September 28, 2007
A Review of an Alleged Million-Dollar Bribe
Update on Jeff Mazon, a KBR contract officer being accused of taking bribes from businesses seeking work to support the US military in Iraq: Country Club Hills man accused in Iraq war kickback scheme.
Mazon faces four counts of major fraud and eight counts of wire fraud. Under way in federal court in Rock Island, Mazon's trial has shed light on other allegations of wartime contracting abuse, implicating another contracting firm. Neither he nor his lawyer returned a call for comment. -- Daily Southtown
Sources tell me the man who allegedly bribed Mazon, Ali Hijazi, is still free in Kuwait doing business, despite extradition requests by the US Justice Department. (.... Perhaps Hijazi knows too much and no one wants him blathering in US courts?) Hijazi's company, La Nouvelle, has been the subject of inflated contracts during congressional hearings when Republicans were in control of Congress and they disclaimed allegations of La Nouvelle's padded contracts as wartime exigencies.
Interestingly enough, Mazon's story is related to allegations that the US embassy contractor in Baghdad had also been engaged in bribing KBR contract officers.
Posted by davidphinney at 04:22 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
September 25, 2007
The Buzz about Krongard
http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2007/09/what-a-tangled-.html
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004232.php
http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=11993
What a tangled web we weave
Yesterday, we wrote about the letter House Government Reform and Oversight committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) sent (pdf) to State Department Inspector General Howard J. Krongard, detailing numerous alleged improprieties committed by him. Among these is the assertion that:
You impeded efforts by your investigators to cooperate with a Justice Department probe into allegations that a large private security contractor was smuggling weapons into lraq. (page 2 of this pdf)
This morning, the AP's Richard Lardner moved the ball forward a bit by identifying that company--Blackwater:
Although the security company was not named in the letter, several senior administration officials confirmed it was Blackwater.
Blackwater is a very politically-connected company, as several have detailed. More specifically though, the State Dep. IG Howard Krongard's brother is A.B. "Buzzy" Krongard, who formerly was the executive director at the CIA (its number three position--he was replaced with the infamous Dusty Foggo).
In an article on the revolving door between Blackwater and the revolving door, Harper's Ken Silverstein noted:
Robert Young Pelton, author of the new book, Licensed to Kill , says that an early Blackwater contract—a secret no-bid $5.4 million deal with the CIA—came in 2002 after Prince placed a call to Buzzy Krongard, who was then the CIA's executive director.
Buzzy Krongard worked alongside Cofer Black, now Blackwater's vice chairman, who was director of the CIA's Counterterrorist Center until 2002. After his tenure at the CIA, Cofer Black worked at the State Department as its Ambassador-at-Large — a roving ambassador — for counterterrorism, before going to work at Blackwater in February 2005.
In addition to that, the parent company of Blackwater, the Prince Group, hired former Defense Department Inspector General Joseph E. Schmitz as its chief operating officer and general counsel in 2005 as he was coming under suspicion for also engaging in inappropriate acts that compromised the integrity and independence of the Pentagon Office of Inspector General. Schmitz was investigated by the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency's Integrity Committee and exonerated, though questions remain about the PCIE investigation, one source tells POGO (more on this hopefully to come).
So, Blackwater's Joseph Schmitz, who knows the ins and outs of IG investigations, works with Blackwater's Cofer Black, who worked with the brother (Buzzy Krongard)--who may have helped Blackwater out early on himself--of the Inspector General (Howard Krongard) responsible for investigating Blackwater. It's a small world indeed.
Stay tuned.
UPDATE: TPM Muckraker Spencer Ackerman flags us and adds more to the story on Blackwater's influence.
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September 23, 2007
Lost Weapons
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/09/20/cbsnews_investigates/main3283595.shtml
Posted by davidphinney at 04:32 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
private military
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2984818.ece
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2174510,00.html
http://www.abcnews.go.com/WN/IraqCoverage/story?id=3619090&page=1
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N18462252.htm
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/09/17/america/NA-GEN-US-Iraq-Smuggled-Cash.php
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/356710/army_captain_accused_of_accepting_bribe.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/21/AR2007082102106_pf.html
http://dwb.islandpacket.com/editorial/letters/story/6652423p-5928029c.html
Posted by davidphinney at 04:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
senate hearing
http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=133062&ran=226447
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DOD Failed to Stop Worker Exploitation in Iraq
The Washington Post finds little evidence of human trafficking in the United States despite well-funded programs to combat it. But the lengthy page-one Sonday story above the fold neglects to mention the allegations of trafficking under US-funded contracts in Iraq.
Human Trafficking Evokes Outrage, Little Evidence
http://www.nwfdailynews.com/article/9194
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/09/12/eveningnews/main3254966.shtml
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view_article.php?article_id=84576
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA091107.human.trafficking.KENS.c56879b2.html
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2007/sep/12/modern_day_slaves_work_among_us/
http://www.opinioneditorials.com/freedomwriters/jkouri_20070907.html
http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070908/NEWS01/709080360/1006/news01
http://www.herald-dispatch.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070825/NEWS01/708250328/1001/NEWS10
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/20/AR2007092000038.html
The unusual effort that unfolds to two full pages follows a brief but pointed story last week in Federal Computer Week relating a Feb. 15 memo from Air Force Maj. Gen. Daryl Scott, who oversees all contracting activities for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The momo claims that problems involving contractors' treatment of low-paid international workers, which the military found in 2006, were ongoing.
Scott's Feb. 15 memo, summarized the findings of a December 2006 report by the inspector general of MNF-I:
"Unfortunately, the IG found that many third-country nationals are paying excessive recruitment fees, and almost half of (them) still have not been provided the mandated 50 square feet of living space," Scott wrote in a memo addressed to senior procurement officials in the services and the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
In the memo, Scott asked Pentagon officials to help ensure that contract language and clauses of the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement prohibiting such practices be applied to all contracts performed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Trafficking-in-persons “violations are serious offenses,” Scott wrote. “MNF-I and my command take a zero-tolerance approach to any violation. Thank you for assisting us to ensure (that) all contractors performing in Iraq and Afghanistan comply.”Despite the issue’s severity, DOD’s senior procurement official was unaware of the memo. In an Aug. 27 FCW interview with DOD procurement chief Shay Assad, one of the intended recipients of Scott's memo, Assad said he had never seen it. "It's addressed to me, but I haven’t seen it," he said after a reporter showed him the document.
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Badges Dishonored
A DynCorp worker was busted Tuedasy for alledgedly approving various badges to Iraqi friends and a DynCorp vice president allowing access to Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone even though they were not entitled to receive them.
DynCorp finds the allegation disturbing and an government contracting association leader, Stan Soloway, president of the Professional Services Council, cautions that the case should not be viewed as an indictment of the tens of thousands of military contractors in Iraq. "There is absolutely no evidence that there have been any more security problems with contractors than with federal government employees or anyone else," Soloway told The Washington Post.
But the fact is, many contractor employees believe that the Pentagon and State Department badging process -- largely handled by contractors -- is regularly violated for favors. Stay tuned for similar stories.
Posted by davidphinney at 02:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 21, 2007
'War-Zone Procurement System in Disarray'
Up, up and away:
Criminal investigators are now scrutinizing $6 billion in spending on Pentagon contractors operating in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan that (allegedly) provide essential supplies to American troops -- including food, water and shelter, according to congressional testimony Thursday. That's up from a previously acknowledged $3 billion.
An additional $88 billion in Pentagon spending in the region is also being audited. The New York Times reports on the congressional hearing:
"In a combat environment, we didn’t have the checks and balances we should have in place," said Shay D. Assad, director of defense procurement and acquisition policy. "So people who don't have ethics and integrity are going to be able to get away with things."
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Embassy Contractor Accused of Bribes
The Kuwaiti company building the U.S. embassy in Baghdad has been accused of agreeing to pay $200,000 in kickbacks in return for two unrelated Army contracts in Iraq. See the AP report.
ALSO: The limited partnered investigation by the embassy contractor and Philippine officials of possible labor trafficking is officially closed. (Sounds like consensual labor smuggling and visa violations by a contractor to the US State Department).
The Manila Times concludes: "Illegal trafficking of Filipinos into warstruck Iraq by a Kuwait-based construction firms has remained unabated. Special Ambassador to the Middle East Roy Cimatu has confirmed that the First Kuwait International, the subject of a previous complaint by a Filipino senator, continued to recruit Filipinos despite a deployment ban in Iraq since 2004."
Meanwhile, Filipino overseas workers are being deployed in Iraq in violation of the continuing Philippine ban, the country's special envoy to the Middle East Ambassador Roy Cimatu said.
Keep watching this story. There is more to follow.
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September 18, 2007
US State Department Inspector General Probed for 'Cover Ups'
The US State Department's chief investigative arm is on the hot seat for allegations that Inspector General Howard J. Krongard routinely thwarts investigations for political reasons to cover up embarrassing contracts with the US State Department and the Bush administration.
According to a letter by the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government, Krongard's staff has suffered from a sweeping exodus of resignations because of Krongard's antagonism towards investigations.
One investigation regards allegations of labor trafficking and worker abuse at the $592-million embassy project in Baghdad. Interestingly enough, I approached Krongard last January about the complaints following a congressional hearing on another matter.
Krongard's jaw dropped when I told him I had transcripts of workers who claimed they had been coerced to work at military camps in Iraq by the contractor building the embassy. Krongard told me he couldn't comment because it was under investigation. He told me to call his office the next day but no phone calls were ever returned.
Of course, Krongard never spoke to the people making the complaints about workers at the embassy. And his investigation was specious at best: He gave the contractor a heads up about his investigation months in advance of personally arriving at the embassy site. He then asked the contractor to select six workers out of an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 for him to interview. He then reported "nothing came to our attention," in April 2007 indicating poor treatment of the workers after questioning from Aljazeera about the allegations.
When Krongard was asked at a congressional hearing last July why he didn't speak to embassy workers John Owens and Rory Mayberry about their complaints that the contractor was smuggling workers into Iraq and then hosting them to less-than acceptable conditions, Krongard said he didn't feel it was necessary. He said he had read my work on the subject and that was sufficient.
One problem: My stories that included Mayberry and Owens first appeared mid-October 2006. Krongard made his inspection the month before in September. Krongard must be telepathic. Then again, some believe Krongard was party to telling the contractor to clean up its act before he visited the embassy site.
That July hearing prompted the Philippine government ot investigate the contractor and the conditions its citizens were working under. Some 100 Filipino workers were then repatriated from Iraq who were working around Iraq for the contractor. Interestingly enough, the Philippine investigators, like Krongard, only spoke to the embassy contractor, First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting during their probe. They never contacted Owens or Mayberry.
Here is Waxman's press release and link to the letter to Krongard.
Posted by davidphinney at 03:55 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 17, 2007
A Meeting of Minds: Fighting them (and us) 'Over There'
President Bush's repeatedly argues that it's better to fight terrorists in Iraq than what for them to attack the United States again. He also claims that al-Qaeda wants to "drive us out" of Iraq. However, U.S. intelligence intercepted an internal al-Qaeda communique that al-Qaeda has us just where it wants us -- stuck in Iraq.
The letter written by senior al-Qaeda operative Atiyah Abd al-Rahman claims that "prolonging the war is in our interest." Few ever challenge President Bush with this new finding, which was translated and analyzed by the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point.
Consortium News posts the relevant excerpt at as well as the entire letter.
Of course, even the CIA has suggested that the war in Iraq is a great training ground and recruitment poster for terrorists bent on fighting the United States.
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Who is Alexis Debat?
Former ABC News terrorism consultant gets roughed up by his former boss and others for allegedly faking interviews under his byline:
Former President Bill Clinton, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan have added their names to the list of people who say they were the subjects of fake interviews published in a French foreign affairs journal under the name of Alexis Debat, a former ABC News consultant. ABC News
Debat was a consultant on terrorism for ABC News for five years until this June, when ABC News officials demanded his resignation after he failed to satisfy questions raised about his academic credentials.
I recall pitching a story to Debat once. He said he had it great at ABC and was once handed $20,000 in cash to travel in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
ABC hired Mr. Debat as a consultant in November 2001. Mr. Debat said: “I was on the ABC payroll. They sent me to Pakistan.” He called himself a consultant who also reported information for the network. He said he even occasionally shot video that the network used.
He also told me he was a former high-level official with the French Ministry of Defense, something that that French officials are not discrediting via The New York Times:
And the French Ministry of Defense tried to debunk his claims to have been an official or adviser in the ministry, saying he was little more than an intern.... Mr. Debat said the French government was out to discredit him because he had appeared on television identified as a former Defense Ministry official.Rue89 runs through the allegations of dirty laundry in How Alexis Debat managed to cheat everyone in Washington.
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Iraq Government Bans Blackwater Security Company
The Iraqi government said it had revoked the license of Blackwater USA, a private security company that provides protection for American diplomats across Iraq, after shots fired from an American convoy killed eight Iraqis:
Abdul-Karim Khalaf, a spokesman for Iraq’s Ministry of Interior, said the authorities had canceled the company's license and barred its activity across Iraq. He said the government would prosecute the deaths, though according to the rules that govern private contractors, it was not clear whether the Iraqis had the legal authority to do so."This is a big crime that we can't stay silent before," said Jawad al-Bolani, Iraq's interior minister, speaking on satellite television. "Anyone who wants to have good relations with Iraq has to respect Iraqis."
Associated Press has the story.
The Washington Post provided the details of the incident.
Christian Science Monitor does the blog on news coverage.
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Greenspan, Terrorism and Oil
Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greespan connects the dots on oil and the White House "War or Terrorism" in Iraq with his new book, The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World, released today. The Los Angeles Times relates Greenspan recalling:
"Whatever their publicized angst over Saddam Hussein's 'weapons of mass destruction,' American and British authorities were also concerned about violence in an area that harbors a resource indispensable for the functioning of the world economy."That comment elicited "clarification from Greespan in an interview with Bob Woodward at The Washington Post: "I was not saying that tha''s the administration's motive.... "I'm just saying that if somebody asked me, 'Are we fortunate in taking out Saddam?' I would say it was essential."
The Washington Post adds that Greenspan said: ....that he made his economic argument to White House officials and that one lower-level official, whom he declined to identify, told him, "Well, unfortunately, we can't talk about oil." Asked if he had made his point to (Vice President) Cheney specifically, Greenspan said yes, then added, "I talked to everybody about that."
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September 05, 2007
New Lobbyist
A Kuwaiti construction firm has hired C&M Capitolink to represent it before congressional committees, according to a registration form filed with the Senate. Paul Behrends is the only lobbyist listed on the registration form filed for First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting.
The Hill
http://thehill.com/business--lobby/bottom-line-2007-09-04.html
http://www.crowell.com/Professionals/Paul-Behrends
Formerly spokesperson for Blackwater:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/31/AR2005083102602.html
Family members of the victims have sued the company, alleging negligence. Paul Behrends, a spokesman for Blackwater, said he is unaware of Schmitz's office undertaking any investigations of the company. "Joe has run the process of transitioning from the government to the private sector through the appropriate channels. There's no conflict of interest," he said.
Alexander Strategy Group -- http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060220/scahill
ASG was organized out of the same Washington townhouse as another DeLay-connected operation, the US Family Network, established in 1996 as a secret mini-war room for attacking Democratic candidates.
Career History
http://www.influence.biz/cgi-bin/display_player.pl?id=20000728164149
• Partner, Alexander Strategy Group, 2004-2006
• Senior Vice President, Rhoads Weber Shandwick Government Relations, 1997-2004
• Aide, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), 1990-97
• Alexander Strategy Group (Was DC)
Its swift shutdown offers a rare X-ray of the elaborate lobbying shell game that trades access to lucrative government contracts for funds to fill the campaign war chests keeping Republicans in power. Founded by DeLay's former chief of staff, Ed Buckham, ASG was a centerpiece of this game.
(Paul Behrends, a former national security adviser to Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, handled the account for Alexander. After the firm shut down, Behrends moved on to a firm called C&M Capitolink, and took the Blackwater account with him.)
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