David Phinney: March 2007 Archives

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March 29, 2007

Contractors Make Up 20 Percent of Iraq Casualties

Make a note of this: "Now that contractor casualties are 20 percent, people are noticing," a prominent Washington government contracting expert told me today.

That includes The Chicago Tribune taking notice:

"More than 770 civilian contractors working for U.S. companies have died in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion began on March 20, 2003, according to an obscure office inside the Department of Labor, which loosely tracks the figures". (Emphasis added.)

Note the words "'loosely tracks the figures": Because the Department of Labor only collects the casualty numbers of those reported by contractors. There are a number who do not. The Sandi Group was fined $40,000 for forgetting to report casualties. That company runs a small army of security contractors in Iraq numbering in the thousands. It has now reported at least 186 employees who have lost their lives. (The Pentagon maintains no public records on this.)

And the injury count: 7,761 contract workers injured in Iraq. But, notes The Chicago Tribune, the figure apprears "to understate the actual number of casualties because they do not include killings of off-duty workers. Nor do they specify the nationalities of the dead and wounded."

Other liabilities: "Now the family members of some of those American workers killed and injured in Iraq are raising their voices, complaining that the contributions of their loved ones have been forgotten by the U.S. public. Some allege that the workers were put in harm's way without adequate protection. Others charge that their own financial and psychological hardships have been ignored by the contracting companies that promised to help them."

More on contractor deaths and injuries.

SEE ALSO:
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

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March 24, 2007

Building on Palace Grounds and Filling Sand Bags:
DynCorp's Iraq Police Training Program

Iraqslogger.com significantly advances the story on DynCorp's tier-one subcontractor, Corporate Bank, a.k.a., The Sandi Group, in a new series Profits of War....

The Washington-based company headed by a Kurdish Immigrant Rubar Sandi was poised to make $8 million on the construction of a police camp at Adnan Palace in Baghdad's Green Zone by first getting the contract from DynCorp and then flipping it to another firm, Cogim of Italy, to do the work for a lot less money.

But there's so much more to the story.

As the middleman, Sandi spent several years flipping US-funded reconstruction contracts on almost 30 police camps around Iraq -- sometimes with margins as high as 50 percent, according to contracts I write about exclusively in Iraqslogger.com that never have been made public until now.

Here's the math on the Adnan Palace contracts....
Contracts intended for the Adnan Palace: (Word files)
DynCorp to Sandi's Corporate Bank for $55.1 million.
Corporate Bank to Cogim for $47.1 million to do all the work.

See any substantive difference in the contracts?

The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction said he couldn't see much difference either. He's been reviewing the contracts for more than a year. Youtube.com preserves his statement at a Congressional hearing in February for posterity.

The News: According to agreements represented by sources to me as the real ones, The Sandi Group had even larger markups on smaller police camps all over Iraq built under DynCorp's $800-million police training contract in Iraq.

The nut graph:

According to the draft agreements, when DynCorp hired Sandi's Corporate Bank in October 2004 to build a regional camp with 24 living trailers at Ad Diwaniyah, Corporate Bank billed $1,194,197. One month later, Corporate Bank then hired the Hozan General Construction Company of Baghdad for $605,000 to do the work. Similarly, DynCorp agreed to pay $833,680 for a 16-trailer camp at Al Kut. Corporate Bank then hired Hozan for $388,000. In Karbala, DynCorp agreed to pay $809,520. Corporate Bank turned to Hozan for $388,000. In effect, one dollar of reconstruction money became $50 cents....

The contracts between DynCorp and Corporate Bank and Corporate Bank and the "sub-sub-contractors" read almost exactly the same. An administrative assistant sitting at a computer could have easily employed a copy-and-paste approach and just replaced a few words where it says "subcontractor's name here."

A Sandi spokesman explained that the cash discrepancy was necessary to pay its own security squads to protect the subcontractors it hired; for contingencies if Sandi's subcontractors fell short of delivering the product and for support staff.

Here's something simple: A sandbagging effort to harden a police camp in Najaf.
DynCorp agreed to pay $67,397 to Sandi's Corporate Bank for 24,990 sandbags.
Corporate Bank then hired the subcontractor, Al-Kahirat, at $23,000 to do the work.

The Iraqslogger stories: Marking Up The Reconstruction: Part 1 and Marking Up The Reconstruction: Part 2.

(Don't know how many millions Sandi collected on Adnan Palace because the US State Department put on the brakes after paying out $43.8 million for the uncompleted camp that included 1,048 living trailers and an Olympic-sized swimming pool. But that's a whole different can of worms. You'll have to pay me a 50 percent premium to get into it.)

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March 21, 2007

Slap on the Hands:
List of Iraq-Related Contractors Receiving Penalties

Government investigators told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday that they were focusing on debarment and suspensions of individuals and companies as an approach to punishing wrongdoing by contractors in Iraq.

To Date: 14 individuals and companies have been suspended from future US government contracts and business, eight have been debarred entirely, and 12 are pending consideration for such punitive action, Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen said. (See related story: A Billion Here, a Billion There....)

Although not comprehensive, the list below the fold gives a flavor of the US Army's effort in that arena and the kind of crimes that government investigators are tracking.

Most of the suspensions and debarments deal with bribery and fraud and are directed at individuals: A number were employees of Halliburton/KBR; others are military personnel. Some are related to lesser-known Kuwaiti companies.

More Aggressive: This list was compiled during a quick scan of reports on the Army Fraud Fighter's Web site (expect possible lag time on link).

There is also a US government Excluded Parties List. Searches are based on individual names and companies.

It does appear the Army Procurement Fraud Branch (PRB) has been more active with fraud cases since the beginning of 2006.

PFB says it is working with the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction to coordinate suspension and debarment actions for Iraqi and third-party national companies for poor contract performance on several reconstruction contracts.

Bribery (International Zone, Iraq): On 13 April 2005, the Army SDO suspended Mr. Faheem Mousa Salam, an employee of KBR in the International Zone, Baghdad, Iraq. According to the complaint filed against him in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Mr. Salam offered payments to Iraqi police officials in exchange for contracts to supply the Civilian Police Assistance Training Team, Multi-National Security Transition Command - Iraq, with 1,000 protective vests and other equipment. Mr. Salam was charged with violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977. Mr. Salam was acting independently from KBR at the time the alleged misconduct took place.

False Statement (Iraq): On 27 April 2006, the Army SDO suspended Mr. Mohammed Shabbir Khan (Mr. Khan). Beginning in October 2002, KBR hired Tamimi Global, Ltd (Tamimi), a subcontractor. Mr. Khan was employed by Tamimi as the Director of Operations for Kuwait and Iraq. The suspension is based upon a warrant of arrest issued on the basis of a one-count criminal complaint filed in the United States District Court, Central District of Illinois. Mr. Khan is alleged to have made a false statement during an interview with law enforcement agents.

Bribery (Kuwait): On 27 April 2006, the Army SDO suspended Mr. Stephen Lowell Seamans, a former Procurement Materials and Property Managerfor KBR (prime contractor) under LOGCAP III working in Kuwait. On 3 March 2006, Mr. Seamans pled guilty in the United States District Court, Central District of Illinois, to committing wire fraud and conspiracy to launder money. Mr. Seamans devised a scheme to defraud the Government by accepting kickbacks from a subcontractor.

Bribery (Kuwait): On 2 June 2006 the Army SDO debarred Jasmine International Trading and Service Company, a Kuwait-based wholesaler of durable and non-durable goods to U.S. military facilities in Kuwait, and its CEO, Mr. Diaa Ahmed Abdul Latif Salem. Mr. Salem provided gratuities to Army personnel assigned to the Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, finance office. Both Jasmine and Mr. Salem were debarred for a period of one year, concluding on 26 February 2007.

Fraud (Iraq): On 19 July 2006, the Army SDO suspended Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Bruce D. Hopfengardner, USAR, based on accusations that he engaged in wire fraud, wrongful conversion, interstate transportation of stolen property, conspiracy, and money laundering. Between January and July 2004, LTC Hopfengardner was deployed to the Coalition Provisional Authority -- South Central Region (CPA-SC) as part of OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM to assist in the reconstitution of the Iraqi police force. On 7 July 2006, an indictment against LTC Hopfengardner in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia was unsealed, alleging his actions in connection with a bribery and fraud scheme involving multiple contracts awarded by CPA-SC during his deployment. As part of this scheme, LTC Hopfengardner was allegedly involved in the fraudulent award of contracts and the authorization of cash payments, despite defective performance (or non-performance) of contract terms. Furthermore, LTC Hopfengardner is accused of stealing $120,000.00 in cash from CPA-SC, in cooperation with other co-conspirators, and subsequently smuggling it into the United States at the conclusion of his deployment to Iraq.

Fraud (Iraq): On 15 September 2006, the Army proposed Mr. Christopher Joseph Cahill for debarment. Mr. Cahill pled guilty in the United States District Court, Central District of Illinois, to committing one count of major fraud against the United States. Mr. Cahill was employed by Eagle Global Logistics (EGL) as the Regional Vice President for the Middle East and India. In his capacity as vice president of this region, he committed fraud when he added a war risk surcharge of $0.50 for each kilogram of freight transported to Baghdad. EGL’s invoices, with the unauthorized surcharge, were submitted to Kellogg Brown and Root Services, Inc., which, in turn, passed the costs on to the Government for payment. (Ms. McCaffrey)

Bribery (Kuwait): On 5 September 2006, the Army SDO suspended Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Marshall A. Gutierrez, United States Army, who was assigned to the U.S. Army Area Support Group Kuwait (ASG-KU), located at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, as Director of Logistics. On 18 August 2006, LTC Gutierrez was arrested by CID agents based on allegations that between 1 July and 18 August 2006, he offered to disclose procurement-sensitive information to an employee of a contractor currently providing logistics support to the U.S. Army, in exchange for a cash payment of approximately $3,400. Immediately prior to his arrest, LTC Gutierrez was observed and recorded by CID agents receiving a cash payment of approximately $3,400 from the contractor. On 22 August 2006, the Commander, ASG-KU, preferred charges against LTC Gutierrez. (Mr. Persico) Bribery (Kuwait). On 11 September 2006, the Army SDO terminated the suspension of LTC Marshall A. Gutierrez, United States Army. On 5 September 2006, the Army SDO suspended LTC Gutierrez, who was assigned to the U.S. Army Area Support Group Kuwait (ASG-KU), based on allegations that, between 1 July and 18 August 2006, he offered to disclose procurement-sensitive information to an employee of a contractor providing logistics support to the U.S. Army, in exchange for a cash payment of approximately $3,400. LTC Gutierrez died on 5 September 2006.

Bribery (Kuwait): On 30 March 2006, the Army SDO suspended Gheevarghese Pappen, an Army Corps of Engineers civilian employee assigned to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. According to the complaint filed against him in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Mr. Pappen allegedly received payments from a Kuwaiti national, for contracts to provide apartments in Kuwait City for Army personnel. Mr. Pappen was arrested upon his return to the United States on 17 March 2006 in Atlanta, GA, and charged with Bribery of Public Officials.

Bribery (Kuwait): On 12 January 2006, the USAREUR SDO debarred Dan Trading, a Kuwaiti subcontractor, until 15 November 2006, and Mr. Amro Al Khadra, manager and director of sales for Dan Trading, until 15 November 2008. Mr. Al Khadra signed a bogus "loan contract" to assist CW2 Robert Wiesemann deal with German tax authorities in exchange for the CW2 Wisemann’s agreement to work Mr. Al Khadra. Based on Mr. Al Khadra's lack of integrity, and willingness to resort to deception to further his own goals, he was debarred.

Bribery (Kuwait): On 6 March 2006, the USAREUR SDO debarred CW2 Robert Wiesemann from contracting with the US Army until 4 December 2008. CW2 Wiesemann was debarred for integrity problems arising from his improper relationship with TWI and Dan Trading, two contractors. CW2 Wiesemann was charged with graft and bribery. He has since resigned with an Under Other Than Honorable Conditions discharge.

Fraud (Iraq): On 27 February 2006, the Army SDO suspended Eagle Global Logistics, Inc. (EGL) and its former Vice President of operations in Dubai and the Middle East, Mr. Christopher Joseph Cahill. On 16 February 2006, Mr. Cahill pled guilty to a criminal information filed against him in the United States District Court, Central District of Illinois, charging him with committing Major Fraud against the United States. EGL was a subcontractor of Kellogg, Brown & Root providing air-freight forwarding services to transport U.S. military equipment from Dubai to Baghdad.

Fraud (Rock Island): On 16 February 2006, the Army SDO debarred Mr. Glenn Allen Powell, a procurement official and an employee of KBR, until 14 September 2009. On 19 August 2005, Mr. Powell pled guilty to Major Fraud against the United States in the United States District Court, Central District of Illinois. He was sentenced to 15 months incarceration and ordered to pay $90,973.99 in criminal restitution to HQ, U.S. Army Operations Support Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois.

Major Fraud, Kickbacks (OSC, Rock Island): On 14 September 2005, the Army SDO suspended Glenn Allen Powell, a former employee of Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR), for receiving kickbacks from an Iraqi company. Mr. Powell pled guilty to a criminal information in the United States District Court, Central District of Illinois.

Failure to Perform a Contract (Iraq): On 29 September 2005, the Army SDO debarred DXB International, a Kuwaiti company, and its chief operations officer, Steven Ludwig, until 25 July 2008 based on their failure to perform a contract for the delivery of ice to Army troops in Iraq. The proposed debarment of Sidney Loggins was terminated.

Major Fraud by Former Halliburton-KBR Employee and Subcontractor (Kuwait): On 18 March 2005, the Army SDO suspended a former procurement employee of Halliburton-KBR (KBR), the managing partner of the Kuwaiti company, LaNouvelle, and LaNouvelle General Trading & Contracting Company following an indictment filed in the Eastern District of Illinois. The indictment charges four counts of major fraud and six counts of wire fraud. The contract involved in this action is LOGCAP III. The two individuals devised a scheme whereby the KBR employee improperly influenced the award of contracts for the storage and dispersal of fuel in Kuwait. This criminal activity was originally brought to the attention of investigators by KBR.

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Thanks, I Will Certainly Keep Private Security in Mind.....

Dear Mr. David Phinney:
Our security Company Land Of Fire is interested in working for you, we have the legal permit to work like a security a company in this country (Chile) under our laws and rules, and our guards they have all the permits and licenses to operate in Iraq, they have these badges ( ID ): WEAPON PERMIT CARD, MULTINATIONAL TASK FORCE CARD and DOD CONTRATOR CARD. all of those ID's are under U.S Deparment of Defense and Ministery of Justice Iraqui, our guards are ready to go to Iraq at any time.They have a valid passport. for any details you can contact the President of this Security Company in Chile (Land Of Fire) his name is ADOLFO GUZMAN his e-mail address is aguzman@lofsecurity.com or you can visit our website www.lofsecurity.com

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'The Iraqis who Trusted America the Most'

The New Yorker profiles and investigates the lives of Iraqi translators, once among the most loyal supporters of US efforts in Iraq:

"Mostly young men and women who embraced America's project so enthusiastically that they were prepared to risk their lives for it may constitute Iraq's smallest minority.... The arc from hope to betrayal that traverses the Iraq war is nowhere more vivid than in the lives of these Iraqis. America's failure to understand, trust, and protect its closest friends in Iraq is a small drama that contains the larger history of defeat."

Unkind Words for Titan:

"Titan Corporation, of Chantilly, Virginia, which until December held the Pentagon contract for employing interpreters in Iraq, was notorious among Iraqis for mistreating its foreign staff. I spoke with an interpreter who was injured in a roadside explosion; Titan refused to compensate him for the time he spent recovering from second-degree burns on his hands and feet. An Iraqi woman working at an American base was recognized by someone she had known in college, who began calling her with death threats. She told me that when she went to the Titan representative for help he responded, "You have two choices: move or quit." She told him that if she quit and stayed home, her life would be in danger. "That's not my business," the representative said.

(A Titan spokesperson said, "The safety and welfare of all employees, including, of course, contract workers, is the highest priority.")

Titan has one of the highest casualty rates among US contractors in Iraq: The San Diego Union-Tribune ran a jaw-dropping series on the company in 2005 -- Contract Workers Say 'Wild West' Conditions Put Lives in Danger, Friendly-fire victim Fights for Compensation with Claims that Titan Abandoned Him and although the number is much higher now, 136 Titan Corp. Workers Killed Since Iraq War Began

Here's The New Yorker story: The Iraqis who Trusted America the Most.

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'Human Trafficking is Slavery'
Even by US-Funded Contractors in Iraq

....And US-funded contractors taking away passports from low-paid migrant workers in Iraq is a crime under US law. That's a red flag indication of labor trafficking. The Pentagon found the practice is/was widespread under KBR.....

Why wasn't any subcontractor busted?

This is a very important question.... read on.

Manpower, Inc., sponsored a public service announcement last December calling on 1,000 of the world's largest companies to help end human trafficking. It was the first global corporation to sign the Athens Ethical Principles, an initiative of the "End Human Trafficking Now!" (EHTN!) campaign.

The principles declare "zero tolerance" for working with any entity benefiting in any way from human trafficking, including clients, vendors and business partners.

"Trafficking human beings is now the third largest illegal industry on the planet, following only arms and drug smuggling," said David Arkless, Manpower Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs and Special Envoy for the EHTN! campaign. "It is a modern form of slavery and no matter where companies are operating, their supply chains could be benefiting from trafficking. We cannot ignore this exploitation and we encourage other companies to join us in standing against this industry."

THE PENTAGON recently acknowledged that the practice of taking passports was "widespread" by companies working under US funded contracts in Iraq. It is a red flag for labor trafficking. Subcontractors employing low-wage laborers from impoverished Asian and African nations working under the Halliburton/KBR $16-billion-and-counting military logistics contract (LogCAP) were among the worst offenders.

Why were employers holding passports? To prevent employees from "jumping" to other firms, the Pentagon said. The sentence ended by adding "among other things." What "other things" were found is something the Pentagon declines to share.

In the Pentagon's words: "This practice violates the law under Title 18 U.S. Code." That's a serious violation punishable by fine and prison, but no company or individual has yet been publicly penalized.

Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 states:

....that "to prevent or restrict or to attempt to prevent or restrict, without lawful authority, the person's liberty to move or travel, in order to maintain the labor or services of that person, when the person is or has been a victim of a severe form of trafficking in persons, as defined in section 103 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or both."

US LAW DEFINES FORCED LABOR:
§ 1589. Forced labor

Whoever knowingly provides or obtains the labor or services of a person --
(1) by threats of serious harm to, or physical restraint against, that person or another person;
(2) by means of any scheme, plan, or pattern intended to cause the person to believe that, if the person did not perform such labor or services, that person or another person would suffer serious harm or physical restraint; or
(3) by means of the abuse or threatened abuse of law or the legal process, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both. If death results from the violation of this section, or if the violation includes kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or the attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, the defendant shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for any term of years or life, or both.

Check it out on YouTube.com: By this time tomorrow 36,000 people will have been trafficked.
------------------------------------------------------
Companies can sign up for the Athens Ethical Principles and learn more about the End Human Trafficking Now by visiting: www.endhumantraffickingnow.com

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'Ghost Soldiers' Fill Iraqi Military and Police Forces

No one knows how many police officers trained on the US dime or Iraqi soldiers remain in the field, and logistics -- those things having to do with supplies, maintenance, and transport -- is a mess, according to Charles J. Hanley with the Associated Press.

The Pentagon said Iraq's defense and interior ministers also are aware of "ghost" soldiers and policemen who exist only on paper -- a fraudulent device by which units can receive additional per capita resources, and corrupt officials can collect nonexistent recruits' pay.

Key Strategy Falls Short: US reconstruction efforts touted the training of military and police forces as a top priority to quell insurgency and strengthen Iraq's fragile government following the 2003 toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime. Yet, the program has failed to live up to expectations.

On the police side, under the Iraqi Interior Ministry, the Americans don't know "what percentage of the 180,000 police thought to be on the payroll are coalition-trained and equipped," Joseph A. Christoff, international affairs chief for the General Accountability Office testified before Congress last week.

Useless Trucks: More than 1,000 U.S.-made trucks delivered to the police feature computerized systems beyond the skills of the Iraqi mechanics who repair them. There is also a shortage of spare parts for the army's "motley" motor pool made up of 21 types of utility vehicles ranging from Chevrolets and Nissans to Czech Honkers.

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A Billion Here, a Billion There....

It all adds up

$10 Billion Missing: Cash intended for the reconstruction effort in Iraq has been misplaced, squandered or otherwise lost through sloppy bookkeeping, job delays and bloated expenses. Sometimes work was just paid for, but never performed.

How Much Cash Recovered? About $18 million.

Government investigators made those admissions made during the short, hour-long US Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday.

Of that sum, the US Justice Department recovered about $8 million to government coffers through criminal prosecutions, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Barry Sabin told the committee.

The small office of Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen fetched back another $10 million resulting from its investigations, Bowen said.

Lives Threatened: Investigating contractor fraud in Iraq is an uphill battle because of faulty and non-existent record-keeping and the ongoing violence in Iraq, Bowed explained. His office relies almost "exclusively on people coming forward." The difficulty is that those sources work in an environment where "lives are threatened," he said.

No More Business with Mr. Bad Guys?: Short of prosecutions, the government is pursuing debarment of contractors from future government work. To date, 14 companies have been suspended from future contracts, eight have been debarred entirely, and 12 are pending consideration for such punitive action.

Bowen's staff consists of eight full-time investigators in Iraq and another 12 in Arlington, Va. He said his team, mostly former FBI agents, opened 300 investigations of contractors in Iraq and Washington, and has arrested 10 Americans. Two are now in prison who stole millions from the war effort.

"I know there are more criminals to be caught," Bowen told the committee, adding that 79 cases are still open.

Connecting the Dots: Committee chairman, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., blasted the Justice Department for "failing to move aggressively enough" in taking on contractors who allegedly defrauded American taxpayers. He introduced a bill in January that would set up to a 20-year prison sentence and a $1 million fine for convicted swindlers. He suggested the Justice Department takes it easy on firms like Halliburton with "close ties" to the White House.

Prosecutors at the Justice Department have 28 ongoing investigations among Iraq contractors. Some could lead to indictments in the next few months, Sabin said. "It's a priority area for the Department of Justice."

A version of the Associated Press story by Lolita C. Baldor. And here's the take by Evan Lehmann of the Brattleboro Reformer.

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March 19, 2007

Worth a Read: 'Military Is Ill-Prepared For Other Conflicts'

The US military is short on training, personnel and equipment that would be vital to fight a major ground conflict elsewhere, senior U.S. military and government officials acknowledge, reports Ann Scott Tyson in The Washington Post today.

Tyson's survey: Includes testimony before Congress by Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, Army chief of staff, that concludes that the recent increase of more than 32,000 U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan has pushed already severe readiness problems to what some officials and lawmakers consider a crisis point.

Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff:

"You take a lap around the globe -- you could start any place: Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan, Venezuela, Colombia, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, North Korea, back around to Pakistan, and I probably missed a few. There's no dearth of challenges out there for our armed forces."

The troop increase has also created an acute shortfall in the Army's equipment stored overseas -- known as "pre-positioned stock" -- which would be critical to outfit U.S. combat forces quickly should another conflict erupt, officials said. That was the same problem at the beginning of the Iraq invasion in 2003. Halliburton/KBR contract officers regularly complained (to me on background) that the company had no prepostioned stock or pre-approved vendor lists.

Here's The Washington Post story, which states:

The Army should have five full combat brigades' worth of such equipment: two stocks in Kuwait, one in South Korea, and two aboard ships in Guam and at the Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean. But the Army had to empty the afloat stocks to support the troop increase in Iraq, and the Kuwait stocks are being used as units to rotate in and out of the country. Only the South Korea stock is close to complete, according to military and government officials.

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March 18, 2007

Factoids: Concerning Management of Iraq

FASCINATING ASSERTIONS: Made by a former US State Department advisor to the Iraqi Interior Ministry and reconstruction team, Marshall Adame:

1) With the exception of the British, Italians, Japanese and very few others, the US picked up the tab on other coalition forces. KBR/Halliburton has provided much of the logistics support, food and camps maintenance for these contingents. "Isn't that sort of like 'paying' them to be with us?" Adame asks. "If we did not offer to pay, would they have been there at all? Somebody needs to ask who paid for the salaries, transportation, housing, food, offices, and other amenities for most of the 'Coalition' members in Iraq."

2) A couple of hundred Iraqis work at the United States Embassy in Iraq. They are badged and vetted. Yet, the US military is prohibited from employing Iraqi citizens (with a few exceptions). Iraqis who are employed by the US military in Iraq are accompanied by a US soldier every minute they are at work.

3) Many of 'elected' Iraqi Government officials still on the government payroll have left Iraq and are living in neighboring Arab countries, France and England. Most are connected to rivaling militias

4) From 2003 until late 2006, the US-controlled Iraq Reconstruction and Management Office determined all determine civil planning priorities and civil "rule of law" plans for Iraq. Iraqi civil servants and elected officials had no input (with the exception of Provincial councils submitting preferences for reconstruction). "On many occasions we built things the Iraqis did not even want and told us so prior to construction."

5) The State Department Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) exist all over Iraq to establish rule of law, city planning, reconstruction, etc., but do not have a single professional Iraqi citizen on the teams.

6) About 8,000 brand new SUVs and Pickup trucks were delivered to the Iraqi Police under a program called "Project Daytona." Because the pace was not fast enough for the US Military Commander ( Lt. Gen. David H. Petraeus, who ran the military's police training program until last September), the Army began a hasty issue of the SUVs and pickup trucks with almost no accountability, no spare parts and no maintenance plan. In late 2006, almost none could be accounted for, but SUVs and Pickups just like the ones paid for by the United States are all over Baghdad and the Iraqi finance Minister, who used to control the Iraqi police, now has dozens at his disposal.

7) The costs for US Army Corps of Engineer controlled projects through the PCO in Iraq are more than double that of other US Government sanctioned contracting units such as the Air Force Contracting group in Iraq known as AFCEE.

8) Many of the US-built military base facilities for the Iraqi Military were looted and stripped of anything of value, i.e., air conditioning, copper wire, bathroom fixtures, furniture, etc., very shortly after being formally turned over to the Iraqi Military.

For Adame's full list of allegations and observations, see BlueNC.

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Preparing for the Iraq Prison Surge

Bracing for a Surge in Iraqi Prisoners: Resulting from the US and Iraqi government crack down on violence in and around Baghdad, the US military-led coalition has hired an Australian contractor to manage the Camp Cropper prison facility outside the capital.

The $65-million, two-year contract for feeding three meals a day to 5,000 prisoners and 600 Iraqi correctional officers at the high-security jail in Baghdad was awarded to the Morris Corporation, which snookered several US and international bidders on the deal. The Morris Group may be recruiting in Romania.

Prohibitions: Iraqis and Iraqi companies are prohibited from preparing and serving food to the detainees under the contract. Why? There is no vetting process "to accommodate Iraqi employees while ensuring adequate security," according to the contract proposal.

The same goes for the food, which must be brought in from outside Iraq. That's because U.S. officials want to inspect the food and, apparently, there are no approved Iraqi sources for food contracts.

Let's Hope: This contract goes better than the first one at Abu Ghraib. The food was described one US military officer as crawling with bugs with traces of rats and dirt, and so rancid that it was blamed for sparking riots, which led to a prison lockdown, which led to the torture and abuse that Abu Ghraib became known for.

No word about the contract competition for the larger prison facility, Camp Bucca, which holds over 13,000 inmates.

The Australian newspaper, The Age, has the story.

The last time the Morris Group tried working in Iraq soured quickly when it locked horns with Halliburton/KBR in a legal battle over a subcontract for a military dining facility. The legal battle led to a $20 million settlement in the Australian company's favor.

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Worth a Read: 'Ex-workers at Fort Sam Linked to Graft'

Nice Work: Government and contract employees once based at Fort Sam Houston fixed bids and manipulated contracts worth at least $79 million for computer equipment and technology, according to court records. Most of the contracts were awarded between 2002 and 2005 for work, equipment or services at nearly 20 Army hospitals.

I doubt this is "what could be one of the country's largest cases of graft against the Defense Department," but compliments to reporter Guillermo Contreras of the San Antonio Express-News for fetching the documents.

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March 17, 2007

War Costs: Who's Counting?

Defense Contracting in Iraq: The non-partisan Congressional Research Service gives the lowdown on contracting in Iraq as we know it today.

"The Department of Defense is the largest agency in the federal government. It obligated nearly $270 billion on contracts for goods and services in FY2005 -- an 88 percent increase over the amount obligated in the year 2000."

One big problem: There aren't enough government contracting professionals to oversee the explosion in Defense spending. While the size, shape, and complexity of service contracts have grown with the technical requirements, there is now an imbalance in those to watch them. In some cases the government has sought to hire contractors to do the job that federal employees used to perform.

"There can't be well-managed contracts without people to manage them," note two high-level government contracting officials, Allan Burman and Steven Kelman (They are a bit late in that observation compared to others. In fact, Kelman was a big champion of "acquisition reform," which led to the downsizing of the government's contracting personnel in the 1990s.) "The current situation creates a vicious circle: Overstretched people make mistakes, producing demands for more rules, creating additional burdens, giving people even less time to plan effective procurements and manage performance."

The full CRS report can be found at the Federation of American Scientists, which regularly keeps tabs on these usually confidential briefing papers for Congress.

MEANWHILE: The Associated Press offers a ballpark figure on the cost of war. Apparently, it's "relatively affordable." Iraq eats up less than 1percent of the nation's gross domestic product, compared with as much as 14 percent for Vietnam and 9 percent for Korea, reports AP's Matt Crenson. But unlike those previous wars, this one is being paid for with debt -- not taxpayer sacrifice.

An Aside: A recent study by Linda Bilmes of Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government put the total cost of providing medical care and disability benefits to veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan at $350 billion to $700 billion. Together with Columbia University economist and Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, Bilmes estimates that the real price of the Iraq war, when you add up spending to date, future costs and economic impacts such as elevated oil prices, is well over $2 trillion.

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March 13, 2007

Afterburn: Halliburton Feels Dubai Heat

The news media explores the motive: Is Halliburton CEO Dave Lesar opening a new headquarters office in Dubai as a quick exit strategy from the political heat?

Halliburton Watch: Charlie Cray's critical eye seeps into the coverage. "Halliburton is moving to UAE at a time when it is being investigated in the U.S. for bribery, bid rigging, defrauding the military and illegally profiting in Iran. It is currently in the process of divesting all of its ownership interest in the scandal-plagued KBR subsidiary, notorious for overcharging the military and serving contaminated food and water to the troops in Iraq."

The Washington Post: "People familiar with investigations carried out by the Pentagon and special Iraq inspectors general said there were many aspects of Halliburton's contracts in Iraq that have not yet come under full scrutiny. With Democrats in control of Congress, further hearings on those contracts are likely. Last year, Halliburton received $6.1 billion of Defense Department contracts, the sixth-largest total of any company. In 2005, it received $5.8 billion."

The New York Times weighs each side: David J. Lesar, its chairman and chief executive, says he is responding to the growing business opportunities in the Middle East and nearby areas. "But that did not stop many powerful Democrats from expressing skepticism about the motives behind the move, arguing that it may presage a wholesale move of Halliburton's corporate headquarters out of the United States and not merely for business reasons."

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March 12, 2007

Halliburton Packs its Bags for Dubai

Halliburton, which rocketed to being the sixth largest US Defense contractor during the war in Iraq, is opening a corporate headquarters in Dubai of the United Arab Emirates. The engineering and oil services giant claims that a change of scene will better position it for new business in the oil-rich region.

Reuters broke the story on Sunday. AND THE NEWS IS WHIPPING UP A STORM: Outraged Democrats are already discussing possible congressional hearings on the matter.

Charlie Cray on Huffington Post surveys the scandals: Halliburton Flees the Scene of the Crime
The Houston Chronicle takes stock: Investors Unfazed.

Halliburton already makes use of offices outside the United States, including a Cayman Island subsidiary, Service Employees International, Inc., which employs an estimated 70 percent of its workers for its military support contract in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Halliburton's subsidiary, KBR, ranks as the Pentagon's largest contractor in Iraq. KBR has billed some $20 billion or more in revenues from its Iraq work. Government and congressional investigators have repeatedly targeted KBR for its billing practices.

SPIN OFF: Halliburton plans to spin off the KBR subsidiary. (Before or after the move?) Can't wait to see the SEC filing on that one.

The Los Angeles Times rounded up a consensus of analyst opinions and concludes that business considerations rather than politics probably drove the decision to move. One unnamed Washington corporate lobbyist cautioned: "If there's a huge tax shift, then it's taking money from U.S. taxpayers while they're taking no-bid contracts."

And so it goes.

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Up for Bid: Security Contract in Iraq

BROUGHT TO YOU BY the US Joint Contracting Command: This sprawling 126-page pdf contract solicitation allows a rare look under the hood of what the Pentagon is looking for and requiring of private security operators in Iraq.

FREE DINNER to the reader who guesses the awardee on this one! Hmmmm....Blackwater? Global? DynCorp? Sandi? (Hey, is this a pre-selection?)

SOUNDS LIKE A BIG ONE: You have to scroll down a bit to page 7 to get the actual details in the statement of work, but the idea is to protect logistics sites, i.e., truck depots and warehouses, at Baghdad North/Abu Guraib and the Port of Umm Qasr, "as well as locations all over Iraq" that distribute reconstruction materials throughout the country of Iraq.
OUT OF IRAQ IN 2008? Well, maybe not everyone. This solicitation has one year options through 2010.
QUALITY ASSURANCE? It's the same-old same-old as far as oversight. The contractor has full reins on this one.

"The Government will rely on the contractor's existing quality assurance systems as a substitute for full-time Government oversight and inspection. Any in process inspections by the Government shall be conducted in a manner consistent with commercial practice and at the Government's convenience."

NO COERCION: The contractor shall ensure that all security personnel at Baghdad North/Abu Ghraib and the Port of Umm Qasr hire individuals who are likely not to be coerced, intimidated, or persuaded by potential insurgent activity in Baghdad and Umm Qasr; further, contractor must hire individuals who will not coerce, intimidate, or mistreat individuals based on race, religion, or sectarian affiliation; thereby enhancing the reliability of subject site security program. Further, employees must have the cultural knowledge of Iraq and its inhabitants.
QUICK REACTION FORCE: "The QRF team shall consist of 4-13 people depending on the situation. QRF personnel shall be equipped with vehicles and have access to a variety of weapons (i.e. M-16A2, M203, M60, M240G, M249, and Mk 19) to resolve hostilities. The standard QRF response time shall be 5-15 minutes."

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Web Surf: Unarmed Civilan Vets,
Protecting the Unarmed ,
and the Billion Dollar Club

"Home of the KBR Vets": A new forum for KBR people who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. This Web site just may indicate an element to the brewing debate over President Bush's call for establishing a Civilian Reserve Corps. (What's interesting to me is that many "unarmed" contractors go outside the wire on a daily basis -- notably the truckers who perform logistics services. That service was once performed by trained uniformed personnel who knew how to use a firearm when needed. Now,with a 100,000 contractors on the battlefield, the military must divide its focus between incoming fire, protecting unarmed civilians and, of course, protecting themselves.)

GIMME SHELTER: "Now more than ever before in history, the support of U.S. military forces is inherently tied to the success of contractors on the battlefield." Perhaps.... But the debate is still on about whether contractors do it better or less expensively than the military. Protecting Civilian Logisticians on the Battlefield by Major Richard J. Hornstein

RESOURCE: Interesting for the info digger focused on contractors. The Baghdad Business Center.

THE BILLION DOLLAR CLUB: The Pentagon announces the 100 Largest Defense Contractors for 2006. KBR hangs on to its recent ascendency to #6.

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March 11, 2007

Worth a Read: Philippine War, Spice is Nice, and Brain Power

Oh, yeah THAT WAR: Stars and Stripes knows there's a fight in the Philippines. Philippine fight much different than in Iraq. So does GMA7.

VANITY FAIR: Two great stories on contractors in Iraq and beyond. My former neighbor Robert Baer profiles Tim Spicer in Iraq's Mercenary King. Spicer's company, known as Aegis Defence Services, holds a $293 million Pentagon contract to coordinate private security companies in Iraq, effectively putting him in charge of the second-largest foreign armed force in the country.

AND Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele take a look at SAIC, the biggest, most powerful of the "body shops." The sprawling company employs 44,000 people and took in $8 billion last year. It sells brainpower -- including a lot of the "expertise" behind the Iraq war. Washington's $8 Billion Shadow.

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Connecting the Dots to Walter Reed Contractor

A THUMBSUCKING CONSPIRACY?: True or not, I have no idea, but the democraticunderground.com is all over the Walter Reed Army Medical Center story. This voluminous read connects a large $30 billion hedge fund, Cerberus Capital Management, to Vice President Dick Cheney, former Vice President Dan Quayle, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and several Republican Congressmen indicted for corruption involving kickbacks from defense contractors.

AND THAT is then connected to the Republican Congressional Campaign Commitee which supposedly received substantial contributions from managers running Cerberus, which, incidentally, apparently owns the second largest bank in Israel.

THIS LINE OF THINKING, somehow connects to International American Products Worldwide Services, which was awarded a $120 million contract to manage facilities at Walter Reed.

It may be a stretch or I just don't get the soundbite.... It reads like the typical mind-boggling muscial chairs in the contracting world. Somebody PLEASE get me the Advil and sort this out for me!

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March 08, 2007

Rumblings at SIGIR

Rowan Scarborough, The Examiner
Mar 7, 2007 3:00 AM (1 day ago)
Current rank: # 148 of 20,409 articles
WASHINGTON - The United States' special inspector for Iraq reconstruction is under investigation by a federal panel after former employees accused him of wrongdoing.

An eight-page complaint against Stuart Bowen Jr., appointed by the Bush administration as the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction in January 2004, was filed with the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency a year ago by six former employees, who declined to provide their names.

Bowen told The Examiner on Tuesday that the charges "are without merit" and that he expects to be vindicated. He said charges from former employees that he had long, unexplained absences from work are baseless. He said in some cases, he worked from home on final reports and performed other duties offsite.

"It's documented I've worked hundreds of hours of overtime for which I will not be paid," he said.

Bowen said the absenteeism charge was not brought by the PCIC's Integrity Committee. He said it informed him in a letter that three charges were being investigated.

They are: whether the SIGIR gave inaccurate budget estimates to the Office of Management and Budget; the propriety of a contract award to an auditing firm; and the cost of producing a color-studded book on the history of the SIGIR under Bowen's direction.

"The allegations are without merit, and I'm confident the investigation will prove that," Bowen said.

Of the former employees, he said, "The rules of the PCIE expect that investigations remain confidential until they are concluded, and these individuals have chosen to ignore those rules."

The PCIE is headed by Clay Johnson, deputy director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. It oversees the system of inspectors general and, in this case, assigned two investigators who have interviewed more than 30 people who have worked for Bowen.

Andrea Wuebker, an OMB spokeswoman, said Tuesday, "The investigation is really still ongoing, and so it is not appropriate to comment further on it."

Bowen is one of the country's most prominent federal investigators. Congress created the position to monitor the spending of more than $30 billion in reconstruction and development money provided to Iraq by the United States. Bowen has issued a series of reports on fraud and waste, has testified frequently on Capitol Hill, has been quoted widely in the press and has appeared on CBS "60 Minutes."

The former workers accused Bowen of not reporting to work for long stretches of time in 2004 to 2005, according to a copy of the complaint obtained by The Examiner.

"Mr. Bowen rarely came to work at various intervals, sometimes for multiple consecutive weeks at a time," the complaint says.

Bowen said that charge is not in play at the PCIE. He said a similar complaint was filed in 2004 and the PCIE cleared him.

The complaint was filed anonymously in February 2006 by six people, two of whom worked for the SIGIR at the time. The Examiner interviewed three of the six, as well as a former SIGIR worker who edited the complaint. They asked not to be named because they fear reprisals from Bowen or their current supervisors for talking to a reporter. Some contend they were fired by Bowen without justification.

While the complaint is anonymous, the names of the former employees are included in their complaint, along with the identities of other potential witnesses. The President's Council assigned the case to two inspectors general investigators from the Social Security Administration. It has the power to impose administrative penalties.

The workers also asked the council to review Bowen's practice of stopping in Paris for several days during trips to and from Baghdad. Bowen, who was in Paris yesterday after a trip to Baghdad, said he stops at the invitation of the embassy to brief French officials. He said his mother lives in Paris.

Investigating Bowen is a touchy issue for the White House. Bowen has issued a number of reports embarrassing to the administration and has uncovered fraud and waste in a number of projects.

In the process, he gained a number of bipartisan supporters in Congress.

The State Department moved in 2006 to end the SIGIR by sponsoring termination language in the Pentagon budget bill.

State officials said that, after three years of having a special inspector general, it was time to move his work to standing inspectors general at the Pentagon and State. But after Democrats took control of Congress, they enacted new legislation to extend the SIGIR.

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March 06, 2007

Boo Hoo for Bohos in Washington's Press Corps

"The passing of the Bohemian is certainly in many ways a great loss," he lamented. The newer generation was just as smart, he admitted, "but the personal side of journalism, with its ample sentiment and color, is gone, and the men who make newspapers what they are have been swallowed up in the general impersonal waste-basket of modern newspaperdom."

Compliments to John Kelly of The Washington Post for excerpting Washington Correspondents Past and Present -- Brief Sketches of the Rank and File by Ralph M. McKenzie, 1903. Kelly adds: "He never saw my etchings."

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March 04, 2007

A 'Clara Barton' of the Web for Civilian Contractors Injured in Iraq

Jana Crowder, raised in Houston and now living in Tennessee, just may deserve a medal. Certainly, many owe her their thanks.

Using the Internet to optimum effect over recent years, Ms. Crowder quietly built a community network that addresses the concerns of civilian workers and shares information among those fighting for medical treatment and disability claims. In its absence, there would be little else to turn to. Certainly, the Pentagon and the news media have paid little attention. The mounting casualty and injury numbers among civilian workers are largely ignored even though contractors on the battlefield are more heavily relied upon than ever before in recent history.

As the Kristi L. Nelson so eloquently conveys in the Knoxville New Sentinel, Crowder's reaching out has given her close contact to the invisible and largely overlooked Army of workers supporting the US military in Iraq:

She knows about the former truck driver who's still haunted by the smell of his friends' charred flesh from trucks recovered after his convoy was attacked by insurgents in Iraq....Or the driver who, lured to Iraq as much by the opportunity to serve America as by large paychecks, watched through the windshield as his fellow drivers were pulled from their trucks and shot, execution-style, by insurgents.

Check out Crowder's Web site: American Contractors in Iraq.

Or go to her newest project: America at WAR and PTSD and wait for the video to start streaming.

Scroll down this second page an extensive survey of the types of injuries that contractors face. It was compiled by Houston attorney Gary Pitts. He is among a handful of lawyers in the country who has stood up for the injured contractors facing the sometimes gut-wrenching bureaucratic obstacles standing in the way of having their medical and disability claims addressed.

Nearly 800 civilians working under contract to the Pentagon have been killed and more than 3,300 hurt doing jobs formerly handled by the U.S. military, according a February 23 Associated Press report. They are Americans as well as workers from around the world who labored for US efforts in Iraq. And contrary to the Pentagon's 2005 finding that contractors are not systematically targeted, the story notes: "The insurgents in Iraq make little if any distinction between the contractors and U.S. troops."

Clara Barton, too, was a volunteer.

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March 01, 2007

American Women Who Died in Iraq

Absolutely stunning is the Web page honoring 80 American women who have died serving their country in Iraq and the neighboring region -- young and old, uniformed and civilian. Scroll down and see their faces. Assembled by Noonie Fortin.

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Iraq Vet Says Bank Heist Might Be 'Political'

AN ARMY VET HAS BEEN TELLING THE NEWS MEDIA that he witnessed US military personnel commit war atrocities in Afghanistan and Iraq, including the rape of an Iraqi woman, the execution of 12 to 17 prisoners in Afghanistan and robberies. He claims that after reporting the crimes to his superior officers he was told "to forget about it."

Former Army Range Luke Sommer is now in Canada fighting US extradition efforts on charges that he was the mastermind behind robbingf a Tacoma bank last August. According to a December 17 Seattle Times story, Sommer "stops just short of admitting to the crime. But he says that if he did rob the bank, his motives were political."

The 20-year-old Sommer has made no direct admission of the charges relating to the $54,011 armed robbery,but he reasons that if Americans are let off the hook for war crimes and fraud in other countries, then why not forget about a little bank heist in the US? (Sommer has yet to detail the war crimes he claims he witnessed.)

CRAZY WORLD: If it's okay there, why not here?

The Army Times revisits the story this week with the headline Rangers as robbers?. It's all the standard safe re-reporting that Army Times top editors perfer, but the story does include a succinct comment from Sommer about the allegations against him: "It illustrates one very essential truth, that we are willing to tolerate it when it's against other people, but when it's against us, we will prosecute it to the fullest extent of the law."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mike Dion adds that the evidence will show that Sommer and other conspirators were planning to launch a criminal organization. "They wanted funding for it and that that's what this robbery was about," Dion tells the Army Times. Dion is leading the effort to extradite Sommer and two alleged co-conspirators from Canada.

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David Phinney

The ROUGH CUT .... phinneydavid (at) yahoo.com