree in international business from Johns Hopkins University.
ANTOINE S. KHOURY
Executive Vice President
Mr. Khoury has extensive experience in heading various types of accounting, taxes and financial services for private and public companies. He is an expert in improving operational efficiency and organizational structure from a management accounting or tax service's side. His main focus is strategic planning and financial reporting worldwide. Mr. Khoury has a Bachelor's of Science degree in accounting and finance and a Master's of Science degree in accounting and business management. Mr. Khoury holds CPA, CTP, CFP certifications. He is entitled to practice before the Internal Revenue Service in Washington, DC.
LOUIS BROWN
Director of Operations
Louis Brown is the Director of Operations for The Sandi Group and manages the Iraq operation on ground from the Company's Baghdad office. Louis Brown, a former special agent of the United States Air Force, has performed in over one hundred executive protective services operations. He is skilled in all facets of security missions including defensive driving and proficiency with fire arms. Mr. Brown has served as personal security advisor for the Secretary of the United States Air Force from 1980 until 1983. He was selected as the AFOSI Special Agent of the Year in 1980. Louis Brown has served as a security advisor and support for the Vice President, Secretary of Defense, Secretary of the Air Force, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, James Brown, The Chicago Bulls, Chicago White Sox, Janet Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Jackson, Celine Dione, and Louis Gossett, Jr to name a few.
DR. IBRAHIM SINDI
In House Counselor, Iraq
Dr. Ibrahim Sindi acts as the in house legal counsel and advisor of The Sandi Group. Dr. Sindi has three decades of experience in Iraqi and international law. Dr. Sindi specializes in private and civil law. Prior to Gulf War, he represented several multinational companies in Europe and the Middle East region. Dr. Sindi received his degree from University of Baghdad and is fluent in Arabic, English and Kurdish.
MUGE KARSLIOGLU
Vice President
At The Sandi Group, Muge Karslioglu heads the business development department. With her 20 years of expertise in management, tourism and logistics, she plays an important role in developing strategic business partnerships and further opportunities with multinational companies in boosting business in Iraq. Mrs. Karslioglu was born in New York, but lived in Washington, DC for 24 years, and considers herself a native Washingtonian. After graduating from George Mason University in International Relations, she focused on business development and developing opportunities in the tourism industry. Prior to joining The Sandi Group, Muge Karslioglu was generating USD 5 million in sales in her own tourism company which she founded at age 25 and successfully run for 12 years. She has won numerous awards and was featured on CNN, Washington Post, Travel Agent magazine and others, and was nominated as "Business Woman of the Year, 2000" by FOX TV. She has received an Oustanding Fundraiser plaque from Best Buddies. She also received Outstanding Achievement Award and Outstanding Service in the Diplomatic Community from ATC.
HAZIM ALASAD
Managing Director, Contracting
Mr. Hazim Alasad manages and further develops the The Sandi Group's general trade, real estate and other development projects. He currently resides in Baghdad, and has 32 years of progressively responsible experience include proficiencies in fields ranging from geological surveying, project management, site engineering, export/import and general trading, to business and political consulting, organizational management, business analysis, and commercial management, to name a few. Furthermore, his skillfulness and familiarity with most, if not all, Middle-Eastern cultures and business methodologies, as well as European, Russian, Far-East Asian, and American cultures and trade practices is an added value to companies that want to work The Sandi Group in Iraq.
DOUGLAS TREADWELL
Vice President, Contracts and Business Development
Mr. Treadwell has extensive contracting experience with U.S. Government entities and Multi-lateral Funding Agencies developing privatization projects and concessions in Latin America. He brings strong Telecommunications & Infrastructure Project and Technical Management skills, which are essential in developing competitive RFP responses to Iraq's rebuilding efforts. Prior to joining The Sandi Group, Mr. Treadwell was Chief Financial Officer and VP - Business Development at ACC Telecom in Columbia, Maryland. In addition to his duties as CFO, he developed business relationships to market & integrated Next-Generation Technology from Telcordia, Alcatel USA and Broadsoft. He also expanded marketing efforts into Federal & E-rate markets via teaming agreement with TKC Communications, an (8)a Native Alaskan Corporation (market value of RFP projects for Funding Year 2005 are in excess of $140 million). Mr. Treadwell received a B.S. in Economics from the University of Maryland, an M.S. in Finance from Loyola College in Maryland, an M.S. in Taxation & Business Law from the University of Baltimore School of Law and while at Georgetown University in Washington D.C., he completed the Executive International Business Certificate Program.
MARWAN KAIS ABBAS
AL-ABBASI
Mr. Al-Abbasi has had a diverse professional background, including being part of the management team at Levant Oversear Development LTD, a British/French trading and industrial group. He has been associated with the United Nations Memorendum of Understanding and he has provided interpretation services for high level secutiry officials. Mr. Al-Abbasi received his Dentistry certification from the College of Dentistry in Bagdad in 1998. He has spent significant time in the United States and is fluent in English, Kurdish and Arabic.
NADER KAMALI
Mr. Kamali is a highly accomplished IT professional and system analyst with extensive domestic and international experience with high-growth organizations. He is a results-oriented leader with proven success in strategic thinking, planning and problem solving. Mr. Kamali has experience in Project Management, System Analysis, System Design, System Integrations, Networking, Telecommunication, Oil & Gas, directing small business, professional sales, military service and teaching programming languages at technology institutes. His employment history includes work for GMG (Computer Modeling Group), Bell West, SAIT (Southern Alberta Institute of Technology), Fekete Associates Inc., IBM Canada and managing his own business for ten years. Mr. Kamali received a B.S. in Computer Engineering form Syracuse University in upstate New York.
JANNA LIPMAN
Manager
Janna Lipman manages the daily operation in The Sandi Group's Baghdad, Iraq office. Ms. Lipman has several years of experience in operations, professional services including her specialty in the tourism and hospitality industry. After graduating from James Madison University in Hospitality, she began working as a senior event coordinator for one of Washington, DC's high profile Speaker Bureaus, where she acted as a liaison between clients and speakers. Four years later, her strong capabilities in the delivery of professional services promoted her to a new position in a prestigious entertainment company.
MEDEA JAFF
Project Manager, Business Development
Medea is a native Kurdish-Iraqi and currently resides in Baghdad. She lived in England and Ireland where she completed her primary and secondary education. In 1996, she graduated from the University of Mustansiria with a degree is biology. Since 1999, Medea worked for the World Health Organization of the United Nations under the Oil-for-Food Programme in the Registry Unit, responsible for training the newly recruited staff, conducting workshops introducing advanced techniques to local Iraqis and overseeing the distribution of the UN pouch to the local WHO offices throughout Iraq. She is fluent in English, Arabic and Kurdish.
MUN FAI LOKE
Director - Asia Pacific
Mr. Loke manages The Sandi Group's Asia Pacific operations, which include business development, investment, financial arrangement, and governmental relationship in various sectors of real estate and technology projects. He has over 40 years experience in the engineering and manufacturing sectors, and was responsible for development and set-up of various airline operation and manufacturing plants, as well as avionics shops including those for the Singapore and Malaysian Airlines. Mr. Loke left the airline business to set up manufacturing companies in Singapore for the production of electronic components and equipments with technology transfer from Toshiba, Tatung, and other Japanese and Taiwanese companies. Prior to joining The Sandi Group, he was involved in setting up manufacturing plants in China to produce high and low technology products, including liquid crystal panels, telephones, and televisions.
ROBERT PENG
Director - China
Mr. Peng leads The Sandi Group's operations in China. He has comprehensive experience in project investment and business development in the Asia-Pacific region, and especially in China. His responsibilities include the development of our Magplane high speed magnetic levitation transportation system in China as well as to oversee the governmental relationships with the Chinese Government. Mr. Peng has excellent communication and financial engineering skills, is an excellent negotiator and has expertise in implementing and creating business solutions and management strategies for international projects. Mr. Peng holds a Bachelor's of Science degree in electrical power plant engineering and a Master's of Science degree in social economic systems engineering.
HENRY H. KOLM, Ph.D.
President - Magplane Technology Inc.
Dr. Kolm is the president of Magplane Technology, Inc., an affiliate and partner company of The Sandi Group. He invented the Magplane system of magnetically levitated transportation (with co-inventor Dr. Richard Thornton), and developed the first practical synchronous electromagnetic launchers. Dr. Kolm is one of the founders of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Francis Bitter National Magnet Laboratory, an authority on electromagnetic technology with over 30 years of experience, and a recognized inventor, innovator, and industrialist. He has consulted extensively for industry and government. He has also published three Scientific American articles, approximately 60 professional papers, made several science films, contributed to several NOVA programs, and is an author of over 30 United States patents and their foreign counterparts in cryogenic, magnetic and piezoelectric applications. Dr. Kolm was also a member of the US Army Intelligence team responsible for the successful safe passage of Dr. Werner von Braun and other key German scientists to the United States.
D. BRUCE MONTGOMERY, Ph.D.
Chief Technical Officer - Magplane Technology, Inc.
Dr. Montgomery is a recognized expert in the generation of magnetic fields for applications including magnetic levitation and propulsion, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), and nuclear fusion confinement devices. His book on Solenoid Magnet Design, first published in 1969 remains a standard reference in the field. He is the author of more than 100 papers on magnet design, superconductivity, and a wide range of magnetic field applications. Prior to being Emeritus Professor of the prestigious MIT in 1996, Dr. Montgomery was the Associate Director of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center - the largest interdisciplinary on campus research center at the University. He was elected to the prestigious National Academy of Engineering in 1998.
PETER MARSTON, Ph.D.
President - Cambridge Water Technology LLC
Dr. Marston is the President of Cambridge Water Technology LLC, an affiliate of The Sandi Group, that developed the innovative CoMag water purification and treatment process. He has over 30 years experience in the development, design and commercialization of magnetic systems, including the first practical industrial HGMS systems. Following a long industrial career, which included several high-tech start-ups and leading Sala Magnetics, Dr. Marston joined MlT Plasma Science and Fusion Center as head of the Magnetohydrodynamics and High Energy Physics Technology groups. He is a full member of the prestigious International Academy of Electrotechnical Sciences.
ALI A. RIZVI, P.E.
President - United Design Engineers, P.C.
As President of United Design Engineers, P.C. (UDE), of which The Sandi Group is a major shareholder and partner, Mr. Rizvi assumes the administrative responsibilities of the office. He oversees the technical execution of each project and supervises the professional staff to maintain UDE's quality standards at the highest level. Mr. Rizvi has over 30 years of experience in civil and utility design, construction management of subdivisions and community developments, highways, airfields, power plants, roadways and utilities, and rapid transit-related facility services. His responsibilities include the preparation of studies, preliminary and final designs, contract drawing and document preparation, cost analyses and estimates, as well as management of construction. He is registered as a professional engineer in several jurisdictions, and is a member of numerous technical societies and associations. Mr. Rizvi and UDE worldwide project experience include the New Hong Kong International City in Hainan, China; First Lahore Urban Development Project in Pakistan; Blue Plains Wastewater Treatment Plant in Washington DC; Upper Ping Basin Dams in Thailand; Housing Projects in Angola and Nigeria; Central Luzon Basin Water Resources Master Plan in the Philippines, Airbase Complexes in Saudi Arabia; Columbus International Airport in Ohio and Reagan National Airport in Washington DC; Anacostia and Southwest Freeways in Washington DC; and others.
Posted by davidphinney at 11:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Iraq Objectives State Department
The United States and coalition members will remain to accomplish the basic objectives of removing the regime of Saddam Hussein, locating and destroying all weapons of mass destruction, and ensuring Iraq's territorial integrity. But the United States has an equal commitment to leave the area as soon as possible, demonstrating that the future of Iraq belongs solely to the Iraqi people.
http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/archive/dutyiraq/
Marc Grossman, Under Secretary for Political Affairs
Testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Washington, DC
February 11, 2003
http://www.state.gov/p/us/rm/17616.htm
* First, we will demonstrate to the Iraqi people and the world that the United States wants to liberate, not occupy Iraq or control Iraqis or their economic resources.
* Second, we must eliminate Iraq's chemical and biological weapons, its nuclear program and its related delivery systems
* Third, we must also eliminate Iraq's terrorist infrastructure.
* Fourth, safeguard the territorial unity of Iraq. The United States does not support Iraq's disintegration.
* Fifth, begin the process of economic and political reconstruction, working to put Iraq on a path to become a prosperous and free country.
Posted by davidphinney at 09:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Custer Battles Exonerated
http://www.projo.com/news/content/custer_battles_02-22-07_JJ4H5SB.1170163.html
Posted by davidphinney at 08:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 23, 2007
Iraq training ground
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7460-2005Jan13.html
http://www.dni.gov/nic/NIC_2020_project.html
concerned with biological weapons and a nuclear device.... chemical are more the shake and bake variety
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/22/AR2007022200974.html
Posted by davidphinney at 06:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Contractor Deaths Raise Casualty Count
It's no easy task tallying the total casualties supporting the US war effort in Iraq because "while the Defense Department issues a press release whenever a soldier or Marine dies," getting the official figures on civilian contractor deaths and injuries before 2006 requires a time-consuming Freedom of Information Act request, according to Associated Press writer Michelle Roberts.
HERE'S MORE FROM HER STORY:
In a largely invisible cost of the war in Iraq, nearly 800 civilians working under contract to the Pentagon have been killed and more than 3,300 hurt doing jobs normally handled by the U.S. military.... Exactly how many of these employees doing the Pentagon's work are Americans is uncertain. But the casualty figures make it clear that the Defense Department's count of more than 3,100 U.S. military dead does not tell the whole story.
The whole story by Roberts, Iraq Contractor Deaths Go Little Noticed, is that: "The insurgents in Iraq make little if any distinction between the contractors and U.S. troops".
ALSO, SEE:
Contractor Deaths in Iraq Nearing 800 January 29, 2007
More than 500 Contractor Deaths in Iraq? November 2, 2005
Civilian Footprint December 21, 2006
Iraq Wounded Fight for Insurance Coverage July 11, 2006
ADD from Associated Press on 2/24/07: The AP finds Americans are keenly aware of how many U.S. forces have lost their lives in Iraq, but they "woefully underestimate the number of Iraqi civilians who have been killed."
Iraqi civilian deaths are estimated at more than 54,000 and could be much higher; some unofficial estimates range into the hundreds of thousands. The U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq reports more than 34,000 deaths in 2006 alone.
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Life Beyond War
It's easy to forget that Iraq is more than IEDs, carnage and corruption if you are sitting here in DC.
Younis Mahmoud, the 24-year-old kid from Al-Dibs in Kirkuk, is considered one of Iraq's most talented players on both the Olympic and national stage. Originally a basketball player, he was the first Iraqi footballer to have his own official Web site. More on YouTube.
Posted by davidphinney at 10:52 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 22, 2007
A Big Mistake: Mistrusting the Iraqi Worker
Putting people out of work might be the biggest mistake a liberator could make, says Marshall Adame, who worked on Iraq reconstruction projects with The Sandi Group and as a senior US advisor to the Iraqi government from 2003 until late 2006:
Iraq is not now, or in 2003, a country without professional organizations, associations, business structures and contractor networks. Iraqi engineers, construction contractors, lawyers, doctors, business managers, city planners and educators were present and readily available throughout Iraq. Almost none of which were accessed or utilized by the coalition in its effort to begin the rebuilding of Iraq.... The point being, from the very beginning we put the Iraqi people at arms length and have, to this day, kept them there.
In other words...
the occupying US presence signaled to the 27 million Iraqis liberated from Saddam Hussein's brutal iron fist -- a population equal to California's -- that they were not to be trusted with rebuilding their own country. (....And now not trusted to protect it?)
Unsettling, Provocative Thoughts:
Sunni insurgents, Shia Militias, and corrupt Iraqi Government officials, all profiting from our presence, and all hoping to profit from our absence. In the middle, the Iraqi people, the vast majority of whom are not in support of Islamic extremism, sectarian isolation, religious theocracy, or violence in any form against anyone or any group. An innocent people, now living in a hell they had no part of bringing.
Adame, by the way, has two sons who served in Iraq with the US Army.
The Point Is, and It's No Secret: The Coalition, i.e., the United States chose not to use Iraq's most valuable resource in the reconstruction effort: its people:
"In fact it has been official policy to exclude Iraqis from almost any coalition operation or endeavor. The Iraqi labor pool has been all but ignored. Third County Nationals have been shipped in by the thousands to work in positions that should have gone to the people we came to Iraq to rescue, the Iraqis."
Instead, the occupying coalition relied on foreign contractors and workers to do the work. And that may be just why the situation is what it is today.
Adame's commentary is floating around the Web. It's worth a read.
Posted by davidphinney at 10:52 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 21, 2007
Check It Out: Jihadist Violence and Crying Wolf
Peter Bergen and Paul Cruickshank find that jihadist violence has increased by 607 percent around the world and the number of people killed in those attacks has grown by 237 percent since the 2003 Iraq invasion. Their story appears in Mother Jones.
MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE RANCH: Federal prosecutors and the FBI mistakenly pumped up the number of terrorist investigations and prosecutions by tossing marriage fraud and immigration violations into the terrorism-related bin. So finds a scathing report released Tuesday by a Justice Department Inspector General. ...
The Justice Department and the FBI made fighting terrorism a priority after the Sept. 11 attacks, but the IG determined the collection and reporting of the statistics as "decentralized and haphazard."
RAND's terrorism expert Bruce Hoffman told The Chicago Tribune that it might be a good idea if authorities not exaggerate what they're doing in their counter-terrorism efforts.
"Without explaining their methods more clearly, the public could look at it as 'crying wolf,'" Hoffman said.
Oops....
For the record, here's the Inspector General's pdf report: Internal Controls over Terrorism Reporting.
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Worth A Read: Tauscher on the Hot Seat
Gone are the photos of Ellen Tauscher and President Bush on her congressional Web site -- including the one her critics have labeled "The Caress," a photo where the president appeared to have his hand on her thigh.
It doesn't matter. Liberal bloggers still are busy trashing the California Democrat.
The Washington Post's Juliet Eilperin and Michael Grunwald lay out Ellen Tauscher's ordeal at the top of page one: Ellen is a very moderate-to-right-leaning California congresswoman from the East Bay suburbs living in the very liberal San Francisco Bay Area.
Headlined "The Woman in the Middle: Moderate Democrat Is New Target of Liberal Bloggers," Tauscher was the only Golden State Democrat to oppose Nancy Pelosi's campaign to become House speaker. The former stock broker from New Jersey also bucked much of her party by working to scale back the estate tax, tighten bankruptcy rules and promote free-trade agreements. AND THAT MY BE THE REAL PROBLEM.
A major labor leader at a corner bar last week had nothing good to say about Tauscher, who moved to California in 1989 before being elected in 1996. Nasty, nasty, nasty. Labor wants "a real Democrat."
Tauscher seems to be trying to change her tune quickly, even as the online lefties continue riding her hard, the Eilperin/Grunwald team note:
This year, she has marched in lock step with Pelosi. But to Net-roots sites such as Daily Kos, Firedoglake, and Crooks and Liars, she's Lieberman in a pantsuit.
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February 20, 2007
Pictures Worth a Thousand Lives
Feel the love while on a private security run somewhere in Iraq.
'American PSD Detail Stares Down Tank Barrel': It's a tough job.
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Major Shift in Iraq Private Security?
It may signal the twilight of gun-slinging expat companies barreling through Iraq with armored convoys while ringing up the multi-million-dollar receivables.
Iraqslogger reports that a new round of contracts could be in the offing for major security and training contracts in Iraq with a drop-dead clause: "Complete handover to Iraqis at end of contract."
The Slogger's Robert Young Pelton has the story.
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PTSD Haunting Returning Soldiers and Contractors
Once known as soldier's heart in the World Wars, it took years for returning Vietnam vets to receive the public support they earned and deserved for what is now known as post traumatic stress disorder. Many fell apart and landed homeless on the streets across America. Some never recovered or regained their footing.
Now, major media shines a light on the debilitating problem that understandably faces many returning Iraq vets.
In a Philadelphia Inquirer commentary, Cecilia Capuzzi Simon writes:
Missing legs, arms, multiple amputations. These injuries are the visual emblems of the war in Iraq. But it is the invisible psychological harm -- primarily post-traumatic stress disorder -- that is the most pervasive and pernicious injury from this war and that is emerging as its signature disability. Veterans' advocates say it is the number-one issue facing soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
"The scope of the problem is daunting," Capuzzi continues: "The Defense Department estimates that between 15 percent and 29 percent of Iraq veterans will suffer from PTSD, characterized by flashbacks of the traumatic event, nightmares, anxiety, and social withdrawal."
And what about the 100,000 contractors on the battlefield? This an entirely new phenomenon. Many civilians, including truckers and armed security contractors travel outside the wire of camp safety on a daily basis. They, too, experience carnage on the battlefields of Iraq. Look for this to be the next news surge in coverage of Americans coming home:
Adding Insult to Injury
The Shadow Army
Iraq Wounded Fight for Insurance Coverage
Pentagon's Insurance Problem
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February 19, 2007
It's Pile-On Time for the Lame Duck
the 1986, the President Ronald Reagan appeared on national television and denied that his administration had occurred helped sell arms to Iran. One week later, he admitted on November 13 that weapons the weapons had, indeed, been
sent to Iran, but denied that the transfer was a swop for for hostages. It became known as the Iran-Contra Affair.
The Worst President of Them All
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070226/howl
US NEWS
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/worstpresidents/index.htm
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February 18, 2007
The Invisible Army
Jana Crowder's new blog on American Contractors In Iraq contains a link to some moving visuals put together by the wife of a private security contractor.
Some say there are 25,000 private security contractors in Iraq. Robert Young Pelton, author of a sweeping new account of private security contractors, says he has been told there are as many as 70,000. Between those estimates, that means there has to be one to three military divisions on the battlefield without a general.
These contractors travel from all parts of the world to protect and defend and supplement US and British forces. But when the Pentagon or the news media talks about force strength or casualties, they are invisible.
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February 17, 2007
Sandi Group
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUxwlNrCLaA&eurl=
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Rearview Mirror: The War for Insurance Coverage
Hundreds of injured civilians who worked in Iraq and Afghanistan take the war home with them as they battle for insurance coverage they are owed.
Boston Globe reporter Farah Stockman discovered that Halliburton, DynCorp, and other Defense contractors have denied insurance claims -- sometimes for years -- from civilian workers wounded on the battlefield or who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder. The story finds that administrative law judges eventually ordered the companies to pay millions of dollars in compensation on such claims that they initially denied.
To see the judgments in these cases and others, go here. Under docket search type in LDA in the middle search field
The Jan. 20 story is not a new one. I wrote about the same issue several years ago -- and I guarantee you, the companies and government agencies are very slow in responding to reporters about this.
The Globe recounts tales of those struggling with coming home:
Robert Purcella: Spent nearly two years to win back his workers' compensation benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder and physical injuries. The Texas truck driver had his windows blown out in four attacks in Iraq. During one attack, he used a hammer to kill a robber trying to pull him from the truck -- "cracking his skull wide open," the ruling states. The judge also stated that Purcella was instructed by the military not to stop his truck under any circumstances and he "on occasion . . . ran over civilians as they attempted to stop the convoy."
Samuel Walker: After a suicide bomb attack burned his hands and face on a military base in Iraq, he was initially refused treatment because his wounds were deemed not life-threatening, a judge recounted in his ruling. Halliburton then prevented Walker and four other wounded employees from leaving the base to seek treatment on their own, because the company was understaffed. Once home, it took months to find a doctor who was acceptable to Halliburton.
Robert Rowe: In a case still pending, the Ohio truck driver was shot in Iraq in August 2004. It took months of phone calls to Halliburton and AIG after his return to the United States to arrange for needed surgery to repair his leg, he claims. Ultimately, the insurer, AIG, told him it would not compensate him because he did not have enough documentation and because they alleged that he had quit his job, Rowe claims.
The Globe examined 113 disputed cases that went to the Office of Administrative Law Judges in the US Department of Labor. Workers won outright in 37 and companies settled in 65 others, often agreeing to pay tens of thousands of dollars or more in additional benefits. Only 11 employees' claims were turned down by judges:
These cases represent a small fraction of the more than 13,000 insurance claims that have been filed by workers injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. The vast majority of cases are resolved when employees file required paperwork or during private mediation between the companies and employees overseen by the Department of Labor. But in hundreds of cases, the companies refused to settle, arguing that workers were not injured on the job or that they were asking for too much money.
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Survive Your Own Beheading
If you survive, was it a beheading?
It's touted as "The Only Course of its kind offered in the world."
AND BROUGHT TO YOU BY: The CRI Counterterrorism Training School of Las Vegas, Nev. (The link gets gritty.)
WE ARE TOLD: "Soldiers, Police Officers, Security Personnel, Overseas Contractors, Executives, PSD Operators, Diplomatic Service Personnel and Civilians can greatly benefit from this course."
The benefit, of course, being that you learn to keep your head about you when the stakes get really high. Even in Vegas where what happens in Vegas.... stays in Vegas?
Compliments to Kathryn Cramer for the find who wonders: "Did they get a celebrity endorsement from Ted Williams or Ichabod Crane?"
Ted Williams? That's another story.
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More on John Mancini
I knew he was in troubled waters, but I had no idea how troubled....
FROM THE EAST BAY EXPRESS:
Not long ago, this paper published a profile of John Mancini, a civilian defense worker stationed in Iraq and Kuwait who was one of the first two congressional whistleblowers to expose Halliburton's alleged practice of overbilling the government, to the tune of as much as $1.4 billion ("Soldiers of Misfortune," feature, 10/4)....
A few days after the issue came out, Mancini apparently flipped out and barricaded himself in his house, the Arizona Republic reported, and he threatened to shoot any cops who came in the front door. He was eventually apprehended, and although his phone is no longer working, his friend Barbara Friedkin says Mancini told her his prescription cocktail of morphine and antidepressants was recently altered. According to Bonnie Mancini, the mother of Mancini's second child, the police found 18,000 rounds of ammunition in the house, in addition to his dog, which had been shot and injured.
In the news biz, this is one of those episodes that tends to, shall we say, reduce a source's credibility, although much of Mancini's story was confirmed by his fellow whistleblower Henry Bunting, ex-wife Susan Mancini, and a source at Congressman Henry Waxman's office. In addition, Halliburton representatives did not return calls seeking comment for the story, and officials with his last employer, Pleasanton's Procurement Services Associates, refused to discuss the matter. PSA's lawyer faxed over a copy of a brief prepared during the course of mediating a financial dispute with Mancini; the brief did not dispute the essential elements of Mancini's story, but merely took issue with whether the company was liable for any further medical expenses. Nonetheless, Mancini's crisis may explain an e-mail he apparently sent to PSA officials, a copy of which was faxed to us too late for publication in the original story. Sensitive readers had best stop here, because this e-mail ain't pretty. In a message titled "Pay me you Motherfucker," Mancini allegedly wrote, "If you think shock and awe was something in Iraq you haven't experienced a heavily medicated, morbidly obese, old New York Italian, with attitude, who knows where you live. You will go down and i will ripe [sic] your head off and piss into your bleeding, gasping, lifeless body then shit in your mouth and you will sell your wife and children into white slavery to make certain I collect my money. ... I will make you regret your faggot father ejaculated into the slut of a woman known as your mother. ... If I get mad, or even mildly upset you will be selling your smooth white ass to niggers with AIDS just to pay me because NOT paying me is NOT an option." Nice, huh-- Chris ThompsonThe full text of the e-mail is reproduced below.
In a message titled, "Pay me you Motherfucker," Mancini allegedly wrote, "I will be filing liens on all your assets, personal liability fuckhead, I will seize all your equipment if you think shock and awe was something in Iraq you haven’t experienced a heavily medicated, morbidly obese, old New York Italian, with attitude, who knows where you live. You will go down and i will ripe [sic] your head off and piss into your bleeding, gasping, lifeless body then shit in your mouth and you will sell your wife and children into white slavery to make certain I collect my money. "NON PAYMENT is not an option you want to pursue. You would rather be Saddam's double with my friends at CACI they know how to soften a prisoner, but I am a quick learner. "They buy human organs, for cash You DON'T want me after you I will make you regret your faggot father ejaculated into the slut of a woman known as your mother. "You are Very lucky I am just agitated, If I get mad, or even mildly upset you will be selling your smooth white ass to niggers with AIDS just to pay me because NOT paying me is NOT an option. I am undergoing massive pain therapy, with prescribed medication sell your soul to the devil cause if it don't work, God can't protect you I will be after you and all your fucking officers of the corporation. I will place your organs on Ebay, and if the debt still has a balance you will be ground up for dog food."More on Mancini here.
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February 15, 2007
Wheaties Kickback Downunder
http://www.thewest.com.au/aapstory.aspx?StoryName=356500
It's one of the oddest, more outlandish contracting stories to come out of Iraq that began with Australian kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's regieme and then continued after the American invasion.
The illicit wheat sales began with the Australian Wheat Board circumventing what was known as the United Nations food-for-oil progam. The program allowed humanitarian trade deals with Iraq despite tight sanctions following the 1991 Gulf War when Saddam invaded Kuwait. Australian investigators found that close to $300 million in Australian kickbacks went to Saddam Hussein and his cronies so that the Australian Wheat board could secure contractos for hundreds of millions of dollars in wheat sales.
Those contracts were still standing after the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the toppling of Saddam.
http://www.wabusinessnews.com.au/en-story/1/48980/Govt-paid-AWB-260K-for-adviser-to-Iraq
I am trying to figure out what happened to the AWB contracts with Iraq after
the invasion. Apparently, they continued -- at least from what I gather from
the Program Review Board minutes of Oct.11, 2003 and the sudden appearance
of Trevor Flugge as Senior Advisor, Ministry of Agriculture:
"#515 Ð Oil for Food Contracts - $ 0.00 Ð The Board voted to recommend that
Ambassador Bremer authorize the UN Office Iraqi Program (OIP) to proceed
with funding of these contracts with un-obligated funds available to OIP per
UN Security Council Resolution 1472 & 1483.."
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February 14, 2007
News Wars and Bush Administration Press Officers
During the run up to the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, Knight-Ridder
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2007/02/06/DI2007020600497.html
Washington Post: Why do we continue to listen to Bob Woodward offer his opinion of the war when he was so wrong on WMD? And conversely, why aren't the Knight-Ridder reporters (the one's who the got WMD story right) given more credibility and exposure?
Raney Aronson: I wish we had more time to explore this issue in our film. I felt like we could have done an entire film on what happened in the run up to the war in Iraq. On the point about the Knight-Ridder reporters - what Tom Rosentiel (the PEJ director) told us was that because these reporters weren't writing for the NYTimes or the Washington Post they simply didn't get the attention at the time that they should have. As Clark Hoyt told us (the editor at the time at Knight Ridder) - if they had gotten the attention they deserved perhaps there would have been a very different debate in America during the run up to the war in Iraq.
http://www.ajr.org/article_printable.asp?id=3725
A few weeks earlier, Knight Ridder Washington reporters Warren Strobel and Jonathan Landay received the Raymond Clapper Memorial award from the Senate Press Gallery for their coverage of the sketchy intelligence used to justify war with Iraq.
For about a year-and-a-half, the pair had filed compelling stories on the issue and, on many occasions, it seemed like they were banging the drum alone. It wasn't until earlier this year, when it became increasingly apparent Hussein had not been stockpiling weapons of mass destruction, that other news outlets grew more critical of the administratio
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It Can't Happen Here
Over 600,000 men, 2 percent of the U.S. population at the time, died during the American Civil War and institutionalized slavery was brought to an end. Or was it?
A dozen Guatemalan workers "say they were promised jobs planting trees in North Carolina for $7.50 per hour. Instead, they say they were taken in a van to Connecticut without their consent, had their passports confiscated so they would not escape and were threatened with arrest or deportation."
For more, see Lawsuit accuses Connecticut nursery of human trafficking.
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February 12, 2007
Contractors Secretly Honored, Others Celebrate their Camaraderie
Halliburton/KBR and the US Army teamed up last Friday in Houston to hand out one of the highest honors there is for civilian contractors working in Iraq and Afghanistan: The Defense of Freedom medal.
The Pentagon first awarded the medal bearing the words "On Behalf of a Grateful Nation"after the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001. The honor is bestowed in recognition of civilians killed or wounded while aiding the military. While it may be a national honor and recognition, the Houston event took place behind closed doors. No reporters or news media were allowed to witness the award event.
Halliburton/KBR spokeswoman Melissa Norcross said the private dinner and ceremony was a "joint decision" by the company and the Army, according to The Houston Post's David Ivanovich:
After the event, KBR went so far as to surround honorees with security officers, escorting them to a private reception. Two uniformed Houston Police Department officers were also standing outside the hotel's lobby.
Nevertheless, one reporter did sneak in. T. Christian Miller with The Los Angeles Times networked an invitation from the family of a contractor who was being honored. Miller notes that "The Army even refused to release the names of those it was honoring. The nation's gratitude was delivered behind closed doors."
The enterprising Miller then flew to Knoxville, Tenn., for a Saturday get-together of wounded contractors:
This time, there were neither medals nor executives. Instead, there were sudsy beers, loud music and the camaraderie of men and women who swapped war stories of public indifference, bureaucratic ineptitude and corporate incompetence.
Sometimes poignant, Miller adds:
....the contractors' status as private employees on a public mission has created an uncertain future, where surviving a bullet in the head does not mean a lifetime of care and where a local bar becomes the closest thing to a veteran's hospital.
Look for more on crontractors from Miller in the coming weeks.
ADD: Ann Lloyd put together a fabulous report for NPR'sDay to Day.
ANOTHER ADD: White Rose's Adventures provides her coverage of the Knoxville event here and here.
More on Defense of Freedom medal here.
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February 09, 2007
Taking a Leak in Washington
Talking about the Scooter Libby trial this week on Fox News, American University communications professor Jane Hall offered:
"This is the dirty little secret, I think, of this story.... You get to a certain level and the White House press secretary is trying to leak to the reporter from the network or from The New York Times. People are using each other to leak, to do all kinds of things."
I am shocked, shocked I say, to hear that people use each other in Washington, DC, for their own personal gain.
For more: Tim Hates Chris and Other Nasty Business
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHARLIE: Charles Peters, founder and editor of The Washington Monthly celebrated his 80th birthday last month. David Ignatius of The Washington Post aptly applies the label, "one of the true revolutionaries in modern journalism." Peters is also a pillar of tradition in the best sense judging by this homage to Peters:
Because he was personally so broke during the years he ran his money-losing magazine, he never lost sight of the struggles of most Americans to meet the mortgage, pay the doctors' bills and afford a decent life.... Journalists should stop being such elitists. Rather than grumbling about how hard it is to make ends meet on $100,000 and envying the people who make $1 million, they should identify with the American middle class and its struggles. Good journalism, in the Peters version, is still about making powerful people uncomfortable.
OUCH: "Personally so broke during the years he ran his money-losing magazine." Guess he should have learned to kiss more ass of the corporate branders.
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February 08, 2007
Money game
http://www.capitaleye.org/inside.asp?ID=247
http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/020807/issa.html
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More on Fly Nancy
Faye Fiore and Julian E. Barnes of the LA TImes, update the tongue wagging on Nancy Pelosi's request for a really big plane to fly to California and back when she gets the urge:
The military passenger plane that can make the flight in any weather and also provide the communications necessary to stay in contact with the White House is the bigger and costlier C-40 — described by the Air Force as an "office in the sky" with beds, two galleys and business-class seating.... The seats are similar to those in commercial first-class cabins, and most have electrical outlets and Internet access. ...The House sergeant at arms originally advised Pelosi that Hastert had used a military plane and recommended that she use one that didn't need to refuel....(Pelosi spokesman) Daly acknowledged, however, that Pelosi has inquired whether family and friends can fly with her on business travel. A mother of five and grandmother of six, Pelosi's family often accompanies her on the road.
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February 07, 2007
Killing
Andrew G. Howell
General Counsel, Blackwater USA
Newshour --
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/middle_east/jan-june07/outsourcing_02-07.html
DOUG BROOKS: There are two rules now that apply to contractors. One is the MEJA, Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, which says that anybody, any contractor working in support of a U.S. mission, can be brought back to the United States, of any nationality, which is interesting, can be brought back to the United States and tried.
That has not been enforced, and this is a problem from our industry, because it's good for us if you have effective accountability. The other thing that's been mentioned is the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which is the military system. And there's been a change. It's supposed to impact contractors, but we're not sure they're actually going to use that.
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'This Hearing Saved the Government 20 Million Dollars'
ROUGH DRAFT: From the time four men were killed in streets of Fallujah on March 31, 2004 until yesterday, the U.S. Army couldn't determine if, in fact, Halliburton/KBR had broken its multi-billion-dollar contract agreement by allowing a private security company to guard a subcontractor's convoy
Then suddenly, one day before a Congressional hearing on the events surrounding the killing and burning of four private security contractors -- the Army figured it all out. Halliburton/KBR had violated the sweeping contract to provide support services to the Army in Iraq.
The LogCAP contract -- now clocking about $16 billion in receipts -- strictly prohibits Halliburton/KBR from using private security companies unless otherwise approved by the combatant commander. Halliburton had no approval and was exptected to rely on Army security.
The result of the Army's sudden recognition after three years of investigation? Just yesterday the Army decided to withhold a payment of $19.6 million owed to Halliburton/KBR, according to Tina Ballard, U.S. Army deputy assistant secretary for policy and procurement.
Withholding payment for the private security costs, she said, was the extent of any punitive action against Halliburton/KBR for allowing a subcontractor to use the high-profile private security company, Blackwater.
"That's not too much action," said a disappointed Rep. Henry Waxman, D. Calif., who chairs the House committee on oversight and government reform. Then a hint of satisfaction flashed across his face: "This hearing just saved the government $20 million."
Greetings from the people who managed the war from beginning to now. It took the Army three years to discover that the contract that sent four Blackwater security contractors to their deaths in Fallujah, was in fact, illegal.
Throughout the Wednesday hearing, witnesses testified again and again to incredulous lawmakers that Haliburton/KBR's sweeping LogCAP is pyramid game -- a multilayered morass of subcontractors operating with little, if any, supervision. Halliburton/KBR is given sole responsibility for monitoring the behavior of its subcontractors -- the Army, in turn, relies on Halliburton/KBR to report any problems and make sure that its subs adhere to Army guidelines.
That leaves the door open for plenty of mischief, waste, fraud and abuse -- including the widespread use of forced labor, which the Pentagon acknowledged last spring was taking place. And just as with the contract that led o the death of four American civilians, not one company has been penalized for using forced labor drawn from the poorest of the poor in this world.
More later..... The train has left the station. There will be torrent of news generated from this hearing.
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February 06, 2007
josie
http://www.wonkette.com/politics/the-politico/congresswomen-whores-journos-thieves-233378.php
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Squandering Iraqi Money
Almost $12 billion in Iraqi assets disappeared while under control of the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority -- much of it arrived in $100 bills on pallets straight from the Federal Reserve in New York. (Note: That is an armed civilian guarding the cash.)
In the past, government auditors said the Coalition Provisional Authority lost track of $8.8 billion in seized and frozen Iraqi assets largely known as the Development Fund for Iraq. We're talking about no record of where that money went. Zip, nada, nothing.
This doesn't include the money that the CPA misspent or lost to contract fraud and incompetence. Interested readers might want to review this story I drafted a few years ago: "Spending Iraqi Money".
The subject of missing billions is today's subject for Henry Waxman's House Committee on Oversight and Government. Waxman believes the missing sum is around $12 billion. Others tell me the amount of Iraqi assets that went missing -- if you inlcude oil smuggling and theft in Iraq -- may be in the neighborhood of $22 billion.
There is a bit of sad irony about the lost billions for those who remember Paul Wolfowitz once assured Congress that Iraqi money would pay for the war and the reconstruction of Iraq:
"There's a lot of money to pay for this that doesn't have to be U.S. taxpayer money, and it starts with the assets of the Iraqi people...and on a rough recollection, the oil revenues of that country could bring between $50 (billion) and $100 billion over the course of the next two or three year..... We're dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon." [Source: House Committee on Appropriations Hearing on a Supplemental War Regulation, 3/27/03]
(Paul Wolfowitz now heads the World Bank. That March 2003 statement he gave to Congress does give some people the jitters about his new five-year position. Some Wolfowiz foes `hope he is hauled before Congress to explain his role in the Iraq war -- an embarassment that feasibly could lead to his resigning from the Bank.)
I crafted "Spending Iraqi Money" two years ago after a Senate staffer had asked me to suggest witnesses on Iraq fraud. The staffer was totally unaware of the Development Fund for Iraq or the billions in missing Iraqi assets. I can't blame him. It's a confusing story made only more confusing by the handling and management of the funds.
I then pitched the story to an an editor who wasn't interested, but I think the draft stands up pretty well.
For more on Iraqi asets, see:
"Contract Quagmire in Iraq"
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February 05, 2007
So, Are you Saying Nancy Will Be Flying Commercial?
Emails from damage-controlling Democratic fact-checkers generously point out that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi DID NOT request personal military flights to jet her and other California lawmakers between DC and the Golden State on a regular basis.
Apparently, it was the House Sergeant at Arms who offered to make the inquiry.
His name, I kid you not, is Livingood.
So Livingood offered to inquire, Pelosi accepted the offer and the wing nuts are in a big fuss about the luxury of it all.
This is how it happened, according to thinkprogress.org:
1) The House Sergeant at Arms, not Pelosi, initiated inquiries into the use of military aircraft. House Sergeant at Arms Wilson Livingood, who has served in his position since 1995, released a statement today clarifying the facts. He writes, "In December 2006, I advised Speaker Pelosi that the US Air Force had made an airplane available to Speaker Hastert for security and communications purposes following September 11, 2001." Additionally, Livingood writes, "I offered to call the U.S. Air Force and Department of Defense to seek clarification of the guidelines [which governed Speaker Hastert's use of a plane]."
Stay tuned:.
#1. Will Nancy fly economy or business class on the taxpayer dime?
#2. Will she go military with all the cool technology, catered meals and full bar on an even bigger taxpayer dime?
#3. Does the Speaker really need Air Force Three?
#4. How about just tossing her an iPhone for cutting edge telecom needs instead of keys to a C-40?....
#5. Ultimately, some thoughtful reflection may be called for among all of us: This situation may lift the notion of "limosine liberal" to a whole new level.
We live in interesting times.... The possibilities for exploiting this are ripe with promise for everyone's amusement.
And thanks guys. I am sincerely grateful for the input. It's an amusing story and it must be a slow news night for you.
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February 04, 2007
Blackwater's Christmas Mystery
When Rep. Henry Waxman bangs the gavel and opens hearings on Blackwater's security operations in Iraq Wednesday, let's hope the California Democratic chairman of the House Government Reform Committee asks about the rumor of a murder in the Green Zone on Christmas Eve:
The rumor began this way via email:
"On [Christmas] eve (2006) here in the Green Zone a Blackwater employee got into a scuffle with an Iraqi personal guard that was guarding a judge and shot him ten times and killed him. The Blackwater employee was drunk. Why did he have his weapon on him? He has been whisked out of Iraq as fast as possible so the local authorities could not get a hold of him.Is this true? Don't know. Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell is silent on the question.Blackwater is trying to keep it all hush-hush so the media doesn't find out about it and dirty their already dirty reputation. Now all the Blackwater employees are pissed off cause they have installed a no alcohol ban on all Blackwater employees."
Reporter Bill Sizemore with Virginia-Pilot didn't get anywhere with Tyrrell either. But he did get State Department confirmation a month ago that a civilian U.S. contractor shot and killed an Iraqi security officer.
That's all Sizemore could get out of State. The US embassy spokesman in Baghdad declined to say what company was involved, citing the U.S. Privacy Act. However, two independent sources told The Virginian-Pilot that the alleged killer worked for Blackwater. The high-profile security company does a multi-million business providing security to U.S. diplomatic staff in Iraq under a State Department contract.
Given Blackwater's business with the State Department, are we going to hear that Blackwater, by extension, enjoys diplomatic immunity? Will Blackwater comment on the incident while under oath?
Stay tuned, because a long list of private security shootings and related problems in Iraq have been swept under the rug. Those incidents should be thoroughly investigated.
So far, not one private security contractor in the course of four years has been publicly charged with any criminal wrongdoing in Iraq.
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Contract Nation
Safavian
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020407Z.shtml
Security Contracts to Continue in Iraq
New Top Commander Counts Hired Guards Among His Assets
By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 4, 2007; A19
The Defense Department plans to continue hiring private contractors
to provide security at reconstruction projects in Iraq and to train
U.S. and Iraqi military officers in counterinsurgency, despite
problems with past contracts for such jobs that traditionally have
been done by military personnel.
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norman mailer
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/01/31/midday2/?rsssource=1
Results 11 - 20 of about 254 for "norman mailer".
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7040474
http://www.studio360.org/episodes/2007/02/02
Results 1 - 10 of about 473 for norman-Mailer
http://www.sfstation.com/norman-mailer-in-conversation-with-michael-krasny-e29387
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/norman-mailer/
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February 03, 2007
A Convenient Night for Gore
Gore entertaining another run for the White House?
Capitol Hill conventional thinking says.... No way..... But wait until the fat lady sings -- or better yet, wait and see if Al Gore loses 25 to 30 pounds by Oscar night.
Chances are looking strong that his enormously successful power point presentation, I mean, documentary, on climate change -- no, no, I mean GLOBAL WARMING, will fetch an Oscar for best feature documentary. (An Inconvenient Truth is the third highest grossing documentary of all time.)
If Gore wins, there would be no better time to announce a presidential bid. His former campaign manager, Donna Brazile, says it's possible.
"Wait till Oscar night," she is telling people, reports The Morning Call of Allentown, Pennsylvania, where she recently gave a talk. "On Oscar night, if Al Gore has slimmed down 25 or 30 pounds, Lord knows.''
More on Gore.
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Flying First Class Pelosi (and her entourage)
WHAT'S THIS?:
Speaker Pelosi wants to fly military planes to her congressional district in San Francisco on a regular basis "not only for herself and her staff, but also for relatives and for other members of the California delegation. A knowledgeable source called the request 'carte blanche for an aircraft any time.'"
So says reporter Rowan Scarborough of The Washington Times.
Of course, Republican hacks may be using The Washington Times as a pawn to advance their own political vendetta -- Rowen says the story came from sources in Congress and in the administration.
THEN AGAIN: Pelosi could go back to flying commerical planes like the rest of us.
UNLIKE MOST OF US: Just be careful about wrinkling those Armanis, darling. Steerage can be so -- cramped.
If Pelosi's flying Air Force planes the way Hastert did (Post-9/11 precautions for the third in line to the White House), then she may as well take as many other California lawmakers as possible. It's a long, expensive trip and they already fly commercial airlines every week or two on the taxpayer's dime. So there's an economy of scale to be weighed and if Pelosi really wanted to play it cool, she would invite Republicans along for the ride. Just throw them in the back with the luggage. Let them eat pretzels.
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February 02, 2007
Troop Surge could Reach 48,000 in Theater
And the Number of Contractors?
The Hill beat Army Times on this by a few hours:
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicts that the White House push to pump up troops in Iraq by another 21,000 will require an even larger troop deployment in the region as support to those troops.
President Bush forgot to mention that in his State of the Union message when he first unveiled the proposed troop buildup. Now, CBO estimates that support troops could inflate the "surge" to 48,000.
One wonders. Say the oversight was intentional. Perhaps Bush intends to send contractors to support the surge rather than extra troops.
FUZZY MATH QUESTION: Given the present ratio of 100,000 contractors/140,000 US troops in Iraq, how many more support contractors will be packing their bags to support the president's 21,000 troop surge?
The Washington Post interprets the CBO numbers as involving "up to 48,000 troops and contractors" costing between $9 billion and $13 billion for the first four months. Sorry guys, you're making it up. The word "contractors" is not mentioned one single time in the CBO report. All it says is 48,000 troops. (The need for "contracting" personnel is mentioned, but that means military people -- civilian or uniformed -- who write contracts.)
Or maybe Bush always intended ONLY to send contractors for his surge support. That way, there's no misleading about the number of troops he wants to send.
Stay tuned and keep an eye on the number of Krispy Kremes being shipped.
Why does CBO estimate the President's Iraq surge could actually total 48,000 troops?
U.S. military operations rely on substantial support forces that include uniformed personnel to staff headquarters, serve as military police, provide communications, and handle the contracting, engineering, intelligence, medical and other services. Apparently, White House planners haven't accounted for that.... And all you have to do is look at past planning for Iraq to realize this oversight is standard operating procedure for Bush and Company.
According to CBO:
"Over the past few years, DoD's (Department of Defense) practice has been to deploy a total of about 9,500 personnel per combat brigade to the Iraq theater, including about 4,000 combat troops and about 5,500 supporting troops."
Using that formula, even scaled-back support forces would still result in a total of 35,000 troops to be sent to Iraq, says CBO.
Posted by davidphinney at 10:23 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 01, 2007
Tim Hates Chris and Other Nasty Business
Kiss, kiss in the Beltway. Tales of media favors, backstabbing and manipulation.
This morning's Los Angeles Times reports on the Libby trial:
As they talked by phone, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby scribbled down a series of Machiavellian suggestions from Cheney's then-communications guru, Mary Matalin: What to do about MSNBC talk show host Chris Matthews and his steady barrage of Iraq war criticism? "Call Tim," Libby wrote, referring to Tim Russert of NBC News. "He hates Chris."
No mention of that in MSNBC.com's wire rewrite.... Mmmm, what a love fest.
Testimony from two of the Bush administration's top media handlers -- former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer and former Cheney communications director Catherine J. Martin -- have largely taken center stage during the first five days of the trial, notes reporter Greg Miller with the LA Times.
And, those crafty media handlers in the Bush White House spent a good deal of time scheming away, doling out news like bon bons:
Martin, in particular, offered in her testimony last week an unusually detailed description of how the White House seeks to manipulate the news media.She described plans to leak stories to certain reporters, including the New York Times' David E. Sanger and the Washington Post's Walter Pincus; freeze out others, such as New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof; book administration officials on talk shows such as Russert's "Meet the Press"; and release bad news on weekends, when it was more likely to be ignored.
(Now, how can a working reporter take the White House press office seriously the next time a press officer answers a question with the perennial "when's your deadline?")
It sounds as though office politics at the White House were just as manipulative. Tim may hate Chris, but somebody at the presidential mansion unsheathed the long knives for Libby as well.
Tim Reid with The Times reports on nasty accusations that West Wing power players tossed Libby out to the snarling dogs beyond the White House gate:
Mr Libby's lawyers claimed yesterday that White House officials rallied around Mr Rove but stopped short of protecting Mr Libby. Having been asked by Mr Cheney to rebut Mr Wilson's criticisms, Mr Libby felt betrayed and sought out his boss."They're trying to set me up. They want me to be the sacrificial lamb," the attorney Theodore Wells said, recalling Mr Libby's end of the conversation. "I will not be sacrificed so Karl Rove can be protected."
ADD: Justly noted. Ana Marie Cox beat the clock with her "Tim Hates Chris" item yesterday. After posting on Time.com, she later added the caveat:
UPDATE: Just to be clear, not everyone hates Chris Matthews (though apparently many commenters do); I just think there's something kind of awesome about "Everyone Hates Chris" being a show on the CW network. I am personal a long-time, committed fan of Matthew's eccentric approach to political chat, n.b.: "ALL PANTS ARE MADE IN CHINA NOW!"
(And not to burn a bridge to future TV appearances?)
Posted by davidphinney at 01:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
It Sounded Good at the Time
This 1970 photo is of a young New York college student named Norm Coleman who is today a conservative, redmeat Republican senator from Minnesota. Alternet's Evan Derkacz describes the once-long-haired stud as a Jewish kid from New York who became "Minnesota's anti-gay, anti-woman, pro-war Senator."
Why dredge up this Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde morph-over now? Because liberal firebrand and comedian Al Franken is readying a Democratic Senate bid against Coleman. There's already some mumbling in the Coleman camp about Harvard-educated Franken, one-time Saturday Night Live star, representing "Hollywood values" and being out of touch with Minnesota.
Franken's retort:
"If I do run against Norm Coleman in '08, I'll be the only New York Jew in the race who actually grew up in Minnesota."
Both Franken and Coleman were born in New York, but Franken moved to Minnesota when he was a kid. Coleman grew up in Brooklyn, New York.
In 1998, journalist David Schimke with the Minneapolis/St. Paul City Pages dug up this little tidbit of a comment made by Coleman during his college days on Long Island:
"I know these conservative kids don't fuck or get high like we do (purity, you know).... Already the cries of motherhood, apple pie, and Jim Buckley reverberate thorough the halls of the Student Center. Everyone watch out, the 1950s bobby-sox generation is about to take over."
Coleman isn't the only swing hitter in politics. Hillary Clinton once campaigned for Barry Goldwater in 1964. Arianna Huffington was one of Newt Gingrich's most energetic cheerleaders in the mid-1990s.
Posted by davidphinney at 12:22 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Perfect Storm: Kodak Moments for News Media
Any reporter or editor monitoring contracting in Iraq has got tofollow this thread:
Washington, DC, February 6 & 7: The Lasting Impact of CPA Decision-Making on Iraq, Reconstruction and Reliance on Private Military Contractors.
Houston, Texas, February 9: KBR Hands Out Defense of Freedom Medals to Iraq Workers.
Knoxville, Tenn., February 10 Iraq Contractors Meeting Planned for the VFW
Post. (Major media knows exactly why they will be attending this one.)
Posted by davidphinney at 01:39 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack