May 15, 2008
Get Out with a 'Planned' Withdrawal
A conversation with retired British Army General, Michael Rose about his book Washington's War: From Independence to Iraq.
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May 14, 2008
Pile On: More Allegations of Cover Up at State
Another claim of cover up at the State Department comes from former State Department officials on Monday who told Senate Democrats that the department shut them up on findings of widespread corruption within the Iraqi ministries.
"The Department of State's actual policies not only contradicted the anti-corruption mission but indirectly contributed to and has allowed corruption to fester at the highest levels of the Iraqi government," said Arthur Brennan, who served as director of the State Department's Office of Accountability and Transparency at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.
Delivering his statement to the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, the long-time Republican and former New Hampshire judge added:
"The embassy effort against corruption, including its new centerpiece, the now defunct Office of Accountability and Transparency, was little more than 'window dressing."Although Brennan only served in Baghdad a few months, his claims carry more weight because he is not the first to claim that fraud has been overlooked by the State Department. The State Department's former inspector general, Howard Krongard, resigned last November after being accused of thwarting numerous fraud investigations stemming from contracts in Iraq.
Even more curious is the predicament of Radhi Hamza al-Radhi, the former head of the Iraqi Commission on Public Integrity, who testified before Congress about rampant corruption in Iraq. The Iraqi Judge said that nearly four dozen of his staff members were killed while working for him. Radhi is now seeking asylum, but apparently, the State Department has been dragging its feet.
Notes TPMMuckraker:
One of the former officials testified that "a senior State Department official had ordered agency employees not to give al Radhi references or contact him" for help with his asylum.
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December 20, 2007
Department Head of US Embassy Project in Iraq Resigns
The person in charge of building US embassies around the world, including the controversial and beleaguered $740-million new embassy in Iraq, has tendered his resignation effective December 31.
Despite his assurances last summer that the sprawling 104-acre Baghdad embassy complex would open on schedule and on budget in September, the project is likely to be extended well into next year. (The original completion date was intended to be June 2007.)
Retired Army Maj. Gen. Charles Williams, head of the State Department's Overseas Building Operations is the third high-level State Department official to step down amid serious problems related to the U.S. State Department's Iraq mission. Earlier this month, the department’s inspector general also announced his resignation after being barraged with allegations that he covered up and ignored complaints related to the Iraq embassy and other matters. The head of diplomatic security resigned in October following growing concern over the private security firm, Blackwater.
Ongoing criminal investigations of the Iraq embassy project by the US Justice Department and Congress continue to focus on allegations of contract rigging, shoddy work and labor trafficking. The embassy contractor is Lebanese-owned, Kuwait-based First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting.
First Kuwaiti has been accused of tricking foreign laborers into working on the embassy, mistreating them and paying $200,000 in kickbacks in return for two unrelated Army contracts in Iraq. The company denies the charges.Two other key subjects of the investigations: James Golden, an independent contractor who continues to head the State Department's Emergency Project Coordinating Office and Mary French, Senior Project Director for the new Iraq embassy.
Project creep: The Baghdad embassy originally was to cost $592 million. But the State Department informed Congress this year that design changes and new requirements would cost an additional $144 million. Some believe those revisions will be used to repair and cover up poor work already completed. Interestingly, when the Bush administration first proposed the project, Congress rejected the suggested billion-dollar-plus price tag and trimmed the appropriations request back to $600 million. That cost seems to be creeping back upward through the backdoor.
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December 07, 2007
Krongard Resigns
The US State Department's top investigator, inspector general Howard Krongard, is resigning after being battered by allegations that he thwarted and halted investigations that might be embarrassing to the Bush Administration. Those investigations included claims of labor trafficking and poor work at the US embassy in Baghdad (related stories here, here , here, here and here), the possibility of arms trafficking by Blackwater and other matters.
Here's the Reuters bulletin.
The Washington Post fills in some details, but glosses over the allegations of labor trafficking by the embassy contractor -- probably because it was a story broken by non-mainstream media despite the fact that mainstream reporters are frequent visitors to this blog, including those with The Washington Post.
Will this be an end to the questions Krongard neglected to investigate? Or did his apparent foot-dragging cover up any tracks of wrongdoing? Stay tuned.
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November 30, 2007
Waxman Postpones Krongard Hearing
The hearing regarding the State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard previously announced for the week of December 3, 2007, has been postponed, according to a press release from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
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November 28, 2007
Christmas Greeting for US Soldiers
My friend Jodie passed this along:
A Great Idea!!!When you are making out your Christmas cards this year, please
include one to:A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue,NW
Washington,D.C. 20307-5001If you approve of the idea, please pass it on to your friends.
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November 20, 2007
Reconstruction Company Convoy Arrested
ALMCO, a Dubai-based, Iraqi-run company with lucrative US contracts in Iraq has found itself in a bad situation.
One of its convoys transporting low-wage migrant Asian workers to the airport in a dump truck apparently began shooting at civilians, according to The Washington Post:
In total, U.S. military and Iraqi officials said, 43 people were arrested: 21 Sri Lankans, 1 Indian and 9 Nepalese contractors, 10 Iraqi security guards and 2 Fijian guards. The two Fijian guards had U.S. Defense Department identity cards, according to Maj. Brad Leighton.
Soon after the shooting from the security accompanying the convoy, a street crowd surrounded the truck as Iraqi soldiers and police arrived. Then some of the soldiers got on the truck and started beating the workers. It seems the workers in the open truck were mistaken for Afghan fighters, although they were unarmed.
A policeman at the scene told AFP that the incident occurred around noon on Monday and was unprovoked.
"A truck was transporting Asian workers through Karrada, escorted by three vehicles. They were driving on the wrong side of the road and guards in the vehicle opened fire to disperse people," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to talk to the media."Because of the shooting, a 20-year-old woman was wounded in the leg," he added.
ALMCO is a US military logistics contractor for food supply, construction and training, not a security firm, Reuters reports. It also holds a contract to build a courthouse as part of US reconstruction efforts.
Statements from the firm's employees, taken in front of a civil judge, "revealed attempted murder of Iraqi civilians and other violations."
It's a sad event, given the heartfelt interview that the Iraqi head of the company, ALMCO, once gave to CNN's Jane Arraf. He says that rebuilding Iraq is his definition of jihad despite resistance from the insurgents. See Almco's Website and look under "news & events."
Obviously, Almco has also made a bundle of money. The company began in 2003 with a $500 contract to transport fuel and now holds US-funded contracts worth hundreds of millions.
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New Study: Explosive Growth for War Contracts
U.S. government contracts for work in Iraq and Afghanistan have mushroomed more than 50 percent annually, from $11 billion in 2004 to almost $17 billion in 2005 and more than $25 billion in 2006, according to a new report by the Center for Public Integrity called "Windfalls of War II" (a supplement to a previous report).
Much of the study confirms the obvious, such as KBR's top billing for $16 billion from 2004 through 2006. But it also compiles a handy list of the top 100 contractors doing business in the war zones.
Unknown Identities: One of the most interesting findings is that "Over the three years studied, more than $20 billion in contracts went to foreign companies whose identities -- at least so far -- are impossible to determine." Here's the chart.
Missing Key Company: The report seems to have missed is Kuwait-based Public Warehouse Company -- now better known as Agility. The company has billed billions of dollars on the war effort in Iraq and is a primary logistical supplier for the military and civilian forces.
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November 16, 2007
'Family Feud' in the Making for CSPAN!
Brothers Howard "Cookie" Krongard and "Buzzy" Krongard may find their family feud wheeled out into the public when Congress holds a hearing to decide whether or not Cookie told the truth under sworn testimony on Wednesday.
Cookie first said that his brother had no ties to Blackwater before the House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform.... He then said yes, indeed, his brother was affiliated with the private security firm that Cookie was charged with investigating.
Committee Chairman Henry "Inquisitor-in-Chief" Waxman now notes that there were a number of other discrepancies between Howard Krongard's testimony and what the Justice Department and senior officials in the Inspector General’s office told the Committee.
"This is a serious matter given Howard Krongard's position as the Inspector General of the State Department. I expect the Committee to hold a hearing during the week of December 3, 2007, to provide members the opportunity to assess whether the Inspector General provided truthful testimony to the Committee. "
Waxman also sent a letter to Buzzy Krongard requesting an interview and documents relating to his communications with Cookie about Blackwater. After receiving the letter, Buzzy Krongard called Committee staff and provided information that differed significantly from Cookie's testimony.
Buzzy Krongard stated that Howard Krongard called him specifically to ask about any relationship he had with Blackwater "in preparation for his testimony" to the Committee. Buzzy Krongard stated: "He asked me whether I had any financial interest or any ties to Blackwater, and so I told him ‘I'm going on their Board.'" According to Buzzy Krongard, "He responded by saying, 'Why would you do that?' and 'Are you sure that's a good idea?'" Buzzy Krongard then said, "I told him that was my decision, not his, and that we just differed on that."Buzzy Krongard stated that during the Committee hearing, he was at home watching it live. He listened to Howard Krongard's prepared opening statement. Then, he heard Howard Krongard offer spontaneously the comment that his brother had no connection to Blackwater. Buzzy Krongard said: "You could have blown me over." During the hearing, he attempted to reach Howard Krongard by telephone. Before he could reach him, Buzzy Krongard received a call from Howard Krongard and explained again that he was a member of the Board.
Waxman's letter to his committee members is here.
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Republicans Attempted to Replace Stuart Bowen with Howard Krongard
Rolling Stone retreads an old story and reminds readers that congressional Republicans once tried to replace Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen with Howard "Cookie" Krongard, the State Department inspector general now accused by Democrats of covering up and thwarting numerous investigations in Iraq:
....you may remember that one of the last acts of the GOP controlled congress in 2006 was an attempt -- ultimately reversed -- to cut off funding for the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, Stuart Bowen, a longtime friend of Bush’s from Texas who earned the contempt of his political patrons by actually doing his job. The Republican efforts would have shut down his office -- which has exposed billions in waste, fraud, and abuse in Iraq -- and have turned over his duties to … you guessed it … Cookie Krongard.
I think the jury is still out on Bowen's work, but otherwise, here's the Rolling Stone blog by Tim Dickinson.
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Baghdad Embassy Investigations Detailed
Two key players in charge of the $736-million new U.S. Embassy project in Baghdad for more than two years have been named as targets of a US Justice Department investigation.
Both James L. Golden and Marry French work for the US State Department and both have become well-known and controversial figures among those who have worked on the sprawling project that is now said to be rife with construction problems and months behind schedule.
Golden is a hard-driving, independent contract employee hired by the State Department to oversee the project. He often led planning meetings and guided the selection of subcontractors with an influential hand.
French is the embassy project coordinator based in Baghdad. As an employee of the US State Department, she was responsible for assuring that the project was directed according to law.
Golden also is known for his hard-driving approach, his close relationship with the prime contractor, First Kuwaiti Trading and Contracting, and a penchant for identifying sole-sourced subcontractors to work on the project. Although Golden is a contractor himself, many believe he was authorized -- both tacitly and implicitly -- with sweeping authority and decision-making.
Mary French is often singled out by those familiar with the project for frequently ignoring warnings about shortcomings on the project, complaints about worker abuse, poor working conditions and allegations of labor trafficking at the project. She is also noted for a strong ambitious streak and many say that the embassy is her first large-scale project.
Both are said to have been working under enormous pressure from above to do "whatever it takes to get the project done" as part of the State Department's goal to establish a permanent, large-scale presence in Baghdad.
The two have regularly ignored emails and phone calls from me over the past two years regarding these assertions.
More to come, meanwhile,
Glenn Kessler with The Washington Post has the story.
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November 15, 2007
State Dept Investigator Backs out of Embassy Probe
Yesterday, State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard recused himself from the Blackwater investigation.
Today, the department's lead investigator has also removed himself from all queries related to corruption allegations involving the construction of the new U.S. embassy in Baghdad, according to the Associated Press.
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November 14, 2007
'Cease and Desist': Trafficking Investigation Thwarted at Baghdad Embassy
The US State Department's chief investigator, Howard Krongard, told his staff not to investigate allegations of labor trafficking at the US embassy project in Baghdad, a House Committee hearing revealed today.
During his opening comments, Rep. Henry Waxman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee noted:
There are also allegations that the building’s contractor, First Kuwaiti, was involved in labor trafficking. When Mr. Krongard heard that his staff might investigate this issue, he sent them an e-mail that said, as one official described it, "cease and desist all work, I’m taking care of this."
It's worse than that: I first reported allegations of labor trafficking and worker abuse in October 2006 in a now award-winning story: Flying Baghdad Embassy Express.
One source working for Krongard tells me that when the story appeared, a staff member commented: "The cat is out of the bag now."
If true it means Krongard knew about the allegations well before October 2006. (That may be, in part, because I began asking questions about similar allegations with State Department officials in April 2006.)
Nevertheless, the US Justice Department was interested soon after my story appeared, according to Waxman's investigators:
When the Justice Department expressed an interest in a possible criminal investigation and prosecution in November 2006, however, Mr. Krongard barred his staff from communicating with a Justice Department prosecutor. In an e-mail, Mr. Krongard wrote: "This is something I am working on. Please do not do anything without talking to me."
Investigators who recently resigned from Krongard's office tell me that they received "numerous" complaints from "multiple" sources in 2006 as well early 2007. Krongard deemed them unworthy of looking into until June 2007, however postponed his personal investigation until September 2007 when he visited the embassy site. At that time, Krongard interviewed six workers selected by the embassy contractor out of several thousand laborers and then took a walking tour with an armed escort.
By that time, Krongard had given a heads up to the contractor and US State Department officials overseeing the project. Many sources who were at the construction site in Baghdad say the contractor covered up its alleged mess.
Given that the embassy contractor, First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting, has been accused of trafficking by numerous parties in the past, (see here and here and here) some might expect Krongard to have acted far more responsibly.
Apparently, Chairman Waxman is among those.
Here is an excerpt from his committee investigation:
On a trip to Iraq with Deputy Inspector General Bill Todd...Mr. Krongard personally examined allegations that First Kuwaiti was engaged in labor trafficking. Mr. Todd told the Committee that Mr. Krongard's cursory investigation, which involved interviewing six employees pre-selected by First Kuwaiti and touring the construction site with armed guards, was "very unorthodox." Patti Boyd, the Deputy Assistant Inspector General for Audits, called Mr. Krongard’s investigation "an embarrassment to the community" and said it would "never pass muster … in any IG organization." Mr. DeDona, the Assistant Inspector General for Investigations, described Mr. Krongard's investigative approach as "ludicrous," and Brian Rubendall, a Special Agent-in-Charge, said it was "an affront … to our profession."
Interestingly enough: The Philippines also investigated First Kuwaiti after Waxman held a hearing about the trafficking allegations in late July. Phillipine officials also relied on First Kuwaiti as its primary source for the probe. The investigation resulted in the Philippine government repatriating 100 workers employed by First Kuwaiti who were found to be in Iraq illegally. I am also told by a second-hand source that India also repatriated 250 workers.
Was the Philippine investigation thorough? Perhaps.
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An Inconvenient Truth: Cookie's Brother
Mother Jones lays out a scathing case against US State Department Inspector General Howard "Cookie" Krongard and his alleged attempts to thwart an investigation of Blackwater:
Ronald Militana, a special agent for investigations in Krongard's office, launched an inquiry last March into allegations that Blackwater had smuggled weapons into Iraq. (The weapons ultimately wound up in the hands of the PKK, a Kurdish separatist group in southeastern Turkey and a U.S.-designated "foreign terrorist organization.") Militana interviewed State Department officials and a Blackwater attorney, and briefed an assistant U.S. attorney on the details of the case in preparation for a criminal prosecution. In June, with the initial legwork complete, Militana's boss, John DeDona, sent an email to Krongard, updating him on the status of the case. Krongard's cryptic response: "Please do not treat anything in the email below as having been seen by me, advised by me, or understood or approved by me. If there's something significant in the message below, please come and tell me about it."
As it turns out, Cookie's brother had accepted an offer to join Blackwater's Worldwide Advisory Board. The brother, A.B. "Buzzy" Krongard -- may also have played a part in facilitating Blackwater's $5.4 million deal for covert services in Afghanistan while he served as executive director of the CIA until his resignation in 2004.
Here's the Mother Jones story: How Cookie Crumbled.
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November 09, 2007
Army Mulls over New Logistics Contract
With KBR's multi-billion military logistics contract in Iraq and elsewhere coming to an end in December, the Army tackles a recent protest on how to award the new contract -- and possibly extend KBR's work.
Last June, the Army's Sustainment Command awarded the fourth version of its LogCAP contract to three firms: KBR of Houston; former contract holder DynCorp International LLC of Fort Worth, Texas; and Fluor Intercontinental Inc. of Greenville, S.C. Successful protests were filed the following month with the General Accounting Office, which determined that the Army badly mishandled the evaluations of five bid proposals for the lucrative contract.
Gov Exec surveys the landscape: Army weighs options as GAO sustains protests of logistics contract.
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November 08, 2007
Weapons that Went Missing in Iraq
Where did the weapons go? During a tour of the Iraqi Interior Ministry compound in eastern Baghdad, Iraqi government officials accepted estimates by American oversight officials that some 190,000 pistols and automatic rifles supplied by the United States to Iraqi forces in 2004 and 2005 were unaccounted for, reports James Glanz of The New York Times.
An October 2006 audit by the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction said there was "questionable accuracy" and "incomplete accountability" in the way Multi-National Security Transition Command managed weapons.
Missing weapons and other materiel is not a new development: US officials were frequently aware of little or no accounting of weapons entering the country and being transferred to Iraq's Ministry of Interior, according to an email chain provided to me (contact info deleted for privacy concerns).
One former US official in Baghdad wrote in a chain of email exchanges in 2005 to other officials in 2005:
Diversions and re-allocation of great quantities of materials, including weapons, is the norm here. It is my belief that we cannot account for, and the Iraqi MOI will not account for, over 30% of everything we have issued them.... The Glocks are a prime example and now we have thousands of weapons which neither we or the MOI can account for.
Apparently, supplying police stations were a big problem in record keeping:
I have also recently provided a list of about 60 police station “requirements” which actually was already issued by the coalition but never made it to the units. This requirements list was assembled by Maj. Gen Jassim in his effort to find the “bottleneck” or “Black hole” where all the material was going to.... the Iraqi Logistics system, which does indeed exist, has been thwarted at every level, by our unwillingness to allow it to actually work. The MOI Unit commanders have been conditioned by "US" that they simply have to ask us in lieu of going through their own process.The official was especially concerned about missing armored vehicles:
The MOI is receiving hundreds of vehicles from other sources and not sharing that information us. In this JAPAN shipment there are also 150 busses and 350 sedans. We have no visibility of this stuff and MOI is not sharing the information. (The MOI does not know that this information is being shared with me).
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November 01, 2007
Forced Labor in Iraq and State Department Mutiny
Interesting that State Department employees are up in arms about the prospect of being forced to work in Iraq at the new $740-million embassy, aka, "Fort Apache on Steroids":
At the same time, the the State Department's own inspector general and trafficking in persons division (along with US news editors) have cast an intensely skeptical eye on allegations about human trafficking, worker entrapment and abusive labor practices of lowly-paid Asian laborers by the embassy contractor and US-military contractors in Iraq. Most of those companies are largely based in the Middle East.
So that Means: State Department workers making well into six figures a year (with hardship salary uplifts) don't want to go but contractors have no problem finding tens of thousands of migrant laborers out of Asia to work throughout Iraq in a war zone at wages ranging between $200 to $800 a month in a war zone?
Here's the Associated Press account of a meeting with State Department employees complaining about the mandate of required service in Iraq, portrayed as an "unusually hostile session":
... Several diplomats, backed by the vocal support of their colleagues there, vehemently complained about the prospect of so-called "directed assignments" to Iraq to make up for a lack of volunteers."Incoming is coming in every day, rockets are hitting the Green Zone," said Jack Croddy, a senior foreign service officer, referring to the highly fortified area of Baghdad where the embassy is located.
"It's one thing if someone believes in what's going on over there and volunteers, but it's another thing to send someone over there on a forced assignment," Croddy said. "I'm sorry, but basically that's a potential death sentence and you know it.... Who will raise our children if we are dead or seriously wounded?"
Posted by davidphinney at 09:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The Mega-Bunker of Baghdad
William Langewiesche takes a look in Vanity Fair.
Of course, the project is not on budget or on time. It was originally scheduled to be finished by June 2007 and cost $592-million. Th project is now being estimated to cost $740 million and remains under construction.
Posted by davidphinney at 09:34 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
New Military Support Contract 'Improperly Awarded'
A new 10-year, $150 billion arrangement for providing logistical support U.S. troops around the world should be reconsidered, according to a lead government agency charged with reviewing federal contract awards. The contracts assigned the work to KBR, Fluor and DynCorp, but the General Accountability Office is challenging the deals with KBR and Fluor, according to USA Today.
The GAO claims that the Army didn't give weighty enough consideration to Pentagon auditors' concerns about the past performance of KBR and found that Fluor received "unequal treatment" in the contract competition:
The Army approved Fluor's proposal even though the proposal relied on different assumptions than those listed in the contract solicitation -- a shortcoming that hurt other bidders' proposals, the GAO said.
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October 26, 2007
Embassy Contracts under Review
Contracts won by Baghdad embassy builder First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting are "under review," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice revealed during a congressional hearing Thursday.
Rice was answering questions from Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., about why the State Department awarded the Baghdad contract to First Kuwaiti in 2005 despite allegations that the company and its founder, Lebanese businessman Wadih al Absi, engaged in a $200,000 kickback scheme on unrelated Army contracts in Iraq.
Following up on the admission, McClatchy reporter Warren P. Strobel confirmed the brief comment with other U.S. officials who said the State Department is "looking at three other subcontracts given to First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting Co. to build embassies and consulates in Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and the African country of Gabon."
Apparently, the company's future business depends on how quickly it resolves the problems in Baghdad, "where the massive $740-million embassy complex is behind schedule due to a series of fire safety, electrical and other flaws."
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October 25, 2007
Just Business: Buying a US Embassy Contractor
An Update: Apparently, the sale of the Baghdad embassy contractor's US partner is a done deal -- or nearly a done deal. (Sorry about the earlier typos... I was typing in the dark in an SUV in the back country.)
According to documents: Robert Farah, Paul Jureidini and Robert K. Kelley are the key players to taking control of Grunley Walsh International (according to documents), which recently won over $200 million in new State Department contracts for embassy and consulate construction in Saudi Arabia, Gabon and Indonesia. The Baghdad embassy contractor, First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting is the prime subcontractor to the three new contracts.
First Kuwaiti is being bombarded these days by allegations of shoddy construction, horrid labor abuse, worker smuggling, sloppy security and bribery.
Farah of Alexandria, Va., Jureidini of Mechanicsville, Va., and Kelley of Chevy Chase, Md., have apparently formed a Delaware corporation called FJK Holdings, according to documents provided to me that appear to be prepared by the Washington law firm, Morrison & Foerster. (The firm is a big reader of this silly blog. Say hello to my site meter guys!)
Robert Farah: Is the former Washington representative to First Kuwaiti. He has represented the controversial Kuwait-based, Lebanese-run contractor at State Department meetings. Lebanese by birth, Farah is also a former information officer and secretary-general for political affairs of the Lebanese Forces political party from 1986 until at least 2001. His first recorded political contribution to a US national election was in June 2006 when he gave $25,000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee. Farah began making moves around September 2006 to purchase Grunley Walsh’s newly-formed Grunley Walsh International soon after Grunley landed its first embassy work with First Kuwaiti as its prime subcontractor.
Paul Jureidini: Appears to be an associate of Armitage and Associates for many years, an organization run by the former Deputy Secretary of State from 2001 to 2005, Richard Armitage. Armitage was a campaign foreign policy adviser to George W. Bush in 2000 and part of a group led by Condoleezza Rice that called itself The Vulcans.
Robert K Kelley: Is a vice president of the public relations firm Audreac and Associates and serves an adviser to Bell Pottinger USA in Washington, DC., according to one document, which claims that Pottinger presently has classified contracts with the Multinational Corps Iraq at Camp Victory, Iraq. First Kuwaiti has a large logistics presence at Camp Victory, as well. Pottinger's mother ship owner is UK-based and ran public relations efforts for the Coalition Provisional Authority in 2004.
Posted by davidphinney at 09:28 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
October 24, 2007
Baghdad Embassy Contractor Wins More US Contracts
Despite allegations of poor construction, lousy and abusive labor practices and missed deadlines for completion, the Kuwaiti contractor building the new $592-million-and-counting US Embassy in Baghdad has been quietly bagging new lucrative contracts to build US diplomatic compounds around the world.
In September, First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting Co., won a $122-million State Department contract to build a U.S. consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, McClatchy reporter Warren P. Strobel has confirmed. Additionally, First Kuwaiti has won US embassy and consulate work over the past 13 months in Libreville, Gabon and a consulate in Surabaya, Indonesia.
Total Amount of Contracts: Well over $200 million.
First Kuwaiti has only been able to win more US State Department embassy work because it partnered with the US firm, Grunley Walsh LLC of Rockville, Md. Apparently, First Kuwaiti wields a hefty influence over management of Grunley Walsh's international operations.
Why? Because US law requires that only U.S. firms can bid on embassy construction as the prime contractor.
Strobel notes:
But industry analysts said that First Kuwaiti appears to be the financial muscle behind the partnership with Grunley Walsh. Lebanese businessman Wadih al Absi founded the company in 1996. News reports and Middle East experts say that Absi is a supporter of Lebanese Christian politician Michel Aoun, an ally of Syria and the Iranian-backed Islamic militant group Hezbollah.
Last year, First Kuwaiti's Washington representative, Robert Farah, began negotiations to buy Grunley Walsh. Farah told me recently that the negotiations were ongoing, but one State Department source believe that Farah and two other unnamed partners were successful in the purchase.
Most Amusing: First Kuwaiti has hired the public relations firm, Saylor Company, according to Strobel. The firm claims to specialize in "crisis" public relations and " is known for handling high stakes communications."
Posted by davidphinney at 10:46 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Privatized War is Here to Stay
Taking the stance that the U.S. is fighting a war in Iraq with more private contractors than military personnel with a ratio estimated at around 180,000 contractors to 160,000 uniformed personnel, Reuters columnist Bernd Debusmann dishes up his realistic analysis:
Even if there were political will to stop using civilians for roles previously carried out by the military, it would take years to reverse a relentless trend towards outsourcing that began with the end of the Cold War and has accelerated since.
Meanwhile, The New York Times weighs in with a review of the US State Department's explosive reliance on outsourcing in troubled spots: State Department Use of Contractors Leaps in 4 Years.
The amount of money the State Department pays to private security and law enforcement contractors has soared to nearly $4 billion a year from $1 billion.....
Posted by davidphinney at 02:36 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Iraq Revokes Security Contractor Immunity
The Iraqi government has decided to revoke immunity from prosecution that the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority extended to private security companies operating in the war-ravaged country, according to journalist Ammar Karim.
"The cabinet held a meeting yesterday and decided to scrap the article pertaining to security companies operating in Iraq that was issued by the CPA (Coalition Provision Authority) in 2004," government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in a statement.
Article 1 of Section 2 of CPA order 17: Issued by then US administrator for the CPA, Paul Bremer, stipulates that the "multinational force, foreign liaison missions, their personnel, property, funds and assets and all international consultants shall be immune from Iraqi legal process."
The immunity granted to private contractors has become controversial since a series of shootings involving foreign security guards, the most infamous of them a September 16 shooting in which employees of the Blackwater firm killed 17 Iraqis in Baghdad.
Posted by davidphinney at 02:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
What Happened to Saba and Nashat?
Iraqi officials jailed two young men in the summer of 2005 for allegedly pocketing the wages of hundreds -- if not thousands -- of Iraqis working for the Sandi Group, a Washington, DC, firm doing a multi-million-dollar business in Iraq as the leading subcontractor to DynCorp's $1.2-billion Iraqi police training contract, according to sources familiar with the two men.
People working with Sandi who should know the details of the young Kurds, known as Nashat and Sabah, say they don’t know or ignore the question.
How much money did they allegedly skim from payroll? Company executives with The Sandi Group declined comment, but inside sources say salaries for Iraqi security workers averaged around $600 a month, and Sabah and Nashat are thought to have skimmed $200 off each monthly salary. Sandi documents represent Sabah as the chief of finance for the Sandi Iraq operations and Nashat as the chief of staff. If the two were in charge of a thousand workers, that could be $200,000 a month. Multiplied by 12 months and it starts adding up to big money: $2.4 million.
"When a worker complained, he would be threatened with being fired," one former Sandi employee says, who recalled Nashat driving around Iraq in a car with trunk loads of cash for payroll.
The Sandi Group and its affiliates once boasted of employing 7,500 Iraqi workers and claimed to be the largest employer in Iraq during much of 2004 and 2005.
MORE BELOW FOLD
Former Sandi employees recall Nashat and Sabah as two handsome and charming men from an area around the northern Iraqi town of Zakho, near the Turkish border. Zakho also is the hometown of Rubar Sandi, the hard-driving businessman and head of the company bearing his name. Employees recall Sandi fondly introducing Nashat and Sabah as his relatives -- some say Nashat even changed his name to Sandi. But the familial relations were more an expression of close national bonds and affection rather than blood. (Others remember Nashat's last name as either Younis or Hamed; and Sabah's as Permos or Bermos. Records represented as belonging to The Sandi Group provided by one former security guard identify them as Nashat Y. Hamed and Sabah Abdul Waheed Bermos.)
After immigrating to the United States in the 1970s, Sandi earned advanced degrees in business and economics and staked out a successful career as an entrepreneur, developer and financier. Now in his mid-50s, Sandi also cultivated friendships with prominent Republicans and became an active voice in pushing for the liberation of Iraq at the US State Department where he was an advisor in a pre-war planning effort, the "Future of Iraq Project."
Sandi returned to Iraq with the 2003 liberation and quickly scooped up interests in major hotels that were leased to other contractors, took an immediate interest in reconstruction, invested in the Al-Ahali Newspaper, and assembled the largest private security force in Iraq -- said to have numbered in the thousands.
"The Sandi Group was like an octopus," one former employee says.
At one time, sources say Sandi even entertained a bid for building the new $592-million US embassy in partnership with Philip Bloom, an American businessman who pled guilty in April 2006 to conspiracy, bribery and money laundering in connection to contracts in Iraq unrelated to Sandi. Although Sandi lost out on the embassy project, the State Department did award the company an open-ended agreement for work in Iraq when needed, including on the new embassy project.
Rubar Sandi boasted of his willingness to hire thousands of Iraqis and said it was fundamental to demonstrating support for the Iraqi people; something he encouraged other companies to do as well. Among those Iraqis that the company hired were Nashat and Saba.
"They knew Baghdad," said Louis Brown, who ran Sandi’s Iraq operation until autumn 2005 and was then based in Washington, DC as vice president of special projects until last spring before resigning. "I trusted them with my life."
Nashat, who began work with Sandi as a driver, and Sabah as an interpreter, soon rose to the highest levels of management in Iraq, Brown said.
Asked in March what happened to Nashat and Sabah and where are they now, Brown replied tersely: "I don't know."
One source laughed when told of Brown professing ignorance of his two Iraqi lieutenants, Nashat and Sabah. Loyalty and friendship may just be trumping candor.
"That sounds just like Lou," said the former employee. “But he knows exactly what happened to them and why.”
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October 23, 2007
State Department Inspector General Under Fire
(Sorry about the previous typos, guys. I am in the market for a new blog program.) The $592-million Baghdad embassy contract, the $1.2-billion police training program in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the security contract for Blackwater are all under intense scrutiny -- and so is the State Department Inspector General who is responsible for investigating these contracts after receiving credible complaints: Oversight body looks into complaints against State IG.
Circle the Wagons: GovExec reports that Krongard hired Barbara van Gelder for legal counsel. Van Gelder relates that allegations about Krongard having blocked his staff from investigations are based on “imperfect recollections.” Van Gelder recently defended the former White House contracting policy chief, David Safavian, who was found guilty in June 2006 of lying and obstructing justice as part of the Abramoff scandal.
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Iraq's Police Training Program Records in Disarray
The State Department so terribly managed a $1.2 billion contract for Iraqi police training that it can't figure out what it got for the money spent, a new report says (pdf).
Total Disarray: in invoices and records on the project -- and because the government is trying to recoup money paid inappropriately to contractor DynCorp International, LLC -- auditors have temporarily suspended their effort to review the contract's implementation, said Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart W. Bowen Jr.
Maybe investigators should look into DynCorp's relationship with its prime subcontractor, Corporate Bank, aka, The Sandi Group, aka, TSG.
This is what I found in Sandi documents:
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.
Here's a taste of those documents....
Where to Look: Other than my thumb drives, perhaps Sandi's new office. Sources confirm that a fire broke out in Sandi's old office in December 2006. Some say all the records disappeared. Others say the records were untouched by flames because the fire took place in the basement and first floor and all of accounting and proposals were kept on floors 2 through 4.
According to Bowen's Report: Records prior to October 2006 could not be validated at the State Department. However, since October 2006, incoming invoices from DynCorp have been validated.
Sandi's Interesting Staffing:
Tim Crawley: Left DynCorp as vice president of contracting last June (2005), joined Sandi as executive vice president and general manager. At DynCorp, Crawley was responsible for "making sure that any subcontracts awarded were in compliance with all laws, regulations, and company policies -- including (where required) competitive bidding, cost-price analysis, and eligibility for award of government contracts," according to a DynCorp source. Crawley has since left Sandi, I am told.
"There’s a lot of confusion about this,” Crawley said of the contracts between DynCorp and Sandi.
Russell Hugo: Served as the Regional Director for Oversight and Support for the Department of State, Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. In this role, he was responsible for financial controls and oversight for over twenty-five countries in Asia, Africa, Middle East and Europe -- presumably including DynCorp contracts. He is now Sandi's chief financial officer and senior vice president.
See: Marking Up the Reconstruction:
Of the seven major regional training camps ... none were visited by the State Department. The government contracting officer who authorized the spending on the projects told Bowen’s investigators that he "never visited the sites" because of security concerns and that he relied on reports from others regarding the status of the camps.
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October 21, 2007
Read It: 'Suicide Is Not Painless'
New York Times columnist Frank Rich delivers a scathing analysis of Pentagon and US government-guided procurement in Iraq begins with the suicide of Charles D. Riechers, 47, the second-highest-ranking procurement officer in the United States Air Force who killed himself by running his car’s engine in his suburban Virginia garage several weeks ago.
Riechers' job had been previously held by an officer named Darleen Druyun, who was sentenced to nine months in prison for securing jobs for herself, her daughter and her son-in-law at Boeing while favoring the company with billions of dollars of contracts. The Bush-appointed Pentagon inspector general delivered a report on Druyun to Congress was full of holes in 2005. "Specifically, black holes: dozens of the report’s passages were redacted, as were the names of many White House officials in the report’s e-mail evidence on the Boeing machinations."
Where is that inspector general now?: Joseph Schmitz, was already heading for the exit when he delivered his redacted report. His new job would be as the chief operating officer of the Prince Group, Blackwater’s parent company.
Blackwater's Lobbyist: Paul Behrends, who first represented the company as a partner in the now-defunct Alexander Strategy Group. That firm, founded by a former Tom DeLay chief of staff, proved ground zero in the Jack Abramoff scandals.
Alexander may be no more, but since then, in addition to Blackwater, Mr. Behrends's clients have included a company called the First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting Company, the builder of the new American embassy in Iraq.
FYI: Paul Behrends now is a Partner with C&M Capitolink LLC, a subsidiary of Crowell & Moring, the law firm now representing First Kuwaiti. Attorneys Robert Nichols and Angela Styles, President Bush’s former procurement policy director, took First Kuwaiti's account to the firm last year.
Rich Continues:
That Vatican-sized complex is the largest American embassy in the world. Now running some $144 million over its $592 million budget and months behind schedule, the project is notorious for its deficient, unsafe construction, some of which has come under criminal investigation. First Kuwaiti has also been accused of engaging in human trafficking to supply the labor force. But the current Bush-appointed State Department inspector --guess what -- has found no evidence of any wrongdoing.Both that inspector general, Howard Krongard, and First Kuwaiti are now in the cross hairs of Henry Waxman’s House oversight committee. Some of Mr. Krongard’s deputies have accused him of repeatedly halting or impeding investigations in a variety of fraud cases.
Here's the column Suicide Is Not Painless.
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October 19, 2007
Grapes and Sex and Government Contracts
Talk about low-hanging fruit:
A prostitute testified Wednesday that former U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham fed her grapes as she sat naked in a Jacuzzi before they headed to a bedroom at a Hawaiian resort.The woman testified at the bribery trial of defense contractor Brent Wilkes, who is accused paying the former congressman with $700,000 in cash and perks in exchange for help securing about $90 million in government contracts.
Wilkes has denied the charges.
I have as many grapes as a contractor can eat in exchange for finishing my kitchen.
The Associated Press has the story.
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Baghdad Embassy Coverup
A project manager and the State Department Inspector General covered up "enormous problems" in the management of the $592-million embassy project in Baghdad, McClatchy newspaper reporters Warren P. Strobel and Jonathan S. Landay report today.
Problems became apparent after a mortar shell smashed into the sprawling new U.S. Embassy last May, damaging a wall and causing minor injuries to people inside the building:
The State Department contractor in charge of the project, James L. Golden, attempted to alter the scene of the blast, according to government officials familiar with the incident. The State Department inspector general prevented Department officials from investigating the incident, according to interviews and documents.
Meanwhile: A congressional committee is examining whether the walls of the still-unfinished embassy complex, which are supposed to be blast-resistant, performed as they should have during the mortar attack.
More Delays: Problems with the fire suppression system were "serious," according to Patrick Kennedy, the State Department's director of management policy.
Joints in underground water mains supplying the sprinklers leaked when they were tested -- but he emphasized that this and other problems were discovered as part of OBO's rigorous inspections.
Asked when the structure would be ready to occupy, Kennedy said, "Soon. But I'm not going to tell you whether soon is in two weeks, or six weeks or eight weeks."
More details to follow when I get a moment.
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October 18, 2007
Blackwater Morphing
Robert Young Pelton's take on Blackwater -- as filtered by Dan Rather Reports on HDNet.
Petlon says the interview took place nine months ago, but was netcast only recently:
Go to minute 37:50 after first story:
Petlon and Rather talking about Blackwater.
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October 17, 2007
What is USProtect Doing in Iraq?
If these bribes between USProtect and the General Services Administration in California took place, you have to wonder how USProtect is going about its business in Iraq:
A former chief executive for USProtect, a security company pleaded guilty earlier this month to giving bribes to a contracting officer at the General Services Administration in exchange for helping win over $150 million in federal contracts for the company. (USProtect was formerly known as Holiday International Security Inc., before a name change in 2003.)
The executive and former cop, Michael B. Holiday of Silver Spring, Md., said in his plea agreement that he gave vacations and other benefits to GSA contract manager Dessie Ruth Nelson, age 65, of Oakland, Calif., in exchange for assistance in awarding three multi-million dollar contracts.
All of the contracts were in California for private security at federal buildings.
Nelson now faces charges by separate criminal information with accepting over $100,000 in bribes from Holiday and evading taxes on the bribe payments.
According to the Justice Department press release:
A former officer of the company, Richard S. Hudec, age 44, of Naples, Florida, also was charged by criminal information for a scheme to conceal material information from federal contracting officials -- including four prior felony convictions -- in connection with federal contracts worth over $150 million and tax evasion.
While USProtect CEO in 2003, Hudec was a sponsor of the famous "Gold Rush" conference in Washington, DC, for contractors wanting work in Iraq. He also had a long rap sheet -- four felony fraud convictions on his record and served time in prison as recently as 2001, according to federal court filings, The Washington Times reported.
USProtect keeps popping up at other reconstruction conferences, including one that featured Hudec as a panelist on Strategies for Entry in Iraq, What Will it Take to Structure a Deal and Eliminate Barriers of Entry? Developing the Right Practice, Setting the Stage for Effective Entry in Iraq.
Posted by davidphinney at 02:01 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Unknown Number of Federal Civilian Workers
For many years, there was no accurate estimate on the number of contractors working in Iraq and Afghanistan until The Los Angeles Times came up with a headcount that contractors now outnumber the miliary.
Apparently, no official count has been made for federal civilian employees either. The Washington Post reports that the Defense Department has sent about 6,000 civil service employees to Iraq since 2001 and the Treasury Department has assigned 75 to Iraq since 2003. Otherwise, "there is no tally of how many federal employees have been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, and the deployments vary by agency."
Reporter Stephen Barr continues:
Federal employees are generally not ordered into war zones -- though some, because of their occupation, can be assigned to hardship posts and left with no choice but to accept or resign. For Iraq and Afghanistan, agencies have relied on qualified employees who are willing to volunteer.
The money can be good: Up to $212,100 this year in base pay and differentials. Employees also are provided with trips home and rest breaks in the region.
One problem: The pool of qualified Foreign Service officers may be shrinking because of projected retirements. Mark S. Ward, senior deputy assistant administrator for USAID's bureau for Asia and the Near East, said more than 30 percent of USAID's Foreign Service officers are eligible to retire this year, and 46 percent will be eligible by 2011.
The story begins by recognizing the death of Steven Thomas Stefani, a U.S. Forest Service employee on assignment in Afghanistan, killed by a roadside bomb near Ghazni on Oct. 4 while serving as an agricultural adviser to a provincial reconstruction team.
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October 10, 2007
Baghdad Embassy Contractor Aims for More Business
Sloppy construction, safety problems, bribes, slave-like labor practices, missed deadlines, internal disputes and inflated costs -- the new $600-million US embassy compound in Baghdad is swamped in a rising deluge of allegations from lawmakers and the news media.
Meanwhile, the former Washington representative for the Kuwait-headquartered contractor now building Baghdad embassy project is actively negotiating to buy the contractor’s US partner company -- along with contracts for classified embassy work around the world that the US State Department awarded the two companies.
Alexandria, Va., real estate agent and businessman Robert Farah has repeatedly represented the Baghdad embassy contractor First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting at State Department meetings in Washington. Riding on the success of winning the Baghdad deal for the largest diplomatic compound in the world, First Kuwaiti then partnered up last year with Grunley Walsh of Rockville, Md., to win other US embassy and consulate contracts in other countries worth more than a $100 million dollars.
The wedding with a US firm appears to be a key strategy for First Kuwaiti's efforts to winning more State Department business because only US-owned and headquartered companies may perform classified embassy work. And soon after the Grunley Walsh won three new contracts in Africa, India and Indonesia in September 2006 as the lead partner, Farah began making moves to purchase Grunley Walsh’s newly-formed Grunley Walsh International for an undisclosed sum along with the new embassy work.
Nothing precludes Farah from purchasing the company, although the Lebanese national and naturalized US citizen (and a former information officer and secretary-general for political affairs of the Lebanese Forces political party from 1986 until at least 2001), could be prevented from taking on classified embassy work if he used other than US-sourced financing.
Nevertheless, Farah's timing and his affiliations with First Kuwaiti as well as First Kuwaiti's apparent muscle in the ongoing management of Grunley Walsh does raise eyebrows. As one State Department career officer noted: "It's a bit strange for a newly-formed firm to win three contracts worth $150 to $200 million and then sell the company."
But that is exactly what appears to be going on according to a draft letter laying out the terms for Farah's proposed buyout. The three-page, Dec.22, 2006, document stresses that Grunley Walsh holds "secret-level security clearances issued by the U.S. Government," which are deemed essential to a potential deal. "Given that the State Department contracts require the renamed Grunley Walsh International LLC to hold a security clearance, the acquisition can occur only if the (US State Department) doesn't rescind the current security clearance based upon the name change or the change in ownership."
Attorney Robert Nichols, who drafted the letter for Farah, also had recently represented First Kuwaiti, as did Miller Chevalier law partner Angela Styles, President Bush’s former procurement policy director. Both Nichols and Styles have since moved to a new Washington law firm, Crowell & Moring, where the two continue to represent First Kuwaiti.
One February 12, 2007, Grunley Walsh also began working with staff from a Lebanese firm closely associated with First Kuwaiti, according to a document provided by a source familiar with the companies.
A document obtained by me seeks approval from the State Department for 19 senior GMD employees working with Grunley Walsh for clearance on the newly-awarded embassy contracts. GMD, also known as Global Management and Development and based in Lebanon, took part in designing and building the Baghdad embassy project as well as First Kuwaiti headquarters in Kuwait, according to the document.
In addition to representing First Kuwaiti at State Department meetings, Farah represents and is president of the Global Management and Development Group. Farah said it is only a coincidence in the similarity of names and that Global Management and Development Group is based in Virginia.
"It can be very confusing. Everyone uses the words 'Global Management,'" Farah said in a telephone interview.
Meanwhile, the marriage of Grunley Walsh and First Kuwaiti continues to be promising. First Kuwaiti and Grunley Walsh International are thought to be poised for building a State Department project in Saudi Arabia. They also were believed to have been at the top of the list for building a new US embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, that the US State Department nixed this summer after protests from the U.S. ambassador there who said the area was unsafe.
Canceling the project caused a stir within the State Department because the department’s Overseas Building Operations division, known as OBO, had already purchased land for the project for more than $22 million, according to ABCnews.com. Friction became so great that the U.S. Embassy refused to allow a State Department official managing the project, James Golden to enter the Lebanon by denying normally standard "country clearance."
Golden is an independent contractor hired by OBO to lead the independent contractor who plays an influential hand in the award of embassy construction in trouble spots around the world, including the Baghdad embassy. Multiple sources say he has spent much of his time in Kuwait and Baghdad where he played a guiding role in awarding contracts to First Kuwaiti and its subcontractors
Asked about his affiliation with First Kuwaiti, Farah said he had not worked the company for "six or seven" months, but that he was still actively negotiating a purchase of Grunley Walsh International. "Money is not a problem."
Representatives of Grunley Walsh and First Kuwaiti have not responded to numerous inquiries about their association, although it appears First Kuwaiti does wield a hefty hand in Grunley Walsh's management, according to emails and documents obtained from State Department sources.
First Kuwaiti's general manager Wadih al Absi wrote in an email to Grunley Walsh president, Kenneth M. Grunley and Farah (using a First Kuwaiti email address), outlining the chain of decision making in their partnership:
"Since we care about our relation with GW (Grunley Walsh) whether it is sold out to Mr. Robert Farah or otherwise we need to set some policies and procedures in place as to avoid further complications and to continue a good and long working relationship" al Absi wrote in reference to embassy work supervised by the State Department’s Overseas Building Operations division, known as OBO.More below the fold....
Among al-Absi’s demands, he notes:
The following is related to FKTC’s scope i.e. areas which do not require security clearance.
1. Both parties are fully aware and reconfirm that the arrangement of Prime/Subcontractor is solely for the purpose of satisfying the requirements of OBO. Each Party will be fully responsible for its own scope of work as per the initial agreement.
2. Prior to any written communications with OBO, GW shall obtain FKTC’s approval in writing. Any verbal communications shall not be binding and no decision may be formalized other than in writing.
3. GW will forward any communication received from OBO immediately to FKTC. Further FKTC shall be informed instantly of any conversations in relation to their scope of works.
4. GW shall not enter into any contracts or agreements without prior written approval of FKTC. FKTC will undertake all negotiations and finalize any agreement. GW will bear any consequences to any agreements entered without prior written approval of FKTC.
5. GW will be responsible in regard to all requirements related to their scope of works including but not limited to design requirements and personnel.
6. FKTC is responsible for providing the bonding/LC’s for any of the awarded jobs and the charges thereof shall be shared by both parties pro-rata to their scope of works.
7. GW will forward to OBO or others any communications submitted by FKTC without questioning, provided that such communications would not negatively affect GW’s image and reputation. It is FKTC sole decision whether such communications are to be discussed with GW or not prior to submittal to OBO.
8. Each party will have full control over its scope of work including but not limited to execution, procurement, recruitment and subcontracting.
9. FKTC will keep GW informed about the progress of works as it goes and of any problem are being encountered.
10. GW will finalize and submit to the bank the letter of assignment of rights to FKTC in regard to their portion of the works.11. GW and FKTC will agree on a liaison to communicate among GW, FKTC and OBO.
II. BIDDING FOR 2006 – 2007 - 20081. FKTC will decide which projects will be bid and as initially agreed each party will be responsible for the costs they incur in their own right.
2. In case GW are unable to participate within any of the bids then FKTC will arrange another cleared American firm as to participate within any such bids under GW supervision and GW fee will be agreed on.
Posted by davidphinney at 04:50 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
October 09, 2007
Embassy to be Finalized 'Later this Month'.... Huh?
Stop the Press: Charles Williams, director of the State Department's overseas building operations, told USA TODAY that the new embassy in Baghdad will be finalized later this month. The delay was shorter than those seen during recent construction of smaller embassies, he said.
Seems the State Department just can't get its story straight. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said just earlier today: "I can't tell you when the embassy is going to open.... We don't have an answer."
So what's the extra $150 million in added costs going to be spent on -- a sum that has grown since last week when sources originally suggested to me would be just $100 million over budget?
We'll see.... The House Government Oversight and Reform Committee is planning a hearing on matters related to the Baghdad embassy. It may be on October 16.
Posted by davidphinney at 08:36 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Baghdad Embassy Delayed Indefinitely with Cost Overruns
The opening of the mammoth new U.S. Embassy in Baghdad has been delayed indefinitely, according to Reuters as the Kuwaiti contractor "fixes a punch list of problems," the State Department said on Tuesday.
The sprawling complex, whose cost is edging toward $750 million, was set to open last month but U.S. lawmakers say shoddy work by the contractor and poor oversight by the State Department have delayed it.State Department spokesman Sean McCormack rejected claims of inadequate oversight and said there was no indication how long it would be before the new embassy opened.
"I can't tell you when the embassy is going to open," said McCormack. "We don't have an answer."
That "punch list" appears to have an estimated cost of $144 million, but McCormack suggested otherwise: original specifications of the contract changed after it became clear that more office and living space was needed for civilian and military staff.
Originally the Bush administration requested $1 billion in emergency funding to build what is touted as the largest diplomatic mission in the world. Congress balked and cut it back to $600 million, but apparently the sum is climbing skyward again.
Here's the Reuters report: Embassy opening in Baghdad delayed indefinitely
This development of delays and costs directly contradicts sworn testimony before US congress in July by the head of embassy construction who said: "We are slated to complete the project in September of this year and personnel can begin to move into offices and residences shortly thereafter."
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Waxman Takes More Swings at Baghdad Embassy Contractor
A leading Democrat in Congress is blasting the US State Department for apparently casting a blind eye on allegations of widespread construction flaws at the $600-million-and-counting embassy project in Baghdad.
In a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Rep. Henry Waxman, who chairs the House Government Oversight and Reform Committee, also questions the background of the embassy contractor First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting. By relaying court documents and auditing reports, he expresses outrage of an alleged $200,000 bribe and inflated costs charged to the Pentagon for military trailers in Iraq.
Here's the letter: Documents Show Extensive Flaws in Iraq Embassy Construction.
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October 06, 2007
US Embassy Contractor Missing Laptop?
A laptop belonging to a high-level executive supervising construction of the new US embassy in Baghdad went missing in May 2006 at the Kuwait office of the contractor hired to build the new US embassy in Baghdad.
Multiple sources formerly working with the contractor have detailed the theft of the computer, but my questions to the State Department and the contractor, First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting, have been met with silence.
A missing laptop from May 2006 may be of concern if it contained information about any US government projects in Iraq -- or elsewhere. The company has collected nearly $2 billion in US-funded contracts since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
It may be of even greater concern since the laptop is said to have belonged First Kuwaiti's construction director, Samir Ida.(Remember the furor or the internet posting of architectural renderings of the embassy by the American subcontractor Berger Devine Yaeger Inc.? They are now all over the web.)
This interview from more than a year ago discusses the missing laptop with one former First Kuwaiti employee:
Q: Sounds like you have a professional job?
A: This company does not have proper procedures to be professional.
Q: What do you think happened to the laptop?
A: Well, there is a big chance that someone stole it just to get some data out of it.
Q: Hmmmmm
A: They left a wallet with money and a mobile phone lying next to it. Those things weren't stolen.
Q: Could be evidence for a fraud case?
A: I think this is what freaked out the general manager so much. Whoever did it must have known a lot about this company.
Q: Do you remember when it happened?
A: It was May 27 (2006)
Following the laptop theft, word is that First Kuwaiti's general manager, Wadih al-Absi then ordered a virtual lockdown of his Kuwait office where more than 100 employees work. He is said to have wanted the building as "secure as the Pentagon." Al -Absi immediately installed video security cameras throughout the building, curtailed all internet access, forbid most employees from using floppy disk drives and thumb drives and ordered that all telephone calls be monitored and recorded, according to sources who worked for the company at the time.
This July 23, 2007, email is one of many I sent to State Department officials and First Kuwaiti. They have all been ignored.
Ms. French,I am a journalist writing for Iraqslogger.
I have it on good sources that a laptop was stolen from a high level embassy contractor building the US embassy, First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting. The computer disappeared at the end of May 2006 from the offices of FKTC and possibly belonged to Samir Ida, a top executive with the company.
I am also told that you have personal knowledge that this laptop was missing.
How important was this theft to the security of the embassy?
Was a formal report ever filed?
Was the missing computer ever located?
What corrective measures were taken after the theft of the computer?
Thanks, I am on deadline and a response at your earliest opportunity would be appreciated.
-------
Deadline? What a joke.
Posted by davidphinney at 04:24 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Rumors of First Kuwaiti Airplanes for People Moving
From spring 2006: The general manager for the US Embassy contractor, First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting has two airplanes the company can't register and is piloted by a German pilot named Wolfgang .... The general manager also has another plane piloted by Brits flying in and out of Kuwait and a fourth that may be registered.
Another source related around the same time: "Some people have rumoured that First Kuwait use Chapman Freeborn flights every Thursday on their 737 and also Phoenix on their 737 with other people carried by Air Cargo Integrators ACI out of Kuwait. We, of course, could not possibly comment on how accurate these rumours are. I am sure you can get to the bottom of things. Hope this helps."
Posted by davidphinney at 04:24 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Misleading Statements under Sworn Testimony?
Two months ago, a top US State Department official in charge of embassy construction gave misleading statements under sworn testimony about the new US embassy in Baghdad. He claimed that it would be completed on budget and on time. Now numerous news reports say that the project's completion will be delayed for months.
Sunday's Washington Post piled on with its own story:
The massive U.S. embassy under construction in Baghdad could cost $144 million more than projected and will open months behind schedule because of poor planning, shoddy workmanship, internal disputes and last-minute changes sought by State Department officials, according to U.S. officials and a department document provided to Congress.
This remarkable turn of events directly contradicts July 27 sworn testimony before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee by the State Department's Charles E. Williams, director of overseas buildings operations:
"We have received numerous accolades as to the extremely high quality of construction," Williams told the committee. "It is among the best.... We are slated to complete the project in September of this year and personnel can begin to move into offices and residences shortly thereafter."
Interestingly enough, Republicans sought to make political mileage in discounting sworn testimony by two witnesses, John Owens and Rory Mayberry during that same hearing about the embassy project. Both witnesses made allegations of faulty construction, worker smuggling and other abuses at the embassy project.
One Republican called Mayberry a professional "whistleblower." Another threatened to press charges against Owens for meandering on his answers about whether or not he had filed a fraud claim over shoddy construction at the embassy (Owens had just traveled 24 hours from Cambodia and he was not allowed to comment on the matter by his legal counsel).
Will Republicans now be equally hostile towards Williams? (Hey, didn't the Republican-controlled Congress impeach a president on a less consequential issue?)
More to come on this about "misleading" testimony by congressional witnesses and other statements by US State Department officials relating to the Baghdad project.
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October 05, 2007
New US Embassy in Baghdad Delayed
Widespread construction flaws and substandard work have delayed completion of the US State Department’s mammoth new $592-million embassy in Baghdad despite previous official statements that the ambitious fortified compound would be finished in September, numerous sources familiar with the project have been telling me for several weeks.
Those charges now seem to be corroborated by the Associated Press and Reuters. Both news agencies report that the sprawling, Vatican-sized embassy compound has been beset by construction and logistical problems.
"They are substantially behind at this point," and it would be surprising if any offices or living quarters could be occupied before the end of the year, one official told the Associated Press.Reuters reports that in a letter to U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Caif., said such delays raised concerns over the adequacy of the department's management of overseas building operations.
"These delays and deficiencies undermine the security and the living standards of almost 1,000 foreign service officers and other embassy staff that will be housed at the Baghdad Embassy," wrote the California lawmaker, who chairs the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs.
One uncorroborated source told me that the State Department is considering as much as $100 million in new spending to bring the new embassy compound up to snuff. Touted as the largest embassy in the world with over two dozen fortified buildings, the 104-acre compound spans an area equal to two-thirds the size of the National Mall.Asked about the completion date, State Department spokeswoman Nicole Thompson stressed recently that the embassy project is nearly finished but that no determined time has been set for ribbon cutting. She said the official handover to the State Department and final inspection -- known as "accreditation" --has yet to be scheduled. Those things, Thompson said, won't take place until the project is deemed complete and State Department officials have combed through the compound "with a white glove."
The State Department spokeswoman also said that no formal requests for additional funding have been made although "the project is in a constant state of evaluation."
In July, the State Departments director for US embassy construction assured Congress in July that the contractor, First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting, would be completing the project in September.
"We have received numerous accolades as to the extremely high quality of construction," Charles E. Williams told the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on July 26. "It is among the best.... We are slated to complete the project in September of this year and personnel can begin to move into offices and residences shortly thereafter."But some say that officials now may be scrambling to adjust the move-in schedule, which could be well into 2008, according to once source who insists that government inspectors have found "widespread and serious flaws" in the project and have refused to allow occupancy of the new compound until the problems are repaired.
Some of alleged troubling issues include poor water filtration, weak blast walls, electrical problems, sinking foundations and substandard water lines in the fire extinguishers. If true, these issues could take six months to address, the source said, who added that if more spending is called for, the sum may be veiled as new additions to the project, but, in fact, also cover up defective and incomplete work that "will be hidden forever."
The Associated Press quotes a State Department official saying there will be no additional funding and that "delays would have no direct cost to taxpayers because contractor First Kuwaiti General Trading & Contracting Co. had agreed to deliver for a set $592 million price."
The project has come under increasing scrutiny of US Congress and an investigation by the US Justice Department into allegations of fraud and labor abuse.
The State Department's own inspector general also entered into the fray just days before being accused of ignoring allegations of waste, fraud, and abuse related to the project. The inspector genera was also singled out for "highly irregular procedures in exonerating the prime contractor, First Kuwaiti Trading Company, of charges of labor trafficking," by House Committee of Government Oversight and Reform chairman Henry Waxman, a California Democrat.
Sources say that Inspector General Howard Krongard opened an investigation of the embassy and First Kuwaiti after ignoring complaints for more than a year. just days before receiving Waxman's September 18 letter. "The investigation opened on a Friday and people were working until 9 pm that night," once source said.
The following week, Krongard then made a personal trip to Afghanistan and then Baghdad, sources said..
In January 2007, the Department of Justice contacted Krongard's office to request assistance investigating allegations of misconduct by First Kuwaiti, according to Waxman, who quoted an internal email stating that "the allegations are basically contract fraud and public ... corruption." According to the email, the public corruption allegations implicated a senior State Department offrcial overseeing the embassy construction project.
State Department project manager in Baghdad, Mary French, and First Kuwaiti have not responded to emails about the clams of faulty work, however some familiar with the project said the allegations may be overblown and reflect simple delays in finishing the details.
"No US embassy has ever been finished on time," said one former project manager of the Baghdad embassy project under contract with the State Department, Juvencio Lopez. "First Kuwaiti is a first rate company" and "had a first-rate team in place."
Lopez said two inspections of blast walls around the perimeter of the compound during construction by State Department inspectors had no "negative observations" although one perimeter fence needed replacement because it "just gave out."
But even Lopez speculated that the project will not be complete until well into next year. He said he recently met with Verizon on installing communications systems but that the company did not anticipate starting work until January 2008.
Another worker for the embassy subcontractor Hardline Installation, which installed security doors and windows, said talk about the delays are not surprising because of the security environment. "I know that the building is behind on the target opening day," he said. "The unsafe work is probably due to the fact that there are thousands of workers there from India, Philippines, etc., and they probably were not watched closely enough."
One former labor foreman claims that First Kuwaiti employed 2,000 to 3,000 migrant low-paid laborers from South Asia and Africa -- many more than were necessary if they had been skilled construction workers, he said. "Some were just goat herders from Pakistan and didn't even know they were going to work in Baghdad."
The new embassy project, located along the dusty banks of the Tigris River inside the US-controlled Green Zone, has lagged behind its projected finish dates in the past. The original target date was set for June 2007, but was first extended to July and then again to September. Some blame routine matters exacerbated by the war-time environment that delay shipments of needed materials and periodic interruptions caused by incoming rockets and mortars.
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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.
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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."Posted by davidphinney at 06:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
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 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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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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August 28, 2007
The Great Iraq Swindle
How Bush Allowed an Army of For-Profit Contractors to Invade the U.S. Treasury: Great attitudinal piece in Rolling Stone covering all the turf that's been covered before -- except for the last part about a previously unreported tip-of-the -iceberg, fly-by-night company known as Wolfpack.
A few new morsels include: Wolfpack employee Russell Skoug's battle to get insurance coverage for a severely wounded arm.When Wolfpack owner Mark Atwood was asked to explain how he could watch one of his best employees (Skoug) get blown up and crippled for life, and then cut him loose with debts totaling well over half a million dollars, Atwood says
"Right now.... I just want some peace."No doubt, Skoug would prefer to get his insurance coverage. What Rolling Stone does not report is that Wolfpack is believed NOT to have been carrying the insurance coverage at the time -- a violation of US law.
And then there's:
James Garrison, who worked at a KBR ice plant in Al Asad, recalls an incident when Indian employees threatened to go on strike: "They pulled a bus up, got them in there and said, 'We'll ship you outside the front gate if you want to go on strike.'" Not surprisingly, the workers changed their mind about a work stoppage.Here's the story: The Great Iraq Swindle
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August 21, 2007
US Military Breaks Budget to Protect Civillian Workers
The U.S. military has paid $548 million over the past three years to two British security firms that protect the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on reconstruction projects, more than $200 million over the original budget, according to previously undisclosed data that show how the cost of private security in Iraq has mushroomed.Here's the story: Security costs soaring.
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Whose War are they Fighting?
Poor Latin American security guards are flocking to Iraq and Afghanistan to work for U.S. companies desperate for relatively cheap employees with the type of military know-how gleaned in a region once run by generals.See the story: Iraq, Afghanistan lure poor Latin American guards
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August 01, 2007
Philippines Investigates Claims of Workers in Iraq
The Philippine government launched a full-throttle investigation this week into claims of labor trafficking and smuggling made against the Kuwait contractor building the $592-million US embassy project in Baghdad. The move comes in despite of repeated statements by Bush administration officials and the contractor that the allegations are unfounded.
Two Americans who worked at the embassy site in 2006 testified during a July 26 congressional hearing that they had boarded airplanes in Kuwait after they and other passengers were given boarding passes for Dubai before flying directly to Baghdad where they worked at the sprawling 104-acre embassy construction site in the US-controlled International Zone. The passengers were low-wage migrant workers from South Asia and Africa employed by the contractor, First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting, witnesses said.
One of the planes carried 51 Filipino workers who believed in March 2006 that they were headed to Dubai for jobs in hotels, according Rory Mayberry, an emergency medical technician under contract to First Kuwaiti. Mayberry said the workers had no idea that they were being flown directly flown to Baghdad until after the plane left Kuwait.
Philippine Department of Foreign affairs spokesman Claro Cristobal said his government is taking the Mayberry testimony "very, very seriously as it cuts to the heart of what we do for our migrant workers," according to the INQUIRER.net in the Philippines.
"This particular issue is so serious because the very lives of our migrant workers -- not just their comfort or their living conditions -- but their very lives are at the core of what this issue is about," he said.Cristobal said the Philippine investigation would look into every aspect of the employment of Filipino workers in Iraq, where the Philippines has a standing deployment ban.
"The Philippines shall investigate fully the circumstances around the issue, verify each and every element in the situation for the purpose of making sure that our migrant workers don’t fall prey to what may amount to trafficking," he said.
The Philippines imposed a ban on its nationals from working in Iraq in 2004 after Iraqi militants took Filipino truck driver Angelo de la Cruz hostage. Dela Cruz was released after the Philippine government agreed to pull its peacekeeping troops out of Iraq. Since 2005, Philippine passports have been stamped with the mark, "Not Valid for Travel to Iraq." India and Nepal have imposed similar travel restrictions to Iraq for its migrant workers.
First Kuwaiti human resource manager Adel Jabbour dismissed Mayberry's claim this week while meeting with a team of Philippine diplomats in Kuwait. Jabbour is reported to have shown the officials a First Kuwaiti deployment list for workers dated March 22, 2006, with Mayberry's name that includes 11 Filipinos, 24 Pakistanis and four Indians -- not the 51 Filipinos Mayberry claims to have traveled with. Jabbour also said the plane only carried 40 passengers, according to the Philippine news network ABS-CBN.
Ricardo Endaya, Philippine ambassador to Kuwait, told Jabbour that: "We want all those Filipinos who were forcibly taken to be allowed to go home think this is very important.""We want to know (about) their conditions," he added.
John Owens, an American labor foreman for the embassy project who boarded a different First Kuwaiti flight, related a story similar to Mayberry’s during his own testimony:
When flying from Kuwait to Baghdad, I saw a bunch of workers with tickets to Dubai. Mine was the only one that said Baghdad. When I asked the First Kuwaiti manager, he said -- “Shhh, don’t say anything. If Kuwaiti customs knows they’re going to Iraq, they won’t let them on the plane.” When we landed, these workers were taken away in busses. There was nobody manning the customs station at the airport in Baghdad -- I just walked through on my way back to the Green Zone.Meanwhile, Philippine labor attache Leopoldo de Jesus ordered an investigation of all manpower recruitment agencies deploying workers to First Kuwaiti. He identified these agencies as Great Provider, GFI, MMS and Yanghwa. He said that these agencies have job orders from Middle East-based contractors. The workers are told that they will be assigned in Kuwait.
The Philippines also has issued a note verbale to the Kuwaiti embassy in Manila reminding it of the standing ban on the deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to Iraq, the INQUIRER.net reported.
Earlier this week in Manila, Sen. Manuel Roxas II said there are an estimated 10,000 Filipino workers in Iraq who should not be there because of the continuing ban on deployment of Filipinos to the war-torn country. He cited information that the workers were reportedly being forced to work in substandard conditions and an unsafe environment.
During the July 26 congressional hearing, the State Department's inspector general, Howard J. Krongard, said he visited the Baghdad embassy site last September after hearing allegations of worker abuse and possibly trafficking.
Krongard told US lawmakers that he gave the First Kuwaiti advance warning. During his September 15 visit, Krongard said he interviewed six workers selected by the contractor to gather information about the allegations but reported that :Nothing came to our attention" to substantiate the claims. He also said he spoke to 50 other workers while touring the embassy construction site where as many as 3,000 workers are employed.
Other former workers at the embassy site told IraqSlogger in May that if Krongard visited earlier than last September and unannounced, he may have witnessed something very different.
"Most of the allegations (from the Americans) were true before he arrived," claimed Juvencio Lopez, a high-level project manager under the US State Department over the course of 2 years. During a telephone interview.... he said the laborers "had their backs to the wall," and had been living 20 to a trailer. Protests over First Kuwaiti’s bad food, abusive treatment from managers and unsafe working conditions were routine among many of the 2,700 workers during much of 2005 and 2006.
"There were strikes and sit-downs every month," Lopez says. He left Iraq in November 2006 and is now home in San Antonio, Texas. "Sometimes there were almost riots."
Lopez vividly recalled a First Kuwaiti security guard unholstering his 9mm handgun and walking among the squatting protestors telling them to get back to work. Had the guard fallen or workers tackled him to the ground, the gun might have gone off. Lopez said he immediately reported the incident to First Kuwaiti. "Someone could gotten killed or injured."
On another occasion, a company manager roughed up a Filipino worker, sources say. All of the other Filipinos nearby began loudly protesting as bewildered workers from other countries watched. "The workers were from 36 different countries and they everyone spoke a different language," Lopez says.
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July 18, 2007
Thoughts on War Contractors
The Christian Science Monitor surveys thinkers and pundits about the battlefields filled with contractors -- now estimated to be as high as 180,000 in Iraq:
Everything from who controls their activities to who cares for them when wounded remains unresolved, say experts in and out of the military. This has led to protests from families in the United States as well as concerns in military ranks about how contractors fit into the chain of command.
Peter Singer, foreign policy specialist at the Brookings Institution in Washington: "This is a very murky legal space, and simply put we haven't dealt with the fundamental issues.... What is their specific role, what is their specific status, and what is the system of accountability? We've sort of dodged these questions."
Loren Thompson, Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va.: "Every war is unique, but the heavy use of private contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan is likely to persist in future conflicts.... Relying on market sources is intrinsically more flexible than using government workers, and nobody seriously believes that the market will fail to respond to multibillion dollar opportunities even when danger is involved."Dina Rasor, coauthor of the excellent new book, "Betraying Our Troops: The Destructive Results of Privatizing War": The "military-industrial complex" that former President Eisenhower warned of has been overshadowed by the "war-service industry," she says. The complex relied on the cold war to keep its budgets high, knowing that the weapons it produced probably would never be used. The war-service industry, by contrast, "doesn't build weapons but has to have a hot war or an occupation going on in order to keep its budgets high." Constituencies will be built within the military and in Congress to promote this growing industry, she predicts.
Lawrence Korb, former assistant secretary of Defense: Predicts that the number of contractors providing military logistics support will shrink, in part because the US effort in Iraq will wind down at some point and in part because the US plans to increase the armed forces by 92,000 soldiers and marines over the next five years. Looking ahead to the need for peacekeeping and stabilization in future conflicts, Dr. Korb says, "I can't imagine doing it again without thinking it through."
Jana Crowder, Knoxville, Tenn., a "stay-at-home mom with four kids" who runs a website for moral support during the seven months her husband was an engineering contractor in Iraq: "I had no idea what I was getting into," she says. "I found a whole different war zone out there -- contractors coming home physically and mentally damaged. I didn't even know what PTSD was, but I had guys calling me up saying they had nightmares, that they couldn't sleep, that they were hallucinating and crying.... PTSD doesn't know whether you're wearing a uniform or not."
(Speaking of PTSD among contractors, Anthony Feinstein suggests in Iraqslogger that an online evaluation developed for war journalists may be suitable for contractors as well.)
Here's The Christian Science Monitor's Silent Surge in Contractor 'Armies.
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July 05, 2007
Armed Contractors: Transparency and Accountability
The Congressional Research Service distributed its new study on private security contractors operating in Iraq to members of Congress:
The use of armed civilians to perform security tasks that were formerly performed by the military raises new transparency, accountability, legal, and symbolic issues, and practical issues regarding the possible long-term effects on the military.Posted by davidphinney at 02:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Contractors Now Outnumber Military in Iraq
T. Christian Miller with The Los Angeles Times had been hard at work for months crunching the numbers: He reported yesterday that "The number of U.S.-paid private contractors in Iraq now exceeds that of American combat troops," according to US State Department figures that he, no doubt, had to tenaciously pull from unwilling sources.
More than 180,000 civilians -- including Americans, foreigners and Iraqis --are working in Iraq under U.S. contracts, according to State and Defense department figures obtained by the Los Angeles Times.
Presently there are 160,000 US troops in Iraq:
The numbers include at least 21,000 Americans, 43,000 foreign contractors and about 118,000 Iraqis -- all employed in Iraq by U.S. tax dollars, according to the most recent government data.Breaking down the numbers after jump:
Contractors in Iraq
There are more U.S.-paid private contractors than there are American combat troops in Iraq.
Contractors: 180,000
U.S. troops: 160,000Nationality of contractors
118,000 Iraqis
43,000 non-U.S. foreigners
21,000 AmericansTop contractors
Company: Kulak Construction Co.
Description: Based in Turkey, supplies construction workers to U.S. bases
Total employees: 30,301Company: KBR
Description: Based in Houston, supplies logistics support to U.S. troops
Total employees: 15,336Company: Prime Projects International
Description: Based in Dubai, supplies labor for logistics support
Total employees: 10,560Company: L-3 Communications
Description: Based in New York, provides translators and other services
Total employees: 5,886Company: Gulf Catering Co.
Description: Based in Saudi Arabia, provides kitchen services to U.S. troops
Total employees: 4,002Company: 77 Construction
Description: Based in Irbil, Iraq, provides logistics support to troops
Total employees: 3,219Company: ECC
Description: Based in Burlingame, Calif, works on reconstruction projects
Total employees: 2,390Company: Serka Group
Description: Based in Turkey, supplies logistics support to U.S. bases
Total employees: 2,250Company: IPBD Ltd.
Description: Based in England, supplies labor, laundry services and other support
Total employees: 2,164Company: Daoud & Partners Co.
Description: Based in Amman, Jordan, supplies labor for logistics support
Total employees: 2,092Company: EOD Technology Inc
Description: Based in Lenoir City, Tenn., supplies security, explosives demolition and other services
Total employees: 1,913Note: Data are as of February, which is most current available.
Sources: U.S. Central Command, Times reporting
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June 27, 2007
Iraq Contracts: Waxman Updates Data on Questionable Deals
Rep. Henry A. Waxman, the powerful committee chairman who has had Iraq contract fraud in the crosshairs for years, updates his assessment of government contracting under the Bush Administration. The update reflects what he views as worrisome trends that are just getting worse.
Thoughts from the chairman of the House Government Oversight and Reform Committee:
1. Annual federal procurement spending crossed the $400 billion threshold.
2. More than half of this spending -- over $200 billion in new contracts -- was awarded without full and open competition.
3. Total value of wasteful federal contracts now exceeds $1 trillion.Here's the updated database of federal contracts "exhibiting signs of waste, fraud, and abuse" and here's Waxman's breakdown on questionable Iraq contracts.
By the way, Waxman gave a pretty comprehensive interview with Truthdig a few weeks ago.
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June 25, 2007
Oops: Another KBR Cost Overrun
KBR forgot to keep accurate records of gasoline distribution, quartered employees in living spaces that may be larger than necessary and served meals that appeared to cost $4.5 million more than what was being eaten, according to a new Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction audit. SIGIR selectively distributed the report to favored news outlets on Sunday in anticipation of a Monday release.
The report is all about one KBR task order in the Green Zone, the place where order is supposedly the best -- and one assumes where wartime exigencies are the least.
The Washington Post reveals from a reading:
KBR managed its housing at its Camp Hope inside the Green Zone, resulting in most of its employees living in more spacious quarters than those they support.... Ninety percent of KBR employees were assigned to trailer spaces without roommates, meaning KBR employees appeared to have better housing than Army captains.The SIGIR report surveys a "small sliver" of KBR's Green Zone business -- a task order for supplying gasoline, food services, and housing and various morale and recreation services.
KBR failed to use an internal meter in gas pumps that tracks how much fuel is used, according to the report.
When auditors looked at the database in September 2006, it showed that 12,622 liters had been issued for December 2006 -- "a future date and an obvious impossibility," the audit said.Here's The Washington Post's curtain raiser to the report: Audit of KBR Iraq Contract Faults Records For Fuel, Food.
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Private Security Companies in the News Media
Researchers with the Project for Excellence in Journalism tackle news coverage over the past four years of private security companies and they suggests that it is very much on the slim side:
Coverage of events inside Iraq, which includes the actions of U.S. troops there, was the third=biggest news story in the American media for the first quarter of 2007, according to PEJ research.... But those numbers do not include some 30,000 employees of U.S. and European-based Private Security Companies (PSCs), who work in some of Iraq's most dangerous areas.Unanswered Questions: Using the number of 30,000 armed contractors, the study claims that 20 percent of the foreign troops in the Iraq are private employees.
$Money$: This is one of the vexing issues. How much money is being spent on PSCs? "Financing can be difficult to track. Some PSC personnel are paid directly by the U.S. government, while others work as sub-contractors or sub-sub-contractors for other companies doing business in Iraq."
Who's in Charge?: " While PSCs work alongside the U.S. military in Iraq, ultimately they serve at the discretion of the groups that hire them. Those employers may be the government, but they could also be some third party."
How Much Media Coverage?: "Private Security Companies are a relatively unknown commodity in the mainstream media’s Iraq reportage."
All the empirical data on media outlet coverage and accompanying narrative can be found at Private Security Companies in Iraq: A PEJ Study
The study forgot to throw these into the mix: Scandals Confront Military Security Industry and Tension and Confusion Grow Amid the "Fog of War"
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May 24, 2007
The Contractor's Fight at Home
War for Hire: Dan Rather explores the "invisible army" in Iraq and the combat contractors face. In an extended online report for HD.net scheduled for June 4, Rather portrays the 100,000 or more civilian contract workers as being caught in the "crosshairs," whose uncounted casualties and injuries go overlooked in daily Pentagon briefings and the news media.
Interviews Include: Injured contractors who have returned to the United States only to battle for disability and medical coverage with their former employers to heal their wounds and rebuild their lives. Video from Iraq constantly suggests to viewers that the civilian truck drivers remain a largely-unarmed and untrained "soft" targets.
One contractor now missing a leg and struggling with serious loss of sight, recalls that before he took a job with KBR, President Bush announced "mission accomplished" and "major combat is over."
See It Now: Americancontractorsiniraq.com links to the entire program. The Website's founder, Knoxville, Tenn., resident Jana Crowder weighs in heavily on behalf of the challenges contractors face.
Congress Speaks: Several lawmakers in US Congress also share their thoughts about the lack of attention contractors receive. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., notes that the uncounted presence of contractors supporting the U.S. mission in Iraq "is completely unknown to the American people."
That may not be the case in the coming weeks. Major broadcast and newspapers are preparing similar reports, which echo a 2005 story originally reported by CorpWatch: 'Adding Insult to Injury.'
One Shortcoming in Rather's Report: The lack of attention to how many casualties and injuries have occurred among third country nationals and Iraqi nationals who are laboring under the U.S. flag.
Reuters Does Notice: in a Wednesday story:
The war in Iraq is killing nine civilian contractors a week on average, roughly three times the rate of last year, and U.S. government statistics show that non-Americans do most of the dying.... The contractors -- mostly Iraqis and nationals from more than 30 developing nations -- perform jobs from guarding senior U.S. officials to translating, cooking meals, driving trucks, cleaning toilets and servicing weapons systems and computers.How many of those TCNs and Iraqi nationals are collecting their benefits as guaranteed by the Defense Base Act remains unexplored territory.
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May 23, 2007
Book Review: Licensed to Kill
In his book, Licensed to Kill, Robert Young Pelton hits the bull's eye with a sweeping, crash course in the explosive growth of private security contractors.
Thrust from the sweltering groins of Africa, Papua New Guinea and other trouble spots around the globe where hidden treasures of oil and minerals tempt buccaneering entrepreneurs, the private security industry is now bursting in full multi-billion-dollar glory on the bloody streets of Iraq.
Pelton chronicles it all with gritty first-hand experience and a keen, knowing vision: the past is prologue and the present boom in Iraq screams a cautionary tale for tomorrow. We may be witnessing the birth of a roving, freelance warrior class in constant search for new wars. (On second thought, the world may already have one. It's called the global war on terror.)
Licensed to Kill, proves once again that Pelton gets the interviews and access that few writers even dream about. He gallops into the secret mud brick camps of Afghanistan; lifts glasses with big wheels while toasting back-room money deals; sweats through a Triple Canopy training camp in Arkansas; barrels down the dangerous highways of Iraq; explores the twisted life of a self-aggrandizing bounty hunter searching for bin Laden; and lives the daily tensions of retired cops and veterans struggling to make a living for their families back home as hired guns.
Although these blue-collar workers may earn $600 a day, they work 24/7. It is grueling and deadly work. Just ask Miyagi, one of the many characters percolating through the book. Sent home by Blackwater to his wife and nine-year-old son in Santa Barbara, an IED drove a gash through his arm and left a fist-sized hole in his butt. Now, he's waiting for a new assignment. He says it's too tough to make ends meet for his family as a cop in California.
Others, like Erik Prince, a politically-connected former Navy SEAL, never faced those worries. As the founder of the North Carolina-based Blackwater, USA, Prince hit the jackpot a long time ago with a multimillion-dollar family fortune. Today, his company banks on government security contracts totaling $750 million or more won after the Sept.11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center. Blackwater's success may be only the beginning. Prince envisions taking part in contracts all over the world with Blackwater's own private air force. The company claims it can deploy a private regiment of 1,700 anywhere within a 24-hour notice.
"Prince likes to think of Blackwater's relationship to the traditional military as something akin to FedEx's relationship to the U.S. Post office," Pelton observes after meeting with Prince on several occasions.
Then there's Col. Tim Spicer, a former Scots Guardsman, who first plied his mercenary trade on the outskirts of the developed world by getting mixed up with coups, mineral rights and guns for cold hard cash. Today, Spicer has reinvented himself with the newly-formed Aegis Defence Services. His company holds the largest security contract in Iraq and is charged with coordinating the chaos among tens of thousands of gun-slinging contractors working for scores of companies.
But who will coordinate the chaos of private security companies after Iraq? The business is already on the prowl for new work. "The thing to watch," Pelton cautions, is if hired guns become a permanent fixture in foreign policy.
Even more troubling, is the prospect that the private warriors will begin to freelance in backing political coups -- sometimes unknowingly -- because their mission can be disguised by contracts to protect oil fields, gold mines and other corporate property.
Pelton recounts chilling incidents of this already happening before Iraq sucked up the talent from around the world and then went begging for new recruits. No one knows how many trained and battle-hardened private warriors are working in Iraq. Some estimate 30,000, others say 50,000 or more. Most of these fighters will have few crossover job skills once they leave, but they will have proven resumes showing they carry guns for hire and answer to no one but their company boss.
Licensed to Kill may be just the first chapter in what may lead us to ask: what monster is this that the world has created?
Posted by davidphinney at 11:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Under Scrutiny: Contractors in Iraq Named
The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction has investigated individual projects in the past to identify mismanagement, waste or fraud. Now investigators are setting their sights on a top-to-bottom review of all contracts within a single company to determine if companywide problems contributed to the projects' success or failure, SIGIR spokeswoman Denise Burgess Tells USA Today.
Under the SIGIR Microsope: Parsons, Blackwater, Aegis Defence Services and BearingPoint.
Reports are also expected on DynCorp International, and contract management by the Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence and the Army Corps of Engineers, GovExec reports.
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Baghdad Laborers Train for Jailer Jobs
Three thousand Iraqis are rushing through prison-guard training at the U.S.-funded academy in Jordan so they can guard the detainees being rounded up during the "surge" in Iraq.
Former farmers, shopkeepers and restaurant workers will train for six weeks before being deployed at tent cities for the detainees now being erected in the Baghdad area.
Contractors Doing the Training: The American instructors are employed by two Virginia-based security-training companies, Civilian Police International LLC and MPRI, a unit of New York-based L-3 Communications Holdings Inc.
So reports Bloomberg:
The U.S. has spent more than $400 million to build and maintain the Jordan facility and train Iraqis in the past three years. Still, the center may be shut once the final group of guards graduates in August; Iraq's Interior Ministry now insists on teaching future recruits back home.More: Preparing for the Iraq Prison Surge
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May 22, 2007
The Iraq Reconstruction Mess: What Else is News?
Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general charged with investigating the billions of dollars wasted in the rebuilding of Iraq, makes the news again with the same old story:
Stuart W. Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, said the program faced enormous challenges, especially an unstable security environment.... "There have been notable accomplishments," but also significant shortfalls, he said. (Associated Press)The Primary Culprits for the Shortfalls: Iraqi officials.
Little is said about how some U.S. officials and contractors work hand-in-glove with them. Like kittens at the milk bowl, news reporters lap up Bowen's reports. It's as though he has free rein to frame news stories crafted with never-ending, flattering headlines -- and set the stage for a reportedly possible Senate bid* in Virginia, home to many of the Beltway contractors he is charged with investigating.
Loose Lips Sink Ships: The inspector general's office at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad is perhaps the most visible office there. Sources tell me that anyone who goes in to report waste, fraud and abuse gets noticed immediately within the tightly-knit community of contractors, U.S. government workers, news reporters and others inside the Green Zone. These people all socialize together, party together, and many look out for each other in the increasingly targeted area. Gossip spreads like wildfire about everyone else's business. Anonymity for snitches is nearly impossible....
"Say, did you see who just walked into the inspector's general office today?""Mission failure" is a constant concern and very few want to be the topic of conversation when it could be connected to multi-billion-dollar corruption and fraud. Step outside the Green Zone and a person can disappear and be chalked up as another unexplained casualty of war. Like sailors on a long voyage, it pays to get along with everyone in the crew. The alternative can be deadly. Someone might throw you overboard as the ship sails away in the dark of night and the cry for help fades in the distance.
See The Murder of a Whistle-Blowing Contractor.
Tuesday's Congressional Hearing:
"It is simply outrageous that we are mired in the same mud of incompetence that we got stuck in last year and the year before that. But knowing the administration's abysmal track record on Iraq reconstruction planning, this is no surprise," Tom Lantos, the committee's Democratic chairman, said. (Financial Times)Here's Stuart Bowen's Bio: Bowen has served President George W. Bush as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Staff Secretary and Special Assistant to the President and Associate Counsel. He has been a partner at the law firm of Patton Boggs LLP, in its Washington, D.C. office. Before his White House tenure, Bowen served as Counsel to the Bush-Cheney transition team; and from 1994 to 2000, he held a variety of positions on Governor George Bush's staff in Texas, including Deputy General Counsel, Deputy General Counsel for Litigation, and Assistant General Counsel. (Wikipedia)
Could Bowen be a possible gatekeeper for damage control?
Of course not.... Just ask the news media. They maintain constant vigilance on such questions even if more than one former Bowen employee complains privately about having an investigation thwarted. After all, these cranks have axes to grind and government careers to protect. (phinneydavid(at)yahoo.com)
*In Virginia, Seator John Warner has announced that he will run for a sixth term in 2008, at which point he will be 82 years old. However, highly popular former Governor Mark Warner, who won 47% of the vote in a challenge to Warner in 1996 when he was but a little-known political neophyte, may run. Warner raised only $500 for re-election in the first quarter of 2007, which may indicate he will retire after all. Should that happen, possible Republican candidates include Congressman Tom Davis and Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling. (Wikipedia)
Posted by davidphinney at 06:31 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
May 21, 2007
Abu Ghraib: Faulty Response and Investigations Found
Abu Ghraib Revisited: "Allegations of detainee abuse were not consistently reported, investigated, or managed in an effective, systematic, and timely manner."
That's the finding of a new classified report released in redacted form last week by the Department of Defense Inspector General.
Crediting the News Media: Although the report fails to credit New Yorker writer Seymour Hersh and CBS news for first bringing attention to the detainee abuse and torture, it does ackowledge the news media. "Reports of detainee abuse by special mission unit task force personnel dated back to June 2003, but we believe it took the publicized abuse at Abu Ghraib [in spring 2004]... to elevate the issue to the Flag Officer level."
Contractor Involvement: "Not withstanding the highly publicized involvement of some contractors in abuse at Abu Ghraib, we found very few instances of abuse involving contractors."
Secrecy News highlights the report. and links to the pdf file.
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May 19, 2007
Hidden Casualties: Contractor Sacrifices Climb in Iraq
Civilian contractor casualties and injuries in Iraq continue to climb: Contractor deaths during the first three months of 2007 -- 146 -- were higher than any other quarter since the war began, The New York Times reports. American military deaths during the same period -- 244.
The Total Toll: At least 917 dead and more than 12,000 wounded in battle or injured on the job since the war in Iraq began, while American military casualties have reached almost 3,400 dead.
SIGIR reported pretty much the same thing at the beginning of the month: 916 death claimsTruck drivers and translators make up the biggest share of the fallen, but recent death tolls include others "who make up what amounts to a private army.... The new contractor statistics suggest that for every four American soldiers or marines who die in Iraq, a contractor is killed."
The Surge: With the U.S. military being more aggressive in its attempts to quell insurgents, contractors have become bigger targets because they are the more vulnerable, one observer suggests to New York Times reporters John M. Broder and James Risen.
"The insurgents are going after the softest targets, and the contractors are softer targets than the military," said Lawrence J. Korb, a former assistant secretary of defense for manpower during the Reagan administration. "The U.S. is being more aggressive over there, and these contractor deaths go right along with it."Truthout reposts The New York Times story for non-profit use and public service.
Contractors Make Up 20 Percent of Iraq Casualties March 29, 2007
Contractor Deaths Raise Casualty Count February 23, 2007
Contractor Deaths in Iraq Nearing 800 January 29, 2007
Iraq Wounded Fight for Insurance Coverage July 11, 2006
Civilian Footprint December 21, 2006
More than 500 Contractor Deaths in Iraq? November 2, 2005Associated 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.Posted by davidphinney at 04:56 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 18, 2007
The World Bites Back: Wolfowitz Gets the Boot
The World has Spoken: Wolfowitz's lasting legacy may very well be his role in planning and managing the Iraq war while serving at the Pentagon.
The Petty Salary Rigging: for his girlfriend at the World Bank meant nothing. In the world's eyes, his executive handiwork only reflects the more lurid bid rigging for contractors in Iraq. Contractors paid with billions of dollars in cash seized from the Iraqi people that was then squandered and lost.
The World is Watching: If the US Congress needed only Monica Lewinsky to drive a US president to impeachment, why can't the World Bank president get the boot for giving raises to his girlfriend? Especially when you can count the number of contractors in Iraq on a soldier's maimed hand that the Bush administration has prosecuted for theft, fraud and murder. (It is amusing that Robert Bennett, the lawyer representing Wolfowitz in this current ordeal, also represented Clinton during his impeachment.)
Financing War the Wolfowitz Way: "There's a lot of money to pay for this (war) 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 supplemental war spending, 3/27/03]
Wolfie's Girlfriend was a Means to an End:
Most staffers saw Wolfowitz's role in Iraq policy as governance gone horribly bad, the ribbons became a symbol of anger, a silent demand for the big boss's resignation. At World Bank, Blue Ribbons Became Attire Of Their Ire.
Staff members described a celebratory mood inside the World Bank's headquarters near the White House, with people embracing, singing songs and hoisting flutes of Champagne.Posted by davidphinney at 01:31 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 17, 2007
Gulf Catering Wins More Business
Target for Constant Whining: Although repeatedly accused of labor abuse and possible human trafficking of workers, Gulf Catering won another multimillion-dollar contract to feed US troops.
Rest assured: The Pentagon looked into the allegations and found no substance to them. The unfounded badgering and rumors about the Saudi firm are all just malicious attacks -- no doubt.
The Sole Subcontractor: Gulf Catering will be building and operating food services for 11 dining facilities serving US soldiers and sailors throughout Kuwait under a US contract held by Agility Defense & Government Services (formerly PWC Logistics). Agility won the one-year, fixed-price contract from the Defense Logistics Agency with options for two more years. Total Potential Worth: $127 Million, according to an Agility press release.
FALSE ALARM?: A source in Iraq alleged in March that dozens of Indian workers found employment conditions with Gulf Catering so bad that "they are running away at night from their camps here at Stryker and jumping the wire.... I am concerned for them because they are running and no where to go..... The embassy is in the Green zone ten miles away.... and you have to go in the red zone to get to it from here."
Running away? The source said that Americans brought the Indians back to the camp. None of the low-paid workers had identification or passports. The documents were taken away from them by a manager before they ran away, the source was told. The Indian workers said they were quitting their jobs be they were being beaten. One said he had been handcuffed to a post for hours.
One unnamed source does not make this allegation worth a news story: So, I checked into it. I emailed Gulf Catering but received no reply. I phoned. A person took a message. I was told someone would get back to me. No one did.
The Army had no Idea: And referred the inquiry to Halliburton's KBR, which holds the prime contract with the Army for maintenance and dining at Camp Stryker. Gulf Catering is a favored KBR subcontractor there. KBR said:
KBR has determined the information you have to be incorrect and does not involve KBR or its subcontractor. However, we can assure you that KBR does not condone and will not tolerate any practice that unlawfully compels subcontractor employees to deploy, perform work or remain in a place against their will.I asked the KBR person in Iraq for a Gulf Catering contact. No response.
In the News: Gulf Catering landed on The Washington Post radar for labor abuse and possible labor trafficking as early as July 1, 2004. Deftly written by Ariana Eunjung Cha, Underclass of Workers Created in Iraq tells the story of Dharmapalan Ajayakumar from India:Ajayakumar, 29, a former carpenter's assistant from this coastal town, was not there by choice.... He said he was tricked into going to Iraq by a recruiting agent who told him the job was in Kuwait. Moreover, he said, the company skimped on expenses by not providing him and other workers with adequate drinking water, food, health care or security for part of their time in the war zone.... "I cursed my fate -- not having a feeling my life was secure, knowing I could not go back, and being treated like a kind of animal," said Ajayakumar, who worked for less than $7 a day.The Indian recruiter Subhash Vijay had hired Ajayakumar and other workers to work for Gulf Catering of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which was subcontracted to Alargan Group of Kuwait City, which was subcontracted to the Event Source of Salt Lake City, which in turn was subcontracted to KBR of Houston. They were issued ID cards that said ""Brown & Root," a subsidiary to Halliburton.
The New York Times ran a similar story earlier that year about another group of Indians, Indian Contract Workers in Iraq Complain of Exploitation:
Officials from Gulf Catering Company, a Saudi company hired by KBR to provide food services at six American bases in Iraq, confirmed that it employed the four men. But the officials denied that the men had been exploited, underpaid or prevented from leaving Iraq."The passports are only kept for safekeeping," said Nico Smith, the company's human resources manager. "When they wanted to resign we never said they can't go."
Taking Away Passports: The Pentagon found last year that the practice of "holding and witholding" passports was "wide spread" among companies working under US-funded contracts in Iraq. It is a red flag for labor trafficking.
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.
Posted by davidphinney at 12:14 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The Slick Wolfowitz Oil Plan
What a Banker: "There's a lot of money to pay for this (war) 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 supplemental war spending, 3/27/03]
"Relatively soon": Hey, everything is relative. Rome wasn't build or destroyed in a day.
War in Iraq Costs: A Half-Trillion-Dollars and Counting: Receipts for the war in Iraq to will soon be ringing up to $564 billion, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.Iran meets Iraq over oil pipeline: US-led occupation authorities in Iraq have backed plans to build an oil pipeline to Iran to help speed up the flood of oil out of the country. (BBC 03/01/04)
Iraq invites oil bids from Iran: Iraq has invited Iranian firms to bid for contracts to build at least four oil refineries across the country, Iraq's oil ministry said on Wednesday in a sign of growing ties with the United States' regional foe. (Arabianbusiness.com 05/17/07)
Energy Independence: Imagine President Bush announcing a national plan to achieve US energy independence by 2011 the day after the 9-11 attack in 2001. We may have already been half way there in reaching the goal.
Posted by davidphinney at 11:37 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 16, 2007
Bad Mood
'Bill would bar contractors from running Defense programs': Congress is moving to bulk up the Pentagon's in-house acquisition staff and cut back on contractors providing procurement guidance on how to spend taxpayer money.
How about a bill that would bar Defense contractors from running the Pentagon? (Is Darleen Druyun out of jail yet?)
Megan Scully, a refugee from Gannett's Military Times group and now with GovExec, reports on the legislation.
.....Oh yeah, and the Military Times publishing group, including Army Times, markets itself as being independent from the Pentagon.... But not the defense contractor advertising that provides 20 percent net profits. (Do the editors get bonus money based on gross revenues or just readership? .... We all do what we can within our limitations, but keen minds are a terrible thing to waste.....The publishing group once was family owned. How about cutting back to 14 percent net for six percent more independence? That story on bad body armor may have been published a lot sooner that the six months editors took to sit on it.)
'State, Pentagon split on Iraq aid': The Pentagon and State Department have locked horns over methods to administer U.S. aid in Iraq, a military expert tells UPI.
It's an update on the ongoing feud for the past six years ever since former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld "effectively froze State out of the interagency consultative process on Iraq issues."
Anthony H. Cordesman with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, observes:
"Getting effective aid programs generally requires 18-24 month deployments -- not short-term presence -- and career civilians are grossly underpaid relative to contractors, many of which ruthlessly game their government supervisors to maximize profits at the expense of effectiveness," he said.How about just leaving the reconstruction to the Iraqis? Better yet, send a reliable contractor by to help paint my house. FIXED PRICE.Speaking of which: Reuters reports that U.S. lawmakers have introduced new legislation to protect fund managers and state pension programs from shareholder lawsuits if they divest holdings in energy companies doing business with Iran. HUH? SAY WHAT? Hasn't the US been on the brink of war with Iraq since 1979?
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May 15, 2007
Coalition of the Willing: Going, Going, Gone
Last year was the first year the Coalition of the Willing in Iraq found no non-U.S. new troops to replace the ones that went home. That means that U.S. troops now make up 92 percent of the boots on the ground in Iraq, according to the investigative arm of Congress, the Government Accountability Project.
In the May 9 report, Stabilizing and Rebuilding Iraq: Coalition Support and International Donor Commitments, GAO lists the Coalition partners that have come an gone:
* 2004: Japan and Singapore join in, but the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Hungary, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Philippines, Spain, and Tonga exit.
* 2005: Armenia and Bosnia-Herzegovina join, Singapore exits.
* 2006: Estonia, Macedonia, Mongolia, and Netherlands exit.The blog, Hope is not a Plan, distills the research for an executive summary with a number of graphs:
In December of 2005, coalition forces numbered 178,100. We recently "surged" up to a whopping 157,600.Posted by davidphinney at 12:22 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 11, 2007
Democrats Adding Up the Numbers
Congress Does the Math: Not only are there 145,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, there are over 100,000 private contractors working U.S. funded contracts. Many of them are doing jobs that the military once did. They may not be Americans, but they are drawing their pay stubs from the U.S. treasury -- making them the largest deployed private military force in history.
Defense News, cash cow for Army Times and largely supported by defense contractor advertising, acknowledges the facts.
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May 04, 2007
Iraq Inspector General under Investigation
Stuart Bowen, the inspector general assigned to auditing the $22 billion in US reconstruction funds for Iraq is under investigation himself. This is nothing new. It involves complaints from former employees at the office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction filed in early 2006.
What is New: Details about employees apparently being pulled from auditing actual contracts and reassigned to writing "a book about the broad lessons of Iraq reconstruction."
Bowen Repeatedly Insists: It is the contracting process that failed in Iraq and squandered billions of taxpayer dollars and seized Iraqi assets -- not fraud and abuse by the people inking the contracts or the companies performing the work.
Pulled Away from Audits: I've heard even harder-edged complaints. Bowen may have pulled investigators away from audits that appeared to be leading to big fraud cases in Iraq. (One source asks rhetorically: Is it true Bowen is entertaining a run for a U.S. Senate seat in Virginia, home to many of the Beltway contractors he is responsible for investigating?...)
Bowen's staff? Eight full-time investigators in Iraq and another 12 in Arlington, Va. Six former employees, almost all with several decades of government experience, are said to be taking part in the complaint.Other Oblique Details: Reported by The New York Times.
Accusations involve fairly narrow issues: a payment to a contractor that the employees believed was unjustified; a project to produce a type of report on reconstruction that they maintain is outside the Congressional mandate of the office; and what the employees contend is an inflated estimate of how much money investigations by the office have saved American taxpayers. (By the way, this isn't really a scoop. The Washington Examiner reported the same things more than a month ago.)We Shall See: Is Bowen a political target of those who want to throttle his auditing (i.e., the investigators looking into his work)?... Is he ignoring major fraud investigations?... Is the inspector general simply battling with crank former employees?... Or is the investigation, led by the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency, going to tread lightly on the issues raised? (The news angles are still unframed.)
Stay tuned: So far, the news media has given Bowen nothing but flattering coverage for his work. Many reporters breathlessly reiterate his findings, veiled with narrative color, as penetrating, investigative efforts. That dynamic could change now that the Democrats control Congress and can pursue investigations on their own. The news media may not be so cozy in the future with Bowen.
The Washington Post story here and The New York Times here.
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May 02, 2007
'Top Secret' Material May Have 'Devastated' U.S. Iraq Mission
Massive amounts of "top secret" material stored in the living trailer of the former Camp Cropper prison commander was "extremely sensitive" and could have devastated the U.S. mission in Iraq if it had been leaked, an investigator said Tuesday.
The hearing on allegations that Army Lt. Col. William H. Steele aided the enemy by allowing three juvenile prisoners to make unmonitored cell phone calls to their families, among other things, came to a close Tuesday with the explosive claim that Steele possessed material that could ruin the U.S. Iraq mission.
The final witness, Special Agent Thomas Barnes of the Army's procurement fraud unit, said his team searched Steele's work tent and living trailer on February 22 at Camp Victory after Steele had left his Camp Cropper command. In Steele's trailer, Barnes said, according to The Los Angeles Times:
"I was shocked at the material we found....I'd never seen that amount of classified material not properly stored, not properly labeled and not properly protected....I believe if those documents were compromised, it could have been devastating."
What was that material? It's classified, of course, and the hearing was alternately open and closed to the press, so there's no indication of what the "devastating" documents might contain. But we do know that Steele was accused of downloading some 18,000 classified computer files onto CDs before he left Cropper.
Without naming his source, investigative reporter Wayne Madsen suggested on April 30 that the classified files may be related to Abu Ghraib and contain graphic images involving inmates that were once under U.S. supervision "The investigation of Steele may have something to do with the homo-erotic materials, including photos and videos, spirited from the Abu Ghraib prison, some of which were released to the media."Steele is also accused of improper relationships with two Iraqi women: a detainee's daughter and an interpreter. Details about the relationships have yet to be offered.
In 1993, Florida prosecutors alleged that Steele kept food from his 11-year-old stepson and struck him for failing to do chores and homework. He faced felony charges of aggravated child abuse and resisting a law enforcement officer, but the charges were dropped because Steele allowed court protection for the boy, public records show.
Whistleblower Retribution?: Prior to that Incident, Steele had a brief but controversial career with the Hernando County Sheriff's office in central Florida. Steele's friend, Mo Lubee told Fox 13 in Tampa that Steele was a whistleblower in the department and had been targeted for retribution.
"There was the incident with the sheriff's office where he pulled over a deputy from another county who was drunk driving. He wanted to arrest him, the brass wouldn't, and from that point on he was an unwelcome member of our local sheriff's department," Lubee recalled.... Lubee says the abuse case was retribution for Steele's whistle blowing, and he thinks the same thing is happening to Steele in Iraq.... "In my mind, he (Steele) was conducting an investigation and it involved information coming evidently from a detainee and his daughter." he said.
Here's The Los Angeles Times story.Posted by davidphinney at 10:25 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
May 01, 2007
Smokin' Saddam: Cuban Cigars?
The latest from Camp Victory Hearing: At Tuesday's hearing to decide if the former military commander at Camp Cropper prison in Iraq must stand trial on charges that he aided the enemy, it was said that Steele bought Cuban cigars for one-time prisoner Saddam Hussein.
Misappropriation of Funds? Two witnesses said Army Lt. Col. William H. Steele violated military rules by approving the use of U.S. funds to buy Cuban cigars for Saddam.
U.S. Special Agent Steven Mickelberg said he asked Steele about the use of expenses to buy the cigars. "He said that they were for a high-value detainee, one which he indicated was Saddam Hussein, and that his purchase was authorized and that anything he wanted he got."Who are these Special Agents? Special Agents Steven Mickelberg, John C. Nocella and Thomas Barnes all testifed against Steele..... What agency are they from? Do they have an hidden axe to grind on Steele? Hmmmmmm........
The Associated Press has the story.
Posted by davidphinney at 06:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Giant Sucking Sound at the Border?
DynCorp is Hiring Again: 120 openings. Compensation includes more than $134,000 in salary, much of it tax-free, plus a $25,000 bonus for signing up in time for a May 5 training session.
Working Conditions: Challenging. The border is in Iraq.
There has already been ongoing concern that private security companies lured away some of the best and brightest U.S. Special Forces soldiers with big salaries -- after taxpayer investment in training. Now, there's concern that U.S. border agents with Customs and Border Protection may be lured away as well to train Iraqis in border enforcement. DynCorp says there's no reason to be alarmed, although starting salaries for U.S. government Border Patrol agents start at about $35,000. Doris Meissner, who served as immigration commissioner under President Clinton, believes the DynCorp jobs at Iraq's borders could be done for less by people already in government service:
"If the people with the expertise are already in the government, why in the world aren't these missions considered government functions, and just have the government do it?" Meissner asked."I would have loved to have recruited border agents (for $134,000)."
The Houston Chronicle has the story.
Posted by davidphinney at 12:17 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Civilian Contractor Casualties
Since Iraq reconstruction began, 916 death claims for civilian contractors working on U.S.-funded projects in Iraq have been filed. In the quarter ending March 31, 2007, the Department of Labor reported 146 new death claims. [The State Department] reports that 16 U.S. civilians died in Iraq this quarter. Since the beginning of the U.S. reconstruction effort, 224 U.S. civilians have died in Iraq.The rest -- from around the world, probably not entirely counted -- simply died working under U.S.-funded contracts.
At least 3,351 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The British military has reported 146 deaths; Italy, 33; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 20; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Denmark, six; El Salvador, five; Slovakia, four; Latvia, three; Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand, two each; and Australia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Romania, one death each.
Posted by davidphinney at 10:22 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
War in Iraq Costs: A Half-Trillion-Dollars and Counting
Receipts for the war in Iraq to will soon be ringing up to $564 billion, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.
That's more than ten times the $50 billion that the Bush administration once predicted before the war started in March 2003.
"It's worth it," Bush said last May, when the tab was about $320 billion. "I wouldn't have spent it if it wasn't worth it."What Could That Money Buy? A college education for about half of the nation's 17 million high-school-age teenagers; preschool for every 3- and 4-year-old in the country for the next eight years; a year's stay in an assisted-living facility for about half of the 35 million Americans age 65 or older, Ron Hutcheson with McClatchy Newspapers suggests.
I prefer thinking that it could also buy a lot of research and development for energy independence. That, in turn, could produce a whole new generation of exports for the U.S. economy, improve the environment, enhance education, create jobs, reduce the thirst for imported oil and, perhaps, even spur oil producing nations to crack down on terrorism. It would be an enormous investment in the future with long-lasting returns.
Posted by davidphinney at 09:59 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Willing to Please
There once was a line of thinking that the sign of a good manager is when one knows his or her weaknesses and compensates those weaknesses with the strengths of a well-rounded staff. Good presidents also go out of their way to find the strongest thinkers of opposing views to help probe policies for their weaknesses and figure out where solutions can be strengthened.
Walter Isaacson explores this phenomenon in discussing former CIA director George Tenent and draws parallels to corporate life in the media:
George Tenet's woes, it seems to me, come from the very natural instinct to please rather than tell uncomfortable truths to those in authority. Watching Bill Moyers's show on how the media failed to question the march to the war in Iraq, I reflected on how I, likewise, when I was at CNN, was too willing to accept what those in authority were telling me. And reading Bob Dallek's new book on Nixon and Kissinger, I was reminded how Kissinger, someone I once wrote about, was too willing to cater to and collaborate with the darker impulses of Nixon.Here's his blog on Huffington Post.
Posted by davidphinney at 09:40 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 30, 2007
Hearing Begins for Former Iraq Prison Commander
Some in Iraq say his code name is Cold Steele. Others say he is facing charges for "being too nice" to Iraqi prisoners.
U.S. Army Lt. Col. William H. Steele's hearing began today in Baghdad on charges that he aided the enemy while in command of the prison at Camp Cropper in Iraq.
Steele's chief attorney, Maj. David G. Barrett, complained during the opening session of the Article 32 hearing that his team had been denied the top secret security clearance to see evidence against their client."How can we cross-examine witnesses without that knowledge in such an important capital punishment case?" Barrett said.
At one point during the brief open session, Barrett said he had been thrown out of the office of Col. Mark Cremin, the prosecuting attorneys' boss, during an argument about the defense’s access to top secret evidence.
"Be careful what you say," said investigating officer Col. Elizabeth Fleming, who is presiding over the hearing.
"Yes, ma'am," Barrett replied.
The Associated Press has the story.
Posted by davidphinney at 10:53 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 29, 2007
Investigation of Former Camp Cropper Commander
The Article 32 Investigation for Lieutenant Colonel William H. Steele, will be held on Camp Victory starting April 30 and is estimated to last two to three days. Portions, but not all of the investigation hearing is open to press. No video cameras, cameras or other recording devices are allowed in the courtroom, nor will photos or video of the defendant or witnesses be allowed. Opportunities will be provided for filing stories. Attendance is limited to one representative per agency. There are only 12 seats available for media so priority will be given on a first come, first serve basis. Those media attending the hearing will be housed in transient quarters on Camp Victory. -- Public Affairs Office Multi-National Corps-Iraq.Posted by davidphinney at 12:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 26, 2007
Charges Against Lt. Col. William H. Steele
The Charges Against Steele:
RELEASE No. 20070426-01
April 26, 2007Charges announced
Multi-National Corps - Iraq PAOBaghdad, Iraq- Lt. Col. William H. Steele has been charged with offenses under the provisions of the Uniformed Code of Military Justice.
These charges are merely an accusation of wrongdoing. Lt. Col. Steele is presumed innocent unless and until he his proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of any alleged offense.CHARGE I: Violation of the UCMJ, Article 104
Specification: In that Lieutenant Colonel William H. Steele, did, between on or about 1 October 2005 and 31 October 2006, aid the enemy by providing an unmonitored cellular phone to detainees.CHARGE II: Violation of the UCMJ, Article 134
Specification: In that Lieutenant Colonel William H. Steele, did between on or about 31 October 2006 and 22 February 2007, having unauthorized possession of classified information, violate Title 18, United States Code, Section 793(e), by knowingly and willfully retaining the same and failing to deliver it to the officer or employee of the United States.CHARGE III: Violation of the UCMJ, Article 133
Specification 1: In that Lieutenant Colonel William H. Steele, did, between on or about 20 October 2005 and 22 February 2007, knowingly and wrongfully fraternize with the daughter of a detainee, wherein such acts constituted conduct unbecoming an officer in the armed forces.
Specification 2: In that Lieutenant Colonel William H. Steele, did, between on or about 1 December 2005 and 11 December 2006, knowingly and wrongfully provide special privileges to and maintain an inappropriate relationship with an interpreter, wherein such acts constituted conduct unbecoming an officer in the armed forces.CHARGE IV: Violation of the UCMJ, Article 92
Specification 1: In that Lieutenant Colonel William H. Steele, did, between on or about 18 February 2007 and 21 February 2007, violate a lawful general regulation, to wit: paragraph 7-4, Army Regulation 380-5, dated 29 September 2000, by wrongfully and knowingly storing classified information in his living space.
Specification 2: In that Lieutenant Colonel William H. Steele, did, between on or about 1 September 2006 and 21 February 2007, violate a lawful general regulation, to wit: paragraph 4-32, Army Regulation 380-5, dated 29 September 2000, by improperly marking classified information.
Specification 3: In that Lieutenant Colonel William H. Steele, having knowledge of a lawful order issued by the 89th Military Police Brigade Deputy Commander, did, at or near Camp Victory, Iraq, on or about 22 February 2007, fail to obey the order.
Specification 4: In that Lieutenant Colonel William H. Steele, did, between on or about 18 February 2007 and 21 February 2007, violate a lawful general order, to wit: paragraph 2e, Multi-National Corps-Iraq General Order Number 1, dated 16 December 2006, by wrongfully and knowingly possessing pornographic videos.
Specification 5: In that Lieutenant Colonel William H. Steele, between on or about 1 October 2005 and 31 October 2006, was derelict in the performance of his duties in that he willfully failed to fulfill his obligations as an approving authority in the expenditure of Field Ordering Officer funds.-30-
James Hutton
Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army
Public Affairs Officer
Q&A: Responses to Questions Received Thu 4/26/2007 6:18 AMReceived 21 Apr:
Q1: Where do I get in touch with Lt. Col. Steele, or do you know his whereabouts? My understanding is that he is no longer stationed at Cropper. What happened?
A1. LTC Steele commanded a compound within Camp Cropper from October 2005 until he completed this assignment in September 2006. He then volunteered to serve in another position in Iraq. He is currently in pre-trial confinement at the Theater Field Confinement Facility (TFCF), pending court-martial charges under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Q2: How many American detainees are there presently at Cropper and Camp Bucca? What are the charges?A2. Currently, three American citizens are in MNF-I Theater Internment Facilities. None of the allegations against Lt. Col. Steele are related to these individuals.
Received 23 Apr:Q3: It has come to my attention that Army Lt. Col. William H. Steele is being detained in Kuwait and awaiting trial under the U.S. military code of Justice. Other military personnel related to this matter may also be held.
A3: Lt Col. Steele is being held in the TFCF in Kuwait. All US Military pre-trial prisoners within the CENTCOM AOR are held in this facility. Military post-trial prisoners are held in the TFCF until they can be transferred to permanent confinement facilities. The TFCF confines only U.S. military prisoners. No other military personnel are pending charges in this matter.
Q4: My understanding is that Lt. Col. Steele was the commander of the Camp Cropper prison. Correct? What are the dates of his Camp Cropper command and his responsibilities?
A4: Answered Above A1
Q5: My further understanding is that Lt. Col. Steele is being held for aiding and abetting imprisoned insurgents and American detainees? Correct? Others may also be involved?
A5: These charges are merely an accusation of wrongdoing. Lt. Col. Steele is presumed innocent unless and until he his proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of any alleged offense.
Lt. Col. Steele was charged on March 14, 2007 with the following offenses under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ)
Posted by davidphinney at 01:03 PM | Comments (23) | TrackBack
April 25, 2007
U.S. Military Prison Officer Arrested in Iraq
A former top prison commander at Camp Cropper, Iraq, has been quietly under arrest for weeks and detained in Kuwait under charges that he was aiding the enemy, according to numerous independent sources.
U.S. officials arrested Army Lt. Col. William H. Steele, 51, as long as three weeks ago. In addition to charges that he was aiding insurgents, he also is accused of having personal relationships with Iraqi women, misappropriating government funds and conduct unbecoming of an officer. (The relationships may not have been sexual.)
U.S. military sources were contacted last Friday: But made themselves unavailable for comment to confirm or deny the charges. However, the Army released a statement Wednesday afternoon claiming that Steele faces nine charges, notably "aiding the enemy." (Press release below the fold)
Other charges: Include retaining classified material; failure to obey lawful orders; wrongfully storing classified materials; improperly marking classified materials; failing to obey an order from a superior officer; possession of pornography and dereliction of duty as an approving official for the expenditure of government funds.
Steel is charge with aiding the enemy because of accusations that he provided "an unmonitored cellular phone to detainees."
Steele's mother in Frostburg, Md., said by phone Friday that she hadn't heard from her son in three weeks and wasn't sure why. Attempts to contact his wife have been unsuccessful. Steele last resided in Prince George, Va., according to Army sources.
Camp Cropper is a high-value holding facility: for insurgents and others is where former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was held for a time. Located near the Baghdad International Airport, the prison camp has been identified as a place where torture has taken place that equals that of Abu Ghraib.
Former American detainees Donald Vance and Nathan Ertel were held without charges for months last year after being taken to Camp Cropper in mid-April, 2006. Both met with Steele briefly before being released, Vance said.
In a lawsuit against the U.S. government and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld: Vance and Ertel claim they were subjected to constant abuse 24 hours a day.
Lights were kept on in their cell around the clock. They endured solitary confinement. They had only thin plastic mattresses on concrete for sleeping. Meals were of powdered milk and bread or rice and chicken, but interrupted by selective deprivation of food and water. Ceaseless heavy metal and country music screamed in their ears for hours on end, their legal complaint alleges.They lived through "conditions of confinement and interrogation tantamount to torture", says the lawsuit filed in northern Illinois U.S. District Court. "Their interrogators utilised the types of physically and mentally coercive tactics that are supposedly reserved for terrorists and so-called enemy combatants."
Vance claims that during the months leading up to his arrest, he worked as an unpaid informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Sometimes twice a day, he would share information with an agent in Chicago about the Iraqi-owned Shield Group Security, whose principals and managers appeared to be involved in weapons deals and violence against Iraqi civilians.
A third detainee: Joseph Trimpert, was also arrested the same day as Vance and Ertel and held until August 10, 2006. An anonymous posting on myspace.com seems to represent Trimpert's telling of his experience with photos of his release papers.
Opened in April 2003: The facility began modestly with some 150 detainees, but has since exploded to an estimated 3,000 under the recent U.S. military effort to crack down on insurgents in and around Baghdad. Since 2003, six inmates have died at the facility. according to the military. The latest death is still under investigation. The latest died April 4 and the cause of death remains under investigation.
Brutal treatment is apparently an ongoing problem among the detainees at Cropper, The Los Angeles Times reported April 8:
A former detainee from Camp Cropper, where Saddam Hussein and other high-profile prisoners have been held, said he once watched Sunni militants attack a former police officer whom they suspected of being an informer. He said six men, their faces hidden by towels, gathered around the victim in a dormitory at 2 a.m.Two kept a lookout for U.S. soldiers while one man swung a sock stuffed with rocks at the inmate's head, he said. The man tried to get up, but another pressed him down with a foot to the chest. The attackers pummeled his head, spattering themselves with his blood, until he lost consciousness.
When they had finished, other prisoners dragged the victim to the front of the hall, where the U.S. guards would find him.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RELEASE No. 20070426-01
April 26, 2007Charges announced
Multi-National Corps - Iraq PAOBaghdad, Iraq- Lt. Col. William H. Steele has been charged with offenses under the provisions of the Uniformed Code of Military Justice.
These charges are merely an accusation of wrongdoing. Lt. Col. Steele is presumed innocent unless and until he his proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of any alleged offense.CHARGE I: Violation of the UCMJ, Article 104
Specification: In that Lieutenant Colonel William H. Steele, did, between on or about 1 October 2005 and 31 October 2006, aid the enemy by providing an unmonitored cellular phone to detainees.CHARGE II: Violation of the UCMJ, Article 134
Specification: In that Lieutenant Colonel William H. Steele, did between on or about 31 October 2006 and 22 February 2007, having unauthorized possession of classified information, violate Title 18, United States Code, Section 793(e), by knowingly and willfully retaining the same and failing to deliver it to the officer or employee of the United States.CHARGE III: Violation of the UCMJ, Article 133
Specification 1: In that Lieutenant Colonel William H. Steele, did, between on or about 20 October 2005 and 22 February 2007, knowingly and wrongfully fraternize with the daughter of a detainee, wherein such acts constituted conduct unbecoming an officer in the armed forces.
Specification 2: In that Lieutenant Colonel William H. Steele, did, between on or about 1 December 2005 and 11 December 2006, knowingly and wrongfully provide special privileges to and maintain an inappropriate relationship with an interpreter, wherein such acts constituted conduct unbecoming an officer in the armed forces.CHARGE IV: Violation of the UCMJ, Article 92
Specification 1: In that Lieutenant Colonel William H. Steele, did, between on or about 18 February 2007 and 21 February 2007, violate a lawful general regulation, to wit: paragraph 7-4, Army Regulation 380-5, dated 29 September 2000, by wrongfully and knowingly storing classified information in his living space.
Specification 2: In that Lieutenant Colonel William H. Steele, did, between on or about 1 September 2006 and 21 February 2007, violate a lawful general regulation, to wit: paragraph 4-32, Army Regulation 380-5, dated 29 September 2000, by improperly marking classified information.
Specification 3: In that Lieutenant Colonel William H. Steele, having knowledge of a lawful order issued by the 89th Military Police Brigade Deputy Commander, did, at or near Camp Victory, Iraq, on or about 22 February 2007, fail to obey the order.
Specification 4: In that Lieutenant Colonel William H. Steele, did, between on or about 18 February 2007 and 21 February 2007, violate a lawful general order, to wit: paragraph 2e, Multi-National Corps-Iraq General Order Number 1, dated 16 December 2006, by wrongfully and knowingly possessing pornographic videos.
Specification 5: In that Lieutenant Colonel William H. Steele, between on or about 1 October 2005 and 31 October 2006, was derelict in the performance of his duties in that he willfully failed to fulfill his obligations as an approving authority in the expenditure of Field Ordering Officer funds.-30-
James Hutton
Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army
Public Affairs Officer
Q&A: Responses received Thu 4/26/2007 6:18 AMReceived 21 Apr:
Q1: Where do I get in touch with Lt. Col. Steele, or do you know his whereabouts? My understanding is that he is no longer stationed at Cropper. What happened?
A1. LTC Steele commanded a compound within Camp Cropper from October 2005 until he completed this assignment in September 2006. He then volunteered to serve in another position in Iraq. He is currently in pre-trial confinement at the Theater Field Confinement Facility (TFCF), pending court-martial charges under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Q2: How many American detainees are there presently at Cropper and Camp Bucca? What are the charges?A2. Currently, three American citizens are in MNF-I Theater Internment Facilities. None of the allegations against Lt. Col. Steele are related to these individuals.
Received 23 Apr:Q3: It has come to my attention that Army Lt. Col. William H. Steele is being detained in Kuwait and awaiting trial under the U.S. military code of Justice. Other military personnel related to this matter may also be held.
A3: Lt Col. Steele is being held in the TFCF in Kuwait. All US Military pre-trial prisoners within the CENTCOM AOR are held in this facility. Military post-trial prisoners are held in the TFCF until they can be transferred to permanent confinement facilities. The TFCF confines only U.S. military prisoners. No other military personnel are pending charges in this matter.
Q4: My understanding is that Lt. Col. Steele was the commander of the Camp Cropper prison. Correct? What are the dates of his Camp Cropper command and his responsibilities?
A4: Answered Above A1
Q5: My further understanding is that Lt. Col. Steele is being held for aiding and abetting imprisoned insurgents and American detainees? Correct? Others may also be involved?
A5: These charges are merely an accusation of wrongdoing. Lt. Col. Steele is presumed innocent unless and until he his proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of any alleged offense.
Lt. Col. Steele was charged on March 14, 2007 with the following offenses under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ)
Posted by davidphinney at 11:29 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
Spooky Business in a Strange World
The flood of emails continues pouring in about the short news story retelling Donald Vance's three-month imprisonment at Camp Cropper in Iraq.
Vance says he was acting as an FBI informant while working for an Iraqi-owned private security company. He claims he was witnessing the possible illegal sales of arms to insurgents and other nefarious doings and wanted to do something about it. Yet, the US military imprisoned him for some three months -- without charge or explanation.
Answers as to why Vance was held will hopefully come out in a lawsuit Vance is waging against former US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. They may not be very flattering to the U.S. government.
MEANWHILE: I don't know who this new guy is that sent me the email below, but he seems to represent himself as the "third detainee," Joe Trimpert. Then again, the sender may be an imposter. But it is known that Trimpert was a "Third Detainee" arrested at the same time as Vance.
Vance accuses Trimpert of some pretty ugly business, including brutal acts against Iraqi civilians.
THE LINK: At myspace.com is an intriguing curiosity. (As of 05/16/07, I noticed the contents had been removed, but I previously copied the files. Email me if you are interested). Sent to me by the "Third Detainee," it portrays what appear to be release papers from Camp Cropper's detention facility with these provisions:
-- Disavow and renounce violence
-- Disavow membership to Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath party.
-- Will not associate with anyone planning to harm Iraqi security forcesVance says he never was compelled to sign conditions such as these.
Camp Cropper commander, Army Lt. Col. William H. Steele appears to have approved the release papers -- the same Steele arrested several weeks ago by the US Army for, among, other things, aiding insurgents, misappropriating government funds, and having relationships with Iraqi women.
Vance is a little concerned about this following email from the mystery sender:
"Mr. PhinneyWell,
I've been following Vance's story it's interesting and if there is really a God when judgement day comes, he will definitely have to Explain himself with in regards what to what Really Happened that Day on April 15th, 2006.
And that is all i pretty much have to say about the events that took place on April 15 th-2006 to the Day i was Released August 10th, 2006... Camp Cropper
Regards,
US200341DTI'm not interested in an interview..."
Here's some bio material from the cryptic myspace.com link (complete with spelling errors, etc.): Just click below.....
-American Citizenship
-I was detained and Held at Camp Cropper from April 16th, 2006-August 10th, 2006
-Detainee Number given to Me: US200341DT
-Called a traitor, told I was going to be sent to Camp Delta/X-Ray in Guantanamo Bay Cuba.
-No access to a Lawyer, No phone Calls.
-Asked for a Copy of the Geneva Convention (Given to Me, but only in Arabic)
-Constatly loud music 24/7, U.S. Military/CiA,FBi/ questioning Me.. trying to get Me to say I was a member of "Al-Qaeda in Iraq"
-Living in a 12x12 Concrete Cell, with a Turkish Toilet aka a hole in the ground to take a crap in.
-Only allowed to go outside at Night for Recreation (I used to kill roaches) inside the play pen. Night Recreation because Americans aren't suppose to be in Camp Cropper.
-4 Doors down from me was Chemical Ali
-Wrote 11 Red Cross Letter's Home to America, Not a One of them Ever Reached the States.
-Constant sounds of the MP's (Military Police) playing with their Taser's all you would hear is this zap zap! noise.
-Requested Books to Read, issued em then taken away within minutes, also requested Soduku haha, PSP,Portable DVD player.
***My time in Camp Cropper Sucked more than Monica Lewensky !
Finally Released August 9th, 2006' (The Military/CiA/FBi) said there wasn't enough evidence regarding what really happened. I was given $20.00 bucks, had to pay for my own Ticket thou from Iraq to America. Not Even an apology for being held.
Only a letter of Release.
"Freedom"
-Lesson's Learned, Shit Happens when you least Expect it ("Murphy's Law")
-I suppose i could be still pining/dwelling over what happened, I've pretty much moved on since then. But what the heck is that going to accomplish dwelling on what happened. I know other Americans who are trying to win something, trust Me that incident will never leave the Soul, just gotta deal with it.
- I just feel sorry for my Iraqi counter-parts who might be innocent as well, just happened to be hanging out in a part of town at the wrong time.
-Once I received my so called Freedom from Camp Cropper I can just say it felt like that Movie The Shawshank Redemption times 50 over.
-It's not easy living with what happened in Camp Cropper, and a lot of lies put down by other Detainees/former co-workers.. if the Military were to release files on what really happened on April 15th, 2006' their could be a whole lot of embarrassment for all parties that endured a Vacation at Camp Cropper.
-But Oh Fracking Well, I emailed various news agencies in regards of being held, ect... but i made i clear I wasn't looking for any publicity, still not looking for any stardom like other detainees.. Sure you Can Speak Out but what i've read so Far it has not done a thing except to get a lot of Americans pissed off/ and more mistrust from Our Gov't.. rather you're Gov't.
-Why do i say you're Gov't i do share the same views as what has been written by other detainees regarding (torture or American's), and for anyone who happens to be still in Camp Cropper regardless of their Nationality., so much for due process.
-I do think half the detainees are probably not guilty in Guantanamo Bay Cuba, i couldn't imagine being locked up in GITMO for over a year i'd lose my mind.
-The one thing i missed while being held at Camp Cropper was Music, upon my release and back in America, i went out and bought a new ipod., since the Military/CiD/CIA/FBi confiscated my ipod, Macintosh G4, and bad ass Movietunes projector.
-Present Day, well just moving forward, what can you do? Live in the Past..? Not Me... I've seen some crazy things in my life Example From September 11th, 2001-October 3rd, 2001 I helped recovered Dead Americans from the Pentagon.. this can be verified. **There are still times i feel Dead/ and i'm pretty sure that perhaps other American detainees might feel this as well.
-What to do, that was Then..... This is Now..., i plan to save up as much $ then move outside of America probably to our neighbors in the South Mexico, i really have Desire to live in or work in America again., i spent sometime down in Mexico after returning from Iraq, did you know you can talk trash about the American Gov't down there and not have to worry about being locked up...(i however did not par-take) in such activites but met a lot of American Expatriates living down there, who moved out of America because of politics. I will probably do the same in the near future.
And in closing, i decided to put this up.. to give some insight, if i want celebrity status some day i will post my whole name on Here & perhaps go on Oprah...haha, Thanks but No Thanks. All American Detainees who were with Me should be counting their lucky stars including Me... We could have Easily been in there for Life......, and inshallah the Detainee's being currently held at Camp Cropper/Camp X-Ray/Abu Graib.. i hope they will win their Freedom ...
Who I'd like to meet:
-Jack Idema (American Prisoner of War/Detainee) Afghanistan 2004'To Read more About Jack Idema visit www.superpatriots.us -Associated Press Photographer Bilal Hussein (Iraqi Detainee Camp Cropper April 12th,2006) I did see Bilal briefly in Cropper but didn't talk to him. I have been in contact with people at the AP via email/phone.
To Read more About Bilal Hussein visit www.ap.org
**The Road To Guanatanmo** 1-10 Video Series
This is pretty damn Close what it feels like to be Detaineed by the American Gov't and treated like an Insurgent even if you're found Innocent in the End....
Posted by davidphinney at 06:01 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Philippines Warns Companies to Stop Recruiting Workers for Iraq
The US economy thrives on illegal immigration here in the United States so apparently the US State Department doesn't care. It uses Philippine workers and other laborers from countries that have bans on their citizens working in iraq to build its new embassy: Asian Workers Trafficked to Build World's Largest Embassy.
Well, rest assured: It's "under investigation." Once the war in Iraq is over, things will get back to normal.
Here's more: "Illegal gateway to Iraq"
The Philippines in 2004 banned the deployment of Filipino workers to Iraq following a flare-up of violence there, but sources in Manila told the GDN that thousands still manage to defy the ban and enter the country in search of jobs - many of which are reportedly high-paying due to the danger involved.Posted by davidphinney at 12:03 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 18, 2007
Wolfowitz: Girlfriend a 'Must Hire' for Iraq Contractor
It was very much business for a Defense Department contractor, SAIC: But behind the scenes, it looks like a lover or friend in high places may have been pulling the strings for the girlfriend of Paul Wolfowitz, Shaha Riza.
How did Riza land a moonlight gig with the Iraq contractor in 2003? At the request of the Defense Department, according to Reuters. (Riza was working for the World Bank, but forgot to tell the Bank about picking up some extra work in Iraq.) Her beau, Paul Wolfowitz, now president of the World Bank, was then-Pentagon No. 2 and a chief planner of the Iraq invasion at the time.
.... A spokeswoman for Science Applications International Corp., or SAIC, said the Defense Department's policy office directed the company to enter a subcontract with Shaha Riza, under which she spent a month studying ways to form a government in Iraq.
AND THEN SHE WAS PROMOTED: When Wolfie was nominated to be president of the World Bank by president Bush in 2005, he arranged to give Riza a high-paying promotion before she resigned and took a job at the U.S. State Department.
Riza's salary increased from $132,660 to $193,590: Riza was compelled leave the World Bank because of rules against lovers working closely together at the Bank, but the pay hike guaranteed her a cushy salary at her next place of business: the U.S. State Department.Stay Tuned: There may be a story on how Riza, who carries a British passport, ended up at the State Department. (Did she just send in her resume with a job reference from Wolfie?)
Meanwhile: Senior Democratic congressmen and other critics are pushing for the resignation of Wolfowitz, saying his actions have undermined the campaign against corruption in the developing world that has been a hallmark of his World Bank tenure.
More on the saga: Wolfowitz: Girlfriend's Shadowy Iraq Work and Wolfowitz Under Fire: Iraq in the Shadows.
Posted by davidphinney at 07:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 15, 2007
Wolfowitz: Girlfriend's Shadowy Iraq Work
Shaha Riza and long-time companion (read: heart throb) of World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, apparently performed moonlighting services for a Pentagon contractor during the run up to the Iraq invasion while also working for the World Bank.
The Government AccountabilityProject (GAP) Notes: Riza worked as a "subject matter expert" on the Middle East at Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) -- a major player in intelligence gathering prior to the Iraq invasion. At that time, Paul Wolfowitz was the Deputy Secretary of Defense, a chief architect to the Iraq campaign.
Bank Sources Verified: Riza never applied for nor received World Bank permission to provide these consultant services to SAIC.
A Blatant Employment Violation: Bank sources told Gap that Riza's undisclosed moonlighting for a Pentagon contractor would never have been tolerated at the Bank. They said her apparent secrecy would be grounds for dismissal. World Bank staff rules require employees to clear outside professional activities to prevent conflicts of interest.
"Multiple conflicts of interest probably existed," said GAP International Program Director Bea Edwards in a press release:
1) Riza was reportedly romantically involved with Wolfowitz at the time and the Iraq War was imminent.
2) SAIC was a defense contractor.
3) The World Bank had active projects in Iraq.
"International institutions, such as the World Bank and the United Nations, depend on mutual trust," said Edwards, who interviewed World Bank sources. "Member governments trust that employees work only to serve the institution's mission and that of the international community. A violation of that trust undermines the very foundation of international cooperation."
The Dating Game: Riza began dating Wolfowitz since 2002, the year he separated from his wife of 30 years. President Bush nominated Wolfowitz to World Bank president in 2005 while Riza was working in the bank's Middle East and North Africa (MENA) section.
Influential Friends: Bank regulations prohibit spouses or partners from supervising one another, so Riza was compelled to resign from the Bank -- but not before Wolfowitz first signed off on her promotion and salary increase. She then took that upgrade to a new position at the U.S. State Department, with a job reference from Wolfowitz, where her salary increased from $132,660 to $193,590. (Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice earns $186,000.)
Riza carries a British passport and is of Saudi and Libyan descent.
Posted by davidphinney at 07:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Private Security Contractors: 'Who Did the Shooting?'
Steve Fainaru of The Washington Post raises some repeatedly unanswered questions about the July shooting of an Iraqi taxi driver by a Triple Canopy detail in Baghdad. Two employees are now suing the company in U.S. court. They claim the company fired them for reporting the incident as a crime.
THIS raises a whole festering can of worms: U.S. authorities have either failed to acknowledge or failed come to grips with incidents involving the shooting of unarmed civilians by some U.S.-funded private security contractors:
The U.S. military has brought charges against dozens of soldiers and Marines in Iraq, including 64 servicemen linked to murders. Not a single case has been brought against a security contractor, and confusion is widespread among contractors and the military over what laws, if any, apply to their conduct. The Pentagon estimates that at least 20,000 security contractors work in Iraq, the size of an additional division.
Here's Fainaru's long-awaited story: Four Hired Guns in an Armored Truck, Bullets Flying, and a Pickup and a Taxi Brought to a Halt. Who Did the Shooting and Why?
Posted by davidphinney at 12:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 13, 2007
Wolfowitz Under Fire: Iraq in the Shadows
With the 10,000 member World Bank Staff Association is asking Bank President Paul Wolfowitz to step down amid charges of improperly giving pay raises to his girlfriend, a Bank employee, Wolfwitz's role in planning and managing the invasion of Iraq at the Pentagon may come back to haunt him.
Wolfowitz once assured the U.S. Congress that Iraqi oil money would pay for the war and the planned 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]
Almost $12 billion in Iraqi assets has been found to be left unaccounted for under supervision of the U.S.-controlled Coalition Provisional Authority -- much of it arrived in $100 bills on pallets straight from the Federal Reserve in New York. (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. )
Some Wolfowiz foes at the Bank hope he is hauled before Congress sometime soon to explain his role in the Iraq war -- a potential embarassment that feasibly could lead to his resigning from the Bank.
Wolfowitz is already blaming World Bank employees for making his girlfriend's salary an issue because of his role in Iraq -- and many Bank employees view him as a principal architect behind the U.S. invasion while at the Pentagon. "For those people who disagree with the things that they associate me with in my previous job, I'm not in my previous job," Wolfowitz said in a statement. "I'm not working for the U.S. government; I'm working for this institution and its 185 shareholders."
For more on the spending of Iraqi oil money, known as the Development Fund for Iraq, see Spending Iraqi Money from two years ago.
More on Wolfowitz at World Bank today: World Bank Staff Seek Wolfowitz's Ouster
Posted by davidphinney at 12:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 09, 2007
A U.S. Force of 300,000 to 360,000 Supporting the Iraq War?
Writer Don Monkerud adds up the numbers of US troops and contractors in Iraq for tompaine.org:
+ First he takes the high estimate of 120,000 contractors from the Associated Press.
+ Then adds the currently reported total U.S. military in Iraq at 145,000.
+ Plus another 20,000 for President Bush's surge strategy.
THAT ADDS UP TO: 285,000.
THEN THERE'S THE UNCOUNTED: John Pike with globalsecurity.org estimates another 30,000 are "in the theater" providing Operation Iraqi Freedom support. The Army and Marines have another 10,000 to 20,000 in Kuwait, and a nearby Air Force wing bombing group has 5,000. Current naval exercises in the Persian Gulf, which represents a show of force against Iran, include 10,000 U.S. personnel, the carrier groups Eisenhower and the Stennis, and 15 warships.
THOSE ADD UP TO: 65,000.
THE TOTAL SUM? 350,000. This doesn't count the more than 5,000 British combat troops and naval personnel -- down from a high of 40,000 during the initial invasion -- or the remaining troops from the diminished "Coalition of the Willing," such as Armenia, Estonia, Moldavia and Latvia.
FUZZY MATH? It's hard to say given the Pentagon's continuing reluctance to add up the contractors on the battlefield and in support of the US military or disclose actual troop numbers. But John Pike, a frequent consultant to broadcast network news programs, is usually is in the ballpark. Pike's operation, globalsecurity.org, is one of the best resources on all things military.
Monkerud's op/ed in tompaine.org concludes:
Manipulated figures and private military contractors provide the Bush Administration with political cover to escape public scrutiny and keep injuries, deaths and secret operations out of the public eye. A more accurate and honest view of participation in the Iraqi occupation by the government could give Americans more reason to oppose the waste of lives and resources on this ill-conceived, poorly planned, and disastrous venture.
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April 05, 2007
Detainee: 'My Name Used to Be 200343'
A year ago: Donald Vance learned what its like to be falsely accused by the U.S. military of aiding terrorists. He was held without charge for more than three months in a high-security prison in Iraq, and interrogated daily after sleepless nights without legal counsel or even a phone call to his family.
On Wednesday: The former private security contractor was honored for his ordeal in Washington and for speaking out against the incident. At a luncheon at the National Press Club, Vance received the Ridenhour Prize for Truth-Telling, an award named in memory of Army helicopter gunner Ron Ridenhour who struggled to bring the horrific mass murders at My Lai to the attention of Congress and the Pentagon during the Vietnam War.
Vance was joined by former president Jimmy Carter, who won a lifetime achievement award, and journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran of The Washington Post who was recognised for his recent book, "Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone".
As hundreds at the luncheon finished their lobster salad, Vance, a two-time George W. Bush voter and Navy veteran, recounted the events of his imprisonment and the grief of his fiance and family. They did not know if he was alive or dead, he said. They were already making inquiries to the U.S. State Department on how to ship his body home.
He then drew a wider circle around his experience to include the countless others who have been held falsely without charge and denied normal legal constitutional protections under law. "My name used to be 200343," Vance said recalling his prisoner ID. "If they can do this to a former Navy man and an American, what is happening to people in facilities all over the world run by the American government?"
Vance's nightmare began last year on Apr. 15: When he and co-worker Nathan Ertel barricaded themselves in a Baghdad office after their employer, an Iraqi private security firm, took away their ID tags. They feared for their lives because they suspected the company was involved in selling unauthorised guns on the black market and other nefarious activity. A U.S. military squad freed them from the red zone in Baghdad after a friend at the U.S. embassy advised him to call for help.
Once they reached the U.S.-controlled Green Zone, government officials took them inside the embassy, listened to their individual accounts and then sent them to a trailer outside for sleep. Two or three hours later, before the crack of dawn, U.S. military personnel woke them. This time, however, Vance and Ertel, Shield Security's contract manager, were under arrest. Soldiers bound their wrists with zip ties and covered their eyes with goggles blacked out with duct tape.
The two were then escorted to a humvee and driven first to possibly Camp Prosperity and then to Camp Cropper, a high-security prison near the Baghdad airport where Saddam Hussein was once kept. Vance says he was denied the usual body armour and helmet while traveling through the perilous Baghdad streets outside the safety of the Green Zone or a U.S. military installation.
It was not the way the tall 29-year-old with an easy charm and keen mind had expected to be treated. Vance claims that during the months leading up to his arrest, he worked as an unpaid informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Sometimes twice a day, he would share information with an agent in Chicago about the Iraqi-owned Shield Group Security, whose principals and managers appeared to be involved in weapons deals and violence against Iraqi civilians. One company employee regularly bartered alcohol with U.S. military personnel in exchange for ammunition they delivered, Vance said.
"He called it the bullets for beer program," Vance claimed while relating the incident during an interview this week at a cigar bar just walking distance from the White House.
Interrogators at Camp Cropper weren't impressed: Instead, his jailers insisted that Vance and Ertel had been detained and imprisoned because the two worked for Shield Group Security where large caches of weapons have been found -- weapons that may have been intended for possible distribution to insurgents and terrorist groups, Vance said.
In a lawsuit now pending against former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the United States and "other unidentified agents," Vance and Ertel accuse their U.S. government captors of subjecting them to psychological torture day and night. Lights were kept on in their cell around the clock. They endured solitary confinement. They had only thin plastic mattresses on concrete for sleeping. Meals were of powdered milk and bread or rice and chicken, but interrupted by selective deprivation of food and water. Ceaseless heavy metal and country music screamed in their ears for hours on end, their legal complaint alleges.
They lived through "conditions of confinement and interrogation tantamount to torture," says the lawsuit filed in northern Illinois U.S. District Court. "Their interrogators utilised the types of physically and mentally coercive tactics that are supposedly reserved for terrorists and so-called enemy combatants."
Rumsfeld is singled out: as the key defendant because he played a critical role in establishing a policy of "unlawful detention and torment" that Vance, Ertel and countless others in the "war on terror" have endured, the lawsuit asserts, noting that the former defense secretary and other high-level military commanders acting at his direction developed and authorised a policy that allows government officials unilateral discretion to designate possible enemies of the United States.
Because the incident and allegations are now in litigation, the Pentagon has no comment, spokesman Army Lieut. Col. Mark Ballesteros said. He referred all inquires to the U.S. Justice Department, which also had no comment for similar reasons.
Darker allegations: are included in the complaint over false imprisonment. Because he worked with the FBI, Vance contends, U.S. government officials in Iraq decided to retaliate against him and Ertel. He believes these officials conspired to jail the two not because they worked for a security company suspected of selling weapons to insurgents, but because they were sharing information with law enforcement agents outside the control of U.S. officials in Baghdad.
"In other words," claims the lawsuit, "United States officials in Iraq were concerned and wanted to find out about what intelligence agents in the United States knew about their territory and their operations. The unconstitutional policies that Rumsfeld and other unidentified agents had implemented for 'enemies' provided ample cover to detain plaintiffs and interrogate them toward that end."
It may take some time to sort out the allegations as the legal process grinds forward, but, in the meantime, Vance is raising new questions about his detention. He still wonders why his jailers didn't just call the FBI and have him cleared. They had access to his computer and cell phone to determine if his claims were true.
"When I told them to do that, they just got angry and told me to stop answering questions I wasn't being asked," Vance said. "I think they were butting heads with the State Department. I just snitched on the wrong people. I took the bull by the horns and got the horn."
And why weren't managers with the Shield Group held and interrogated?
Interrogators were certainly interested in these other individuals, according to the lawsuit. They wanted to know about the company's structure, its political contacts, and its owners -- most of whom are related to a long-established Iraqi family who fled Iraq during the years the country was ruled by Saddam Hussein, Vance said.
More startling even now is that the company has reformed: At the time they left, Shield Security held U.S.-funded contracts with the Iraqi government, Iraqi companies, NGOs and U.S. contractors. As far as Vance knows, the company still does -- but under a different name: National Shield Security.
'I built their original web site. All they did was change the name," he said. "And they are still being awarded millions of dollars in contracts."
Motion for expedited discovery.
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One Tough Job
The most dangerous job in Iraq?: Asking questions about the missing billions of dollars in Iraq assets.
The country's top corruption fighter, Radi al-Radhi, who runs the Public Integrity Commission, tells the Associated Press that 20 members of his organization have been murdered since it began its work.
On Wednesday al-Radhi said that $8 billion in government money was wasted or stolen over the past three years. After opening an investigation into scores of Oil Ministry employees, he claimed he was threatened with death.
Meanwhile: An estimated $2 billion disappeared from funds to rebuild the electricity infrastructure.
Former Electricity Minister Ayham al-Samaraie, who holds both U.S. and Iraqi citizenship, was convicted in that case and sentenced to two years in prison.
Who can forget?: Iraqi officials arrested al-Samaraie last August. He was convicted of corruption and given a two-year sentence. Just months later, he broke out of an Iraqi-run jail in the Green Zone on Dec. 17 with the help of a private security company (free dinner to anyone who tells me what company that was). Al-Samaraie claimed he had become an assasination target, according to published reports. He turned up in Chicago on Jan, 15 where he had immgrated there 30 years ago and became a partner in a suburban engineering firm. After the 2003 Coalition invasion, Al-Samaraie raced back to Iraq and became a member of the transitional Iraqi government.
Al-Radhi said the commission has investigated about 2,600 corruption cases since it was established in March 2004, a few months before the United States returned sovereignty to Iraq. He estimated $8 billion has vanished or been misappropriated.Corruption in the country, while traditionally rampant, is encouraged by constitutional clause 136 B, al-Radhi said. It gives Cabinet ministers the power to block his investigations.
So far, he said, ministers have blocked probes into the theft or misspending of an estimated additional $55 million in public funds.
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April 02, 2007
New Iraq Contract Lasts Until 2010?
MPRI, Alexandria, Va., was awarded on March 27, 2007, a $15,313,655 firm-fixed-price contract for instructors for the Counterinsurgency Center for Excellence. Work will be performed in Baghdad, Iraq, and is expected to be completed by June 15, 2010. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were an unknown number of bids solicited via the World Wide Web on Jan. 19, 2007, and four bids were received. The Joint Contracting Command-Iraq/Afghanistan, Baghdad, Iraq, is the contracting activity (W91GER-07-C-0007).
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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 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.
Posted by davidphinney at 09:50 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
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."
§ 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.
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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 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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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 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 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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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.
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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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February 23, 2007
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.
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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.
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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 17, 2007
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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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 07, 2007
'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.
Posted by davidphinney at 11:52 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
February 06, 2007
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 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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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.
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January 31, 2007
Strange Business Behind US Embassy Contract in Baghdad
A fog of secrecy has shrouded the $592 million contract for building the US embassy in Baghdad ever since it was quietly awarded in summer 2005 to a Kuwaiti contractor.
The award, in itself, is odd. New York-based Framaco claims to have made the least expensive bid. One company source told me Framaco was $60 million to $70 million less than First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting, a.k.a., First Kuwaiti, the company that quietly landed the controversial contract.
Then, there is this mysterious tale as told by Cosmopolitan, Inc., of Columbia, Md.
Cosmopolitan has been building and renovating US embassies for 22 years. The company specializes in secured and controlled access areas -- just the kind of thing you might expect for a Baghdad embassy project, which is designed as if it were Fort Apache on steroids. And, as an American firm, Cosmopolitan holds top security clearances -- just the kind of thing a foreign firm like First Kuwaiti can never qualify for. (And that's another brewing story.)
In July 2005, Cosmopolitan says the US State Department's Overseas Buildings Operations division (OBO) approached the company and asked if Cosmopolitan would be interested in building the U.S. Embassy in Iraq.
That sort of meeting would be very strange, if true. Cosmopolitan didn't know it, but OBO was already soliciting competing bids for the project, which when completed will be the largest US embassy in the world -- the size of Vatican City.
Cosmopolitan said, yes, of course it would love to have the project. After all, OBO was seemingly courting Cosmopolitan for the work and we're talking the whole enchilada here: a $592-million job.
But there was just one hitch, Cosmopolitan recalls OBO as saying: The lead subcontractor for all the general construction unrelated to the classified work must be promised to a little-known Kuwait company called First Kuwaiti.
Okay....Cosmopolitan says it followed through by submitting a proposal followed by several meetings conducted with James Golden, the managing director for the Iraq Project at OBO who oversees the project to this day. A few months later, Cosmopolitan says it learned that First Kuwaiti secretly had been awarded the $592-million contract that very summer for building all the non-secured portions.
It's a long story, but the abridged version is that Cosmopolitan was aced out of the embassy work entirely. Cosmopolitan is not very happy and is not taking this quietly, especially after spending a good deal of money on getting ready to deploy....and there is a good deal more to tell.
I'll get back to it soon.
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Marching Back to the Future: The Department of Peace
Max Boot parades his bright ideas about the use of civilians in wartime environments in The Los Angeles Times:
How Bush can ensure no more Iraqs
The U.S. is only a few bright ideas away from being the nation builder it needs to be.
In the opening graph, Boot claims that one of the "most intriguing elements" of President Bush's State of the Union speech last week was the proposal to create a "Civilian Reserve Corps" that would ease the burden on the military by hiring civilians to serve on missions abroad.
Boot's imagination reels at the possibilities. He dreams of a new federal agency called the Department of Peace along with a federal police force that would be dispatched to "enforce the law in lawless lands."
Call it the Department of Peace Enforcement.
Cute. And once upon a time, the Department of Defense was called the Department of War.
The military is the military by any other name.
There are now 100,000 civilian contractors working for the US military in Iraq. Most of them do work that the military once did. In addition to the 25,000 or so gun-slinging private security contractors, these civilians drive trucks, build and service military camps, do logistical engineering, join midnight missions to bang down doors of Iraqi homes in search of insurgents, take part in prison interrogations, train troops and police, etc., etc., etc.....
The whole idea of using civilian contractors was to save money and let soldiers be soldiers. Civilians can be hired when needed and then fired. That's allegedly why civilians make so much more money than soldiers do. Once contractors do their job, they're gone. There are no expensive training costs, no pension payments or explosive funding needs by the Department of Veteran Affairs.
Except now, with recent rewriting of Pentagon contracting code, these civilian contractors are getting to be as close to being soldiers as they can without joining the Army. They eat at military dining halls and many already carry weapons legally or otherwise. The rest can carry weapons when the closest commanding military officer deems it fitting. Contractors on the battlefield are now also subject to military justice on the battlefield thanks to recent legislation approved in Congress just months ago.
The president's "Civilian Reserve Corps" would absorb a big number of these civilians. Follow that line of thinking and in a couple of years, someone is going to have another bright idea. Let's put the "Civilian Reserve Corps" under the control of the military. Hell, let's give them basic training, uniforms, guns, medical benefits and pensions!
That would really bring down costs the old fashioned way -- with an appeal to national service and a promise that the country will stand by those who are willing to make the commitment. In other words, put the contractors back in the military.
Or then again, just reorganize the entire government according to Boot, call it a bright idea, and get the same thing.
Posted by davidphinney at 03:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 29, 2007
Contractor Deaths in Iraq Nearing 800
Things are getting even rougher for workers laboring in Iraq under US-funded military and reconstruction contracts. In the last three months of 2006, 124 were killed. That brought the total contractor casualties to 301 for the year.
U.S. military deaths totaled 818 during the year, according to reporters David Ivanovich and Brett Clanton of The Houston Chronicle. The two note that if the civilian contractor deaths were counted, the U.S. military's official casualty figures -- 3,063 as of Friday -- would be 25 percent higher.
"Since Day 1, the administration has been very, very comfortable artificially deflating the human cost of our effort in Iraq," said Steven Schooner, co-director of the government-procurement law program at George Washington University Law School.
Besides those killed, another 7,761 civilian contractors had been injured in Iraq as of Dec. 31, the Labor Department told the Chronicle. The Labor Department tracks these numbers because of compensation claims by injured workers or families of slain contractors under the federal Defense Base Act. But the Chronicle found that there are plenty of holes in the department's data:
KBR, for instance, says 95 of its employees and subcontractors have been killed in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan. Company officials declined to say exactly how many have died in Iraq alone.The Labor Department provided the Chronicle a breakdown of fatalities and injuries by contractor, through the end of December, but this list does not identify any deaths as KBR fatalities.
David Ivanovich has always been smart on these things, but the rest of the news media routinely ignores the real human cost of the war. The number of contractors performing what were once miliatry jobs has increased ten-fold since the 1991 Gulf War.
* * * * * * * *
Civilian contractors killed or injured in Iraq are often eligible for the Pentagon Medal for the Defense of Freedom, the so-called Purple Heart for civilians working on behalf of the military. Halliburton will be having such a ceremony on Feb. 10 even as the company begins a new hiring surge to compliment President Bush's increased troop deployment.
The Labor Department records indicate L-3 Services Group, which provides translators and interpreters for the Army, had suffered the worst casualties in Iraq: 241 workers killed by the end of 2006, including 32 in the last three months of the year.
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January 26, 2007
KBR Hands Out Medals to Contract Workers
At a Houston awards ceremony next month, KBR will be handing out Pentagon medals to its workers from Iraq who were injured in Iraq and elsewhere. All were supporting the military through the company's $16-billion-and-counting logistics contract.
The company has previously attempted to get its workers to sign release waivers on future medical claims against KBR before the medal is given -- despite the fact that this government-awarded honor has little to do with the corporate contractor. One supposes the Pentagon is ignorant of those KBR workers who have been injured while working in harm's way unless the company refers the person.
The invitation goes like this:
Kellogg Brown and Root requests the pleasure of your company at an awards ceremony in honor of KBR employees to receive the Secretary of Defense Medal for the Defense of Freedom on Friday, the ninth of February at nine o'clock.
Ballroom C, Hilton Post Oak
Houston Texas
Dress:
Civilian- Sunday Attire Military Class A Uniform
R.S.V.P.
(713) 753-3091
scott.botth2@kbr.com
(Here's the jpeg of the invite.)
The medal was originally created just weeks after the Sept., 11, 2001, attack on the Pentagon to honor civilian Defense Department employees injured or killed in the line of duty.
KBR has an estimated 50,000 employees and subcontractors working in the Middle East under US military contracts. Ninety-five employees and subcontractors have lost their lives, according to KBR and more than 420 personnel have been injured in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kuwait.
But KBR has not been entirely straightforward about this Pentagon medal in the past, and this Houston gathering raises some interesting questions:
#1) Will workers first be asked to sign a release form stating that the company will not be held responsible for any future claims, i.e., medical problems, physical injury or otherwise? KBR has done that before, saying that the company would help workers from combat zones get their Pentagon-sponsored medal if they signed a "medical records" release form. The Senate Democratic Policy Committee discovered the release waiver last September. (Excerpt below*.)
#2) Is this ceremony only for the employees working directly for KBR or the thousands of Americans working for KBR's offshore tax shelter subsidiary headquartered in the Cayman Islands, aka, Service Employees International, Inc.? Seventy percent of all Americans working for KBR in Iraq and Afghanistan are actually SEII employees. KBR won't say why it needs the Cayman Island operation but the subsidiary can operate outside of U.S. labor laws.
#3) If SEII employees are eligible, then will the tens of thousands of low-paid laborers working on behalf of KBR/Halliburton's multi-billion logistics contract in Iraq also be honored? These workers are sometimes paid just hundreds of dollars a month, assigned substandard housing and frequently had their passports taken away in case they decided they wanted to leave. Some people call that modern day slavery. Body armor for them is non-existent, the food is atrocious and many of them have been killed or wounded while building military camps for KBR.
*Excerpt from the KBR release waiver:
Paragraph 9. Release: I agree that in consideration for the application for a Defense of Freedom Medal on my behalf that on behalf of myself, my heirs, executors, administrators, assigns and successors, I hereby release, acquit and discharge and do hereby release, acquit and discharge KBR, all KBR employees, the Military and any of their representatives (in both their official and individual capacities), collectively and individually, with respect to and from any and all claims and any and all causes of action, of any kind of character, whether now known or unknown, I may have against any of them which exist as of the date of this authorization and all claims or causes of action arising from or related to this authorization or the use or disclosure of the information or Protected Information described in section 1 above by any of the aforementioned parties. This release also applies to any claims brought by any person or agency or class action under which I may have a right or benefit.
Posted by davidphinney at 11:11 AM | Comments (25) | TrackBack
January 24, 2007
Bush's State of the Union: Volunteer Civilian Reserve Corps?
I am a little curious about his idea for designing and establishing a volunteer Civilian Reserve Corps. Sounds like a move to institutionalize the use of contractors on the battlefield:
Such a corps would function much like our military reserve. It would ease the burden on the Armed Forces by allowing us to hire civilians with critical skills to serve on missions abroad when America needs them. And it would give people across America who do not wear the uniform a chance to serve in the defining struggle of our time.
Where did he get that idea? Halliburton/KBR? Eric Prince? Or is he just laying ground cover for the coming congressional hearings on Iraq contractor fraud and abuse? I suppose it's an effort for jointness.
Nevertheless, I liked the energy theme.
For too long our nation has been dependent on foreign oil. And this dependence leaves us more vulnerable to hostile regimes, and to terrorists -- who could cause huge disruptions of oil shipments, raise the price of oil and do great harm to our economy.
More importantly, he called for diversifying energy sources through technology (although he missed a good point about new energy technology bringing about a new generation of US exports).
And I liked the 20 percent reduction in gasoline useage in the next decade:
I ask Congress to join me in pursuing a great goal. Let us build on the work we have done and reduce gasoline usage in the United States by 20 percent in the next ten years -- thereby cutting our total imports by the equivalent of three-quarters of all the oil we now import from the Middle East.
Bush should have been more ambitious and raised the bar to 100 percent energy independence in the next decade. That would be a 10 percent reduction a year. Energy independence should be the equivalent to the space race and "putting a man on the moon" in the next decade.
Posted by davidphinney at 12:14 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 17, 2007
News Media Does the Math on Contract Workers in Iraq
Major media is getting around to discussing the plight of the blue-collar workers coming home from jobs in Iraq.
Mainstream corporate media plans to visit Jana Crowder's February 10 event in Knoxville, Tenn., to interview workers and their families about the liabilities of working in the crossfire of war.
At one time, Iraq was touted as the new Gold Rush with billions of dollars pouring in just for the taking -- and take it is just what some company managers drapped in the US flag did -- for freedom and democracy, of course.
Then after skimming the profits and their cost-plus management commissions, the corporations hired the underemployed (and, thanks to US public policy, frequently undereducated) from the US as well as inexpensive laborers fromSouth Asia to do the work. (What was that rhetorical line from the less-than-memorable film Troy? "When will kings learn to fight their own wars?")
The spoils go to the victor, but perhaps most importantly, President Bush told the entire world back in the spring of 2003 that major combat was over.
It would be fine to work in Iraq. Saddam finally had been knocked off his wicked, blood drenched throne and was crawling around on his hands and knees in a spider hole. Liberated virgins cradling roses and olive branches in their arms would greet waves of US troops flanked by reconstruction and military contractors marching through the streets....Iraqis would drink from the evangelical Neocon cup of peace and democracy. Capitalism would flower everywhere fueled by the free-market pumping of oil.
But of course, it didn't happen that way. The bullets and incoming mortar still rain down. There are some 600 contractors now dead on the battlefields of Iraq and thousands more injured. Many have come home with their heads banged up and in wheelchairs only to enter a new fight for their disability coverage and medical insurance.
The civilian workers are largely invisible, of course, perhaps by Pentagon design or simple benign neglect. And when the media talks about US presence in Iraq, it only talks about the 130,000 or so troops -- not the extra 100,000 military support contractors who are now doing work that the military once did just 10 years ago.
As the Pentagon recently discovered:
There are about 100,000 government contractors operating in Iraq, not counting subcontractors, a total that is approaching the size of the U.S. military force there, according to the military's first census of the growing population of civilians operating in the battlefield.The survey finding, which includes Americans, Iraqis and third-party nationals hired by companies operating under U.S. government contracts, is significantly higher and wider in scope than the Pentagon's only previous estimate, which said there were 25,000 security contractors in the country.-- The Washington Post
HERE'S SOME BREAKING NEWS : The footprint of the US military is not 130,000, it's 230,000 when you do the math and add the support contractors.
AND the number of dead is not 3,000 or so, it is 3,600. Just count the warm bodies on the battlefield. They all bleed. The American public deserves to know. (A foreign editor of a major US newspaper noted that these dead and injured contractors are not all American. I am unsure what her point was, but my response: they were working under the US flag for US policy. And as it happens, even soldiers in the US military are not all American.)
So here comes the new story of the day: post traumatic stress disorder among civilian contractors. It is a known fact among troops, so it makes sense that contractors on the battlefield get the same. Try this for a primer from two years ago. Or just try this.
Thanks to youtube.com, us video watchers have this very well done CBS recap -- sounds a lot like my work from two years ago.
.
Posted by davidphinney at 10:18 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 10, 2007
And the Oscar for Best Documentary Goes to.....
This is a tough one. Two outstanding docs are up for the nomination: Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth and The War Tapes by Deborah Scranton and Chuck Lacy.
Al Gore lucidly delivers an urgent warning about global warming in Inconvenient Truth that is jaw dropping in its punch. PLUS, there's an enormous appeal to the idea that a former Vice President could win an Oscar. No doubt, the novelty has thrown the Hollywood momentum to Gore, but the Oscars are about films, not inspired PowerPoint presentations -- no matter how brilliant and important.
So my vote goes for War Tapes.
Scranton and Lacy handed out video cameras to US soldiers deploying for Iraq. A year later, the soldiers returned with video from the front lines that only a soldier could provide. The priceless material reflects great soul and brutal honesty. Thus, the film's driving concept proves brilliant. The rest is consummate filmmaking.
Sergeants Steve Pink and Zack Bazzi and Specialist Mike Moriarty are riveting as the central characters. All are New Englanders with Charlie Company, 3rd of the 172nd Infantry Mountain Regiment. 
(Army Sgt. Zack Bazzi)
When their regiment first heads for Iraq, they are imbued with working class affection for America, a hope to serve with honor and a dogged determination to do the right thing for those who touch their lives. Their values are quickly challenged. Based at Camp Anaconda in the deadly Sunni Triangle, they are among a group of 21 soldiers with cameras who tell a shocking story of war. It is a bloody unfolding of horror they help sow and, for a year, they struggle to prevail.
While in Iraq, the soldiers are charged with protecting KBR/Halliburton convoys and they constantly travel on Iraq's roads through cities and villages.
Having interviewed hundreds of contractors working on the battlefields of Iraq over the past few years, I was stunned by what I saw on screen. The scenes echo what workers and soldiers have been telling me again and again. Iraq is a horrible war.
From the frightening insurgent and terrorist attacks, to the cold stare of dead men on the battlefield and the gruesome deaths of civilian Iraqis run over by frightened drivers of speeding US truck convoys; this film is very sadly, the real thing.
Although fighting not to admit it, not one soldier comes back unscarred. This is Cinema Verite at its most elemental and at its very best.
The difficult part to swallow is that Inconvenient Truth is now just as real.
Posted by davidphinney at 12:13 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 09, 2007
'Deplorable' Conditions for US Contract Laborers in Iraq
Just cleaning up my notes and found this inspection of a labor camp for the US Army dining facility at Camp Marez. Dated February 2005, most of the people living there were low-wage workers from the Philippines and Turkey.
"Filthy" is the common word summarizing the housing where workers were kept under this multi-billion-dollar US contract held by KBR/Halliburton.
Even now, there are tens of thousands of such workers imported from around the world to work in Iraq for dollars a day in support of the US military. The hiring of local Iraqis has been slow in coming because contractors are terrified of terrorists and insurgents.
"It is of my professional opinion that there are too numerous of health and safety issues to list individually regarding these buildings where these workers currently reside," notes the inspection. "The living conditions of these workers are deplorable and at least one of these buildings should possibly be condemned. In many areas of these buildings a strong smell of urine is overwhelming. It is important to note that these individuals that reside here appear to be clean in appearance and utilizing proper hygiene in spite of these conditions."
Among the highlights:
"Vermin holes in walls"
The person who sent it to me says the workers for the Turkish subcontractor working for KBR were fairly evenly mixed between Turks and Filipinos, but that the Turkish management heavily discriminated against the Filipinos.
The verbatim inspection is after the jump.
01 February 05
Partial Inspection of H-4 DFAC Worker's Living Area
This inspection was conducted by QAQC Inspector, Bobby Lee Johnson and Pamela Tibbs, Safety Coordinator. Also present was Serka Sub-Contractor Representatives, Hasan Kocahan and Murat Arikoglu. It should be noted that this inspection was conducted with the purpose of reviewing the living conditions of these workers.
It is of my professional opinion that there are too numerous of health and safety issues to list individually regarding these buildings where these workers currently reside. The living conditions of these workers are deplorable and at least one of these buildings should possibly be condemned. In many areas of these buildings a strong smell of urine is overwhelming. It is important to note that these individuals that reside here appear to be clean in appearance and utilizing proper hygiene in spite of these conditions.
It appears that the buildings are not grounded at all or not grounded properly in many cases. Between the buildings and lying on the ground are electrical cables and debris which is noticeable in many areas throughout the referenced area. This not only creates safety and health concerns but gives the area an overall unkempt appearance. The interior of these buildings in most cases are in worse conditions. Shower curtains are almost non-existent and the evidence of mold is rampant throughout these buildings. Smoke detectors are few and some that are present do not have batteries. All fire extinguishers have no tags attached however the ones that were located appeared to be properly charged.
Again, this inspection should be considered a partial inspection because many of the interior doors were locked and could not be entered and properly inspected. It is suspected that in many cases the ratio of workers to a bedroom/bathroom is unacceptable.
It is our understanding that these workers are scheduled to be relocated in the next few weeks to a different living area within the confines of H-4 Marez. A strong sence of urgency is recommended to act quickly on the relocation of these workers and/or repairs/ necessary safety issues addressed immediately. It should be obvious that our findings will reveal that in many cases repairs and renovations would not be economically feasible.
The following is a partial listing of discrepancies and non-compliance issues found and documented in our partial inspection of each of these building that are the domicile of these workers.
Dining Facility Lounge
Loose stepping stones at entrance creating a possible trip hazard
Electrical cord at entrance on the floor creating a possible trip hazard
No hot water available to the rear sink
Dining Facility Lounge (cont.)
Circuit board is missing a switch cover on one switch
Vermin crack in walls
All windows need re-caulking and not sealed properly
Hole in wall over door at east entrance
No tag on fire extinguisher
Loose electrical cable(s) on walls not securely mounted throughout facility
Rear/East Door not sealed properly with a large gap at the bottom
Note: There are electrical cable(s) hanging between the Dining Facility Lounge and Dormitory One as well as on the ground. Debris is scattered around the exterior of the building creating possible tripping and safety/vector hazards
Male Dormitory One
Exterior door missing glass window and open to the elements
There is only one exterior door that is not locked. Fire and/or emergency hazard
Overhead light(s) in hallway missing covers and some are broken and not working
Toilets leak as well as the shower heads and sink fixtures
Mold is evident
No light fixture cover at ceiling
New caulking is needed in the bathrooms as well as the bedrooms inspected
Vermin holes in exterior of building at top of exterior doors
Female Dormitory
Exterior door missing glass window and open to the elements
There is only one exterior door that is not locked. Fire and/or emergency hazard
One ceiling hall light not working
Ceiling light fixture is not secured properly
Bathrooms have leaking plumbing fixtures
Mold is evident
Electrical box at ceiling has no cover
Electrical wires are hanging from ceiling
New caulking is needed in the bathrooms as well as the bedrooms inspected
Vermin holes in exterior of building at top of exterior doors
Large Metal Container
(This was locked and we were advised that no persons lived in it and it was only used for storage.)
Male Dormitory Two
(Believed to be housed by ABC Sub-Contractor Workers)
Insufficient number of workable smoke detectors
Only one shower out of two is functional
Leaking plumbing fixtures at sink, shower and toilet
Filthy
Mold is evident
Strong odor of urine is present
Only one toilet is functional
Duck work in building leads to outside elements with no covers
Poor or very little floor drainage
Broken mirror(s) mounted on the wall(s)
Rain water enters at the floor on the east side of this building
A fire has occurred in this building and smoke damage is present
Caulking is needed throughout the building
HVAC unit is one of the rooms needs replacement
Vermin hole in west wall of one of the rooms at floor level covered with cardboard
Several loose ceiling light fixtures
Electrical wires hanging from the ceiling in several rooms
Male Dormitory Three
Electrical wires exposed at ceiling of west door
Bathroom is filthy
No ceiling light fixture
Shower curtain(s) if present are a health hazard
Mold is evident
Leaky plumbing fixtures
Loose ceiling light fixtures
Caulking is needed to throughout the building
Insufficient number of smoke detectors
Vermin holes in walls
Buildings Numbers Four – Nine
(The following is again only a partial listing of our findings)
Filthy
Mold is evident in bathrooms
Leaky plumbing fixtures
Insufficient number of smoke detectors
Loose Ceiling Fixtures
Caulking is needed throughout these buildings
Poor or little drainage in bathrooms
Loose ceiling light fixtures (many without covers)
Vermin holes in exterior walls
Some cracked or broken windows
Skilled Services Building
We were advised that only six people occupied and/or lived in this building. These individuals are alleged to be electricians, plumbers, generator repairmen, etc.
It is our opinion that there is evidence that more than six people live in this building. Most of the interior doors were locked or unable to be opened.
West side of exterior of this building is cluttered with debris and electrical wires
30 rooms with most locked and unable to enter and inspect
Circuit board does not shut properly and is not locked
One bathroom and is filthy with a strong odor of urine
Shower curtain is moldy and filthy
*Six sinks with one not functioning
*Six showers with only one functioning
*Six toilets with only one functioning
Floor tile is missing and the floor is wet with poor or limited drainage
Broken windows in some bedrooms
Caulking is needed throughout
Large hole in ceiling
Only two hall lights working
Insufficient number of smoke detectors
Missing covers for ceiling light fixtures
Skilled Services Building (Continued)
*It should be noted that these sinks, showers, and toilets are being used and functional but have leaky faucets and shower heads. There is water accumulated on the floor and the area is unsanitary. There does appear to be a strong odor of bleach in the air in a possible effort to sanitize this room.
It is an accurate statement that many of the listed items of concern are rampart throughout the compound. While all the health, safety and non-compliance issues listed in this inspection are accurate they are many still not noted in this report/inspection.
Bobby Lee Johnson
QA Inspector H-4 Marez
Posted by davidphinney at 10:24 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 05, 2007
Congress Urged to Look at Labor Trafficking
GovExec reiterates POGO's press release today by outlining the group's 13 priorities for Congress in the coming session. Among those priorities, the often celebrated, self-appointed, Washington-based watchdog group, aka, the Project on Government Oversight, singles out labor trafficking under US contracts in Iraq:
Highlighting a little-known issue, the advocacy officials cited a Defense Department investigation into human trafficking by federal contractors operating in Iraq. They noted that no hearings have been held to examine potential abuses of third-country nationals working on U.S.-funded projects, including the illegal confiscation of passports and violations of Iraqi immigration rules.
For more on what is claimed to be the "little known issue" of labor trafficking under US contracts, click here.
Posted by davidphinney at 10:36 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Ouch!
From a December 12 Bill Moyers speech before a bunch of lefty groups gathering in New York sponsored by The Nation, Demos, the Brennan Center for Justice and the New Democracy Project: Democrats are ebullient as they prepare to take charge of the multitrillion-dollar influence racket that we used to call the US Congress. Let them rejoice while they can, as long as they remember that while they ran some good campaigns, they have arrived at this moment mainly because George W. Bush lost a war most people have come to believe should never have been fought in the first place....
Democrats would be wise to be mindful of Shakespeare's counsel, "'Tis more by fortune ... than by merit." For they were delivered from the wilderness not by their own goodness and purity but by the grace of K Street corruption, DeLay Inc.'s duplicity, the pitiless exploitation of Terri Schiavo, the disgrace of Mark Foley and a shameful partisan cover-up, the shamelessness of Jack Abramoff and a partisan conspiracy, and neocon arrogance and amorality (yes, amoral: Apparently there is no end to the number of bodies Bill Kristol and Richard Perle are prepared to watch pile up on behalf of illusions that can't stand the test of reality even one Beltway block from the think tanks where they are hatched). The Democrats couldn't have been more favored by the gods if they had actually believed in one!
Posted by davidphinney at 10:16 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 02, 2007
Shrinking Violets
They foresaw a New American Century and it was as if they planned to pump up US foreign policy with steady injections of steroids. ... Then again, maybe they just were metaphorically whacked out on the drug themselves.
In their 1997 manifesto, they posed the question: "Does the United States have the resolve to shape a new century favorable to American principles and interests?"
Their answer was no: "We are in danger of squandering the opportunity and failing the challenge. We are living off the capital -- both the military investments and the foreign policy achievements -- built up by past administrations."
The Beltway collective of Neocons became the major ideological muscle behind pushing for the invasion and occupation of Iraq.
Vowing to build a new America, their wish list included "a military that is strong and ready to meet bo