David Phinney: pentagon Archives

May 14, 2008

Insurance Fraud in Iraq

It may be the biggest, most pervasive fraud taking place among US-funded contractors in Iraq.

Two contractors are now under criminal investigation for failing to obtain required insurance but charging for it anyway, according to the Associated Press. There may be many more soon to bear the same scrutiny:

The investigation of two companies located in Tikrit -- Sakar al-Fahal and al-Jubori -- led the Army Corps of Engineers to scour its records for evidence of fraud by other contractors hired with billions of U.S. dollars to help rebuild Iraqi infrastructure devastated by the war, the documents reveal.

Under federal law, all contractors doing work overseas for U.S. government agencies are required to insure their civilian employees, many of whom are handling dangerous jobs in hostile areas. The medical and disability insurance is called Defense Base Act coverage, a reference to the federal law mandating it. The State Department and US AID have their own in-house program, but other contractors must go to much more expensive private insurers.

According to the General Accountability Office, Defense contractors were paying up to $21 in workers' compensation premiums for each $100 in workers' salary, compared with as little as $2 in insurance costs for contractors employed by the State Department. The contractors' insurance premiums are borne by the government, which also pays the workers' claims if an injury or death is directly caused by a "war-risk hazard."

That has spawned a long, festering multi-billion-dollar problem and it has grown like a tumor in Iraq where contractors equal the numbers of US troops. As USA Today reported three years ago:

The Defense Department wants to overhaul a controversial $5.5 billion workers' compensation insurance program for its civilian contractors overseas after discovering that it is paying up to 10 times more for the insurance than other government agencies while leaving taxpayers exposed to large uncovered claims.

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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. 20307-5001

If you approve of the idea, please pass it on to your friends.

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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 01, 2007

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 24, 2007

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.

Here's the Reuters column.

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.....

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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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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."

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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.

Here's the PDF report, thanks to the Federation of American Scientists, a group supportive of opening government sources.

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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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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

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 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 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.

The Washington Post:

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.

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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.

More on the subject here.

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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.

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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 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.

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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.

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Civilian Contractor Casualties

Latest SIGIR Report:

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.

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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, 2007

Charges announced
Multi-National Corps - Iraq PAO

Baghdad, 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 AM

Received 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, 2007

Charges announced
Multi-National Corps - Iraq PAO

-30-

James Hutton
Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army
Public Affairs Officer

Q&A: Responses received Thu 4/26/2007 6:18 AM

Received 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?

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:

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 forces

Vance 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. Phinney

Well,

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,
US200341DT

I'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

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.

Here's the Reuters story.

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.

Here's GAP's press release.

More on Wolfowitz and Iraq.

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 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.

Posted by davidphinney at 11:42 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

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.

March 21, 2007

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Why wasn't any subcontractor busted?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 states:

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

US LAW DEFINES FORCED LABOR:
§ 1589. Forced labor

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

Check it out on YouTube.com: By this time tomorrow 36,000 people will have been trafficked.
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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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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."

Posted by davidphinney at 12:44 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

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 01, 2007

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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February 20, 2007

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 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.

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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

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.

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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

Civilian Reserve Corps: Private Army?

Jeremy Scahill opines in a Los Angeles Times op-ed about President Bush's proposal for a Cvilian Reserve Corps on Tuesday night:
A privatized version of it was floated two years ago by Erik Prince, the secretive, mega-millionaire, conservative owner of Blackwater USA and a man who for years has served as the Pied Piper of a campaign to repackage mercenaries as legitimate forces. In early 2005, Prince -- a major bankroller of the president and his allies -- pitched the idea at a military conference of a "contractor brigade" to supplement the official military. "There's consternation in the [Pentagon] about increasing the permanent size of the Army," Prince declared. Officials "want to add 30,000 people, and they talked about costs of anywhere from $3.6 billion to $4 billion to do that. Well, by my math, that comes out to about $135,000 per soldier." He added: "We could do it certainly cheaper."

And Prince is not just a man with an idea; he is a man with his own army. Blackwater began in 1996 with a private military training camp "to fulfill the anticipated demand for government outsourcing." Today, its contacts run from deep inside the military and intelligence agencies to the upper echelons of the White House. It has secured a status as the elite Praetorian Guard for the global war on terror, with the largest private military base in the world, a fleet of 20 aircraft and 20,000 soldiers at the ready.

It ain't going to happen. Politically, it's a non-starter unless the Civilian Reserve Corps is veiled as something much more benign -- maybe the Peace Corps?

Posted by davidphinney at 10:19 AM | Comments (1) | 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 19, 2007

Got a War? Dial 1-800-MERCENARY

This is a clever take:
Considering all the flak that President Bush has endured for ordering 20,000 more troops to Baghdad, it's a wonder that he didn't just pick up the phone and dial 1-800-MERCENARY.

Jon D. Markman on TheStreet.com reiterates what private military pundits and observers already know: "Independent companies are now the third-largest contributor of forces to Iraq, after regular American and British troops."

And since Markman works for a handy investment and financial Web site, his advice is buy. "You've now got a chance to make a few bucks off the men and women who actually shoot to kill. It's a capitalist version of 24, without the commercial breaks."

Markman predicts DynCorp's future as especially rosy and he's keen on the name: "It's like giving the name Spot to a vicious Doberman, or meeting a mobster with the name John Smith."

Think about it: this could be an endorsement for investing in the mob and Doberman kennels as well. (....Maybe I think too much.... )

L-3 looks riskier. The company's recently-acquired Titan division lost a multi-billion-dollar linguistics contract to DynCorp. Besides, Baghdad is not exactly a safe work environment: Titan has reportedly lost 216 employees in the war "so far."

We're talking dead here -- not employees simply having a hard time finding their way around town. So, DynCorp workers may not have come out on the winning end of things with this new contract either.

L-3's Titan translators have the task of going out on midnight Army raids breaking down doors and ransacking homes in search of insurgents and other troublemakers. Titan people are among those who regularly carry side arms -- authorized or not.

An excellent series in The San Diego Union-Tribune explained the job thusly:
Titan employees say they worked in a land of chaos and lawlessness, where company rules were often vague and employees were sometimes left to fend for themselves....They complained of flak vests that lacked body armor, satellite phones that never worked and unsafe vehicles.

The company also worked Abu Ghraib during the time when torture and humiliation were routine -- and yes, Titan employees were present. They were supposedly under investigation by the Justice Department, but time marches on.

Markman says there are 20,000 gun-toting private contractors doing security work on the ground in Iraq. Actually, the number is more like 25,000 to 35,000, according to Tim Spicer, the British overlord of all private security companies operating in Iraq. That's not counting the other gun toters -- from interpreters to civilian and military advisers. Then of course, there are those who are unauthorized to carry arms but do anyway.

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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

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January 02, 2007

Insuring Wartime Risks

It's one of the priciest items on a contractor's bill when doing business on the battlefield: insurance.

Calculations estimate that premiums range from $10 to $21 per $100 of salary paid to a civilian contractor, according to the investigative arm of Congress, the Government Accountability Office.

"That means taxpayers were paying up to $21,000 a year to insure a worker with an annual salary of $100,000, which is not unusual pay for a private contractor," writes reporter Joseph Neff McClatchy Newspapers.

Neff's story, Iraq Contracts Burden Taxpayers, lucidly explains how insurance companies may very well be making a financial killing in war.

Interestingly, insurance rates for a Pentagon contractor are higher than those paid by a contractor with the State Department -- even when both are working in Iraq.

Neff explains:
The State Department has put its contractors' insurance out for bid; the winning bid provides the insurance anywhere in the world at the same price. The U.S. Agency for International Development, the government's foreign aid agency, also bids its insurance. The rates in Iraq are very good, said Sara Coyne, an insurance broker at Rutherfoord International, which manages the contractors' insurance programs for the State Department and USAID.

All of this adds up to a lot of money when considering there are 100,000 or more contractors working in Iraq for the US government. That's 10 times the number of the Gulf War.

Insurance is taking center stage in the lawsuit filed against the security company, Blackwater USA, by the families of four contractors whose mutilated bodies were burned and dragged through the streets of Fallujah in March 2004.
In seeking damages, the families contend that Blackwater sent the contractors on a dangerous mission without proper equipment or preparation. Blackwater, based in Moyock, N.C., has said the families are entitled only to the $1,073 weekly benefits paid under the contractors' Defense Base Act policies.

The insurance industry agrees and has urged federal judges to dismiss the lawsuit and force insurance companies to pay the benefits. Any other decision will hurt the insurance industry and deprive the United States of the use of private contractors, AIG wrote in a friend-of-the-court brief. AIG didn't cover Blackwater.

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December 26, 2006

Pentagon Ponders Expanding Foreign Recruitment

Want US citizenship? Join the US Globar War on Terrorism today!

That's what the Pentagon is now considering: expanding the existing program of trading citizenship to those foreign nationals willing to pick up arms on behalf of US foreign policy and military operations.

Insiders at the Pentagon reveal discussions about opening recruiting stations overseas and putting more immigrants on a faster track to US citizenship if they volunteer, The Boston Globe reports:
The idea of signing up foreigners who are seeking US citizenship is gaining traction as a way to address a critical need for the Pentagon, while fully absorbing some of the roughly one million immigrants that enter the United States legally each year.

Supporters include the American Enterprise Institute:
"It works as a military idea and it works in the context of American immigration," said Thomas Donnelly , a military scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute in Washington and a leading proponent of recruiting more foreigners to serve in the military.

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December 17, 2006

KBR Gives a Pass to Costly Insurance Requirements in Iraq

I have a curious one-page memo, "Blanket Insurance Waiver," which apparently allows Halliburton/KBR to waive insurance requirements -- read cut "costs" -- to potential subcontractors working under Halliburton's sweeping military logistics contract, known as LOGCAP.

Four top-level KRR managers approved this internal memo November 26, 2002, while the Bush administration's Global War on Terror was in full swing in Afghanistan and poised to expand in Iraq.

The memo grants sweeping discretion to KBR contract officers in the field, i.e., Iraq. Among them is the freedom to ignore insurance requirements when subcontractors claim they can't find a suitable insurance carrier. That insurance requirement covers general liability, automobile liability, and the stautory amount for worker's compensation and employer's liability.

One contracting insider believes that KBR's contracting officers routinely used the waiver to help non-US businesses be more competitive when bidding on multi-million-dollar contracts under the logistics deal. (In other words, KBR personnel allegedly lowered the threshold on costs during the bidding process for select firms in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and other countries, says the source.)

"It appears that waivers were routinely handed out, but only to non-US businesses, " he asserts.

This insider claims that because insurance coverage for workers is mandatory on Pentagon contracts, the waiver grants a very liberal license to a contracting officer who waives the requirement.

"In 2004-2005, coverage was running from $27 to $35 per $100 of wages. Essentially, providing a waiver to foreign firms gives them an automatic 27-35% price advantage on Labor Contracts over honest American entities," the insider says.

Halliburton/KBR spokesperson Kathy Mann explains the waiver this way:
"KBR's standard commercial terms and conditions for subcontracts include a requirement to demonstrate that the vendor maintains appropriate commercial insurance. Understandably, most standard insurance policies contain war risk exclusions. Accordingly, due to the war-zone conditions in Iraq at the time, most insurance carriers would not extend coverage under their insurance policies to cover the work of the subcontractors in Iraq. In accordance with our established procurement procedures, KBR needed to waive this requirement to award the subcontracts to support the troops. "(Update 12.20.06)

According to the US Labor Department, which oversees Defense Base Act insurance requirements, there are four major insurance carriers currently providing DBA coverage in Iraq: AIG, ACE-USA,
CNA, and Chubb. And there are others. There's more on DBA requirements in Iraq here. (Update: 12.21.06)

So does this waiver affect DBA requirements by the Labor Department? I am still checking.

This is what Labor has to say about DBA, which is related to the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (LHWCA):
"The insurance requirements under the DBA are identical to those found in the LHWCA (Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act). The Longshore Act requires every employer (including contractors and subcontractors) either to secure insurance for the payment of workers' compensation benefits provided under the Act or to be permissibly self-insured. If a subcontractor fails to secure the payment of compensation, the contractor will be liable and will be required to secure the payment of such benefits."

The real question, though, is whether LogCAP requires subcontractor insurance, not whether KBR's "standard commercial terms" do.

A prominent attorney working on Iraq contract fraud tells me that this memorandum may be cause for crying foul on perhaps hundreds of contracts.

"There is a potential False Claims Act claim here. It's would be a little difficult to pin down the Government's damages, but clearly, if KBR must require subcontractors to obtain insurance, and it's not doing so, then every invoice certifying contract compliance is a false claim." (See qualifying analysis below.)

Another prominent government attorney tells me he's not so sure, but regardless of the blanket legal interpretations, allowing a private contract officer the personal discretion to waive insurance requirements opens the door for some handy favoritism that could potentially be rewarded with generous kickbacks.

That's one reason why the special inspector general charged with investigating Iraq contracting is looking hard at the hidden layers of subcontractors working underneath Halliburton/KBR, according to a number of sources talking to me.

Halliburton/KBR has now billed $16 billion since the war on terror began largely from its business in coordinating camp construction and maintenance, food services and supply convoys in Iraq and Afghanistan. (That's my rough estimate on the Pentagon's tab.)

Much of that work has been handed out to subcontractors, while KBR tacks on a percentage surcharge for awarding and coordinating the contracts. (Imagine a pyramid of contractors with Houston-based KBR sitting at the top.)

The four KBR managers who signed the memo are:
-- Tod E. Nickels, senior procurement and materials manager
-- John Downey, project general manager (LOGCAP) project
-- Bob Herndon, vice president, operations maintenance and logistics
-- Tom Crum, chief operating officer.

As far as the waiver is concerned, read on:

Here's what the attorney says about the insurance memo:

"This raises several legal issues. The main ones are: (1) what one has to do to waive a requirement like this, and (2) who has to do it.

The insurance requirements for federal subcontractors are rather heavily regulated. This is particularly in the area of construction (which is supposed to be KBR's specialty). It's not simply a function of what the LogCAP contract says, but also a function of regulations and statutes. Some of these requirements simply cannot be waived. Others can be waived only by a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register. Still others require approval at a level higher than the contracting officer, e.g., the head of the contracting activity. I sincerely doubt that the only insurance requirement is whatever requirement that KBR chooses to impose in its form subcontract.

As to the first issue, i.e., how to waive a requirement like this, I don't have enough information to know in which category the LogCAP subcontractor insurance requirement falls, but it's very, very unlikely that a one-paragraph memorandum is sufficient. The minimum conceivable requirement is a formal contract modification, and this memorandum just isn't one. As I said, it's quite possible that even a formal contract modification wouldn't suffice. For instance, a modification can't waive a mandatory statutory requirement.

Then there is the issue of who has the authority to do something like this. Again, the minimum conceivable requirement is something signed by the administrative contracting officer for the contracting activity in question. (In the case of LogCAP, that's an Army Command at Rock Island, IL.) I don't see anyone signing this memorandum who fits the description. Conveniently for KBR, it's not on any stationery, and the signatories' employer is not identified. It looks to me, however, that all of the signatories might be KBR employees. The idea that KBR itself would have the authority to waive its own insurance requirements under the LogCAP prime contract is almost laughable, but with KBR, anything is possible.

If one wanted to know exactly what provisions were being violated here, one would have to review the LogCAP Request for Proposals, and possibly (but not necessarily) the task orders and formal contract mods. As you know, the task orders are notoriously difficult to obtain through FOIA.

There is a potential False Claims Act claim here. It's would be a little difficult to pin down the Government's damages, but clearly, if KBR must require subcontractors to obtain insurance, and it's not doing so, then every invoice certifying contract compliance is a false claim."

Update 12/29/06: One informed observer notes in an email,
bastards ...
take my word for it, they are required to carry DBA, are criminally liable if they don't AND KBR's responsibility for it flows -- even criminally -- down to the lowest sub of a sub of a sub. They can get a waiver from the Labor Dept., but they did not get any waivers for Iraq. Don't have those files anymore, but I believe the guy you want is Jack Martone of the Labor Department (he was about to retire 1.5+ years ago, but was pretty helpful). You can also look at GAOs attempt to look at the DBA question, which was really, really lame. Their interest, of course, was not in whether benefits were being illegally denied to workers, but how much DBA was costing taxpayers given the extensive use of contractors in Iraq. My recollection is they basically threw up their hands and said, "We have no fucking clue, since no one even knows how many contractors there."

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November 29, 2006

The Shadow Army

CBS and The San Francisco Chronicle both ran recent stories on contractors working in Iraq.

Privatizing support services supposedly brings down costs for the Pentagon. It also sweeps a myriad number of problems under the rug -- everything from who gets to carry guns and the liability for shooting people to the longterm health problems of the civilian workers.

Both CBS and the Chron hone in on the looming challenges of post-traumatic stress disorder. PTSD is common among soldiers so it seems likely it is among civilian contractors as well, right? Especially in an asymmetrical threat environment where danger lurks around every corner and there is no frontline to hide behind.

I tried selling a story about contractors to CBS last summer -- actually several. This is that organization's effort: Civilian Contractors Face Perils in Iraq. It has an uncanny resemblance to a story I ran several years ago, including the spotlight on Sam Walker. He was eating french fries in a dining facility when a body bomber walked in and killed dozens:

"Body parts were flying all over and pieces of flesh flying in my face," Walker says.

When it was over, the former contractor was drenched in the blood of the victims around him and rescue workers took him for dead. "I was so close to the bomber," he adds. "There was copper wire from the bomb embedded in my jacket."

Walker took a full blast to the side of his head and shrapnel pitted his body. But when KBR medics treated him following the bombing, he says they merely rubbed Vaseline on his burns and gave him Motrin for pain.

"For two days I told them my side was hurting but they said I would be okay, and wouldn't give me medical leave," Walker says.

The Chron's, "Civilian Workers in Iraq Suffering Combat Tauma," charts a similar course. (Yes, I did suggest the subject to a Chron editor).

Of course we all owe a debt to Jana Crowder and her Web site www.americancontractorsiniraq.com. She is the source for so much of what reporters do about the personal lives of contractors these days.

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Greetings from Bangkok

Lots of new things to report from my travels to Manila. I met with government officials and former workers with First Kuwaiti Trading and Contracting.

I am told that First Kuwaiti is on a Philippine agency "watch list" for numerous complaints from workers about alleged labor trafficking into Iraq and horrid working and living conditions there. The company, which is now building the US embassy in Baghdad, has been on that list since mid-2005.

Apparently, the US State Department was unaware of these allegations, dismissed them, or just didn't deem them substantial enough when it awarded the $592-million contract to First Kuwaiti. And why did First Kuwaiti get the contract when it was $60 million or more over the lowest bidder for the work? Some say First Kuwaiti was the only company that could deploy quickly enough. Others say First Kuwaiti had the inside track because it was awarded sole-source contract to first clean up the embassy site.

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April 25, 2006

Law Violated, But Pentagon Offers No Names

From: DAVID PHINNEY [mailto:david.phinney@verizon.net]
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2006 12:41 AM
To: Mace Brian A LtCol MNF-I Deputy IG
Subject:

Brian,

I am a reporter for CorpWatch and contributor to BBC. As you may recall, I began researching labor conditions and allegations of trafficking last July. I was then told the issues I raised were under investigation. (SEE BELOW)

I need background on the new FRAG order for trafficking in persons MNF-1 FRAGO 06-188. (FILE ATTACHED)

It states that an inspection of contracting activities supporting DOD in Iraq revealed evidence of illegal confiscation of worker passports, deceptive hiring practices and excessive recruiting fees. Additionally, it found substandard worker living conditions at some sites and circumvention of Iraqi immigration procedures.

What contractors were found to be involved in these activities, under what contracts and what, if any, corrective and punitive measure were taken against these companies?

Additionally, where can I get a report on the findings of the mentioned inspection?

Thanks,

DAVID PHINNEY

-----------------------------

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED

Mr. Phinney,

SGT Anderson is now working a different shift. I searched our database and found his original response to you (pasted below).

TSgt. Diamond

CPIC Press Desk

-------------------------------------------------------

Mr. Phinney,

This is all we will say about the trafficking incident.

During an inspection by the MNF-I Inspector General (IG) that was completed in late March, evidence indicated a wide spread practice of holding and withholding employee passports to prevent employees “jumping” to other employers. It is the position of Multi-National Forces-Iraq (MNF-I) that this practice violates the law under Title 18 U.S. Code.

The rights to freedom of movement and quality living standards are serious issues; MNF-I takes a zero tolerance approach to any violation and incorporates contract language that prohibits contractors and subcontractors at all tiers from utilizing unlicensed recruiting firms, or firms that charge illegal recruiting fees, and includes appropriate penalties for non-compliance.

All Department of Defense military and civilian personnel and Department of Defense contractors must receive the mandatory Trafficking in Persons (TIP) awareness training prior to deployment or after arrival in the Command. Our leaders understand the dynamics and indicators of trafficking and are vigilant in correcting or reporting suspected violations or activities.

MNF-I employs a three-pronged approach to deter and combat human trafficking by DoD personnel or contractors in Iraq -- education and awareness; policy and enforcement; and inspection.

-- Education and Awareness. All DoD personnel and DoD contractors must receive mandatory TIP awareness training prior to deployment or after arrival in the Command.

--Policy and Enforcement. All contracts incorporate appropriate language to compel the protection of individual rights (at both contract and subcontract levels); to promote rule of law in Iraq and in the labor recruiting process, and to provide a mechanism to enforce contract compliance.

-- Inspection. Leaders must be vigilant in correcting or reporting suspected violations or activities.

Contractors and subcontractors at all tiers are required to comply with international laws regarding transit/exit/entry procedures, and the requirements for work visas, and incorporate contractual provisions for addressing non-compliance. Contractors will follow all host Country entry and exit requirements.

Our contracts will have measurable, enforceable standards for living conditions (e.g., sanitation, health, safety, etc.), and establish 50 feet as the minimum acceptable square footage of personal living space per worker.

MNF-I will incorporate contract language that requires contractors and sub-contractors at all tiers to provide workers with a signed copy of their employment contract that defines the terms of their employment / compensation (e.g., salary, currency, work hours, overtime, vacation, etc.).

Our contracts will have measurable, enforceable standards for living conditions (e.g., sanitation, health, safety, etc.), and establish 50 feet as the minimum acceptable square footage of personal living space per worker. Language should include a provision to allow contracting officers to grant a waiver in cases where the existing square footage is within 20% of the minimum and the overall conditions are determined to be acceptable.

We have directed contractors and subcontractors at all tiers to return worker passports in compliance with reference (b) no later than 01 May 2006, and incorporate specific contract language to restrict the duration of time that travel documents may be controlled by employers for administrative processing, to preserve the intent of Title 18 USC.

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
If this e-mail is marked FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY it may be exempt from mandatory disclosure under FOIA. DoD 5400.7R, "DoD Freedom of Information Act Program", DoD Directive 5230.9, "Clearance of DoD Information for Public Release", and DoD Instruction 5230.29, "Security and Policy Review of DoD Information for Public Release" apply.

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Noted by UPi

Documents obtained by David Phinney.

U.S.: Return passports to Iraq workers UPI April 24, 2006 Monday 12:00 PM EST

Copyright 2006 U.P.I.
All Rights Reserved
http://www.upi.com
UPI

April 24, 2006 Monday 12:00 PM EST

LENGTH: 675 words

HEADLINE: U.S.: Return passports to Iraq workers

DATELINE: WASHINGTON, April 24

BODY:

The U.S. military in Iraq has demanded that the passports of all employees of contractors and subcontractors serving the military in Iraq be returned to them by May 1.

It is also insisting that the thousands of civilian workers in Iraq and Afghanistan are given at least 50 square feet of personal living space per person.

"The right of freedom of movement and quality living standards are serious issues; [Multi-National Force Iraq] takes a zero tolerance approach to any violation," states an April 19 memo from the Joint Contracting Command in Baghdad.

An inspection by the Multi-National Forces Iraq inspector general revealed a widespread practice of confiscating employee passports by contractors and subcontractors for the term of employment. It was meant to prevent employees -- most of them "third-country nationals" from low-paying and poorly policed labor markets in Africa and Asia -- from "jumping" to other employers in Iraq and Afghanistan for better pay or living conditions.

Most of the workers are employed under the $13 billion LOGCAP contract awarded to Halliburton subsidiary KBR, which in turn subcontracts out much of the work to other companies.

Because of the size of the LOGCAP contract, KBR has been under pressure to reduce the cost of services to the military, according to industry officials.

"Increasing expenditures in theater ... jeopardize our ability to maintain public support as the costs associated with our operations continue to rise," wrote Gen. George Casey, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, in a memo issued last summer and exclusively reported by UPI.

One of the few areas with flexibility in cost is the labor. Companies competing for KBR subcontracts routinely shop the world for the lowest-paid workers to fill positions at U.S. facilities -- cooking, cleaning and maintaining the physical infrastructure of the bases for 140,000 U.S. service members.

In some cases, workers are paid a pittance by Western standards. UPI reported in December that some food service employees from Sierra Leone were paid less than 50 cents an hour for their year-long contract. The workers were contractually prohibited from discussing the terms of their contract and their pay with outsiders but UPI obtained a copy of the employment contract.

The MNF-I inspection also revealed "deceptive hiring practices and excessive recruiting fees, substandard worker living conditions at some sites; circumvention of Iraqi immigration procedures by contractors/subcontractors, lack of mandatory trafficking in persons awareness training," according to an April "FRAGO" order to the military. Both documents were obtained by David Phinney, a journalist with Corpwatch.

A Sierra Leone worker told UPI he had been promised an American visa by the recruiter if he accepted the job in Iraq. No such arrangements were made.

"All contractors engaging in this practice who have contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan are directed to cease and desist in this practice immediately. All passports are to be returned to employees by May 1," states the April 19 memo.

The MNF-I inspector general will conduct a second round of inspections in the next three months to ensure compliance with the order.

If passports are not returned to employees and adequate living space provided, the U.S. military may terminate or suspend contracts, bar contractors from competing for future work, or give a negative past performance evaluation, which is supposed to diminish the chances of future contracts. The U.S. military can also bar and contractor in violation of the orders from setting foot on a military installation.

The memos state that future contracts with the U.S. military will include provisions allowing the U.S. government to terminate the contract without penalty if there is a violation of these laws. It will also require that all workers be furnished a signed copy of their contracts, and will prohibit unlicensed recruiting firms or recruiting firms that charge an unreasonable recruiting fee to workers from working with the U.S. military in Iraq.

LOAD-DATE: April 25, 2006

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April 24, 2006

Pentagon Attacks Labor Trafficking by US Contractors

It has been long in coming. The Pentagon is now demanding that contractors fight labor trafficking and lousy working conditions in Iraq endured by tens of thousands of low-paid south Asians working under US-funded contracts in Iraq.

In an April 19 memorandum to all Pentagon contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Joint Contracting Command demands that the widespread practice of taking away workers passports come to end. Contractors engaging in the practice, states the memo, must immediately "cease and deist."

"All passports will be returned to employees by 1 May 06. This requirement will be flowed down to each of your subcontractors performing work in this theater."

Contractors and subcontractors routinely hold workers passports -- in direct violation of US labor trafficking laws -- to prevent them from changing employers or leave wartorn Iraq.

As many as 35,000 low-paid workers are employed under Halliburton's sweeping, multibillion logistics contract serving the US military. Many of these workers are brought to Iraq by subcontractors from neighboring Arab countries -- countries that have been frequently cited by the US State Department for the exploitation of foreign workers.

A new April 4 contracting directive (I know the PDF is upside down!) also officially confirms the dirty little secret that reporters, military people and contractors have been complaining about ever since the March 2003 invasion of Iraq: Many of the tens of thousands of south Asian workers working under US contracts have been repeatedly exploited by their employers.

The directive notes that inspections of Defense contractors in Iraq has revealed deceptive hiring practices, excessive recruiting fees that indebt workers for months if not years, substandard living conditions that include crammed sleeping quarters and poor food, and the circumventing of Iraqi immigration procedures.

These conditions, endured by south Asian workers sometimes making only dollars a day, are all chronicled in my October story, Blood, Sweat & Tears: Asia's Poor Build U.S. Bases in Iraq.

I originally brought the allegations of trafficking and labor abuse to the Army last July. Those allegations helped set up the chain of investigations that eventually brought on this new order.

Here's the Army's Aug. 5, 2005 email:

David,
In response to your correspondence of 29 July 2005 addressing a number of issues involving the use of third country nationals (TCNs) in sub-contracts under our LOGCAP contract. These are serious issues and we are presently investigating the specific incidents you've addressed.

We are concerned about employment conditions for all employees. There are a number of contract clauses outlining health, security, and other life support requirements for sub-contracted entities. You can access the contract at: http://www.afsc.army.mil/gc/files/contract%20san.pdf.

What I find interesting is that the prime contractor is responsible for the oversight, including Halliburton's KBR, which is now well over $15 billion in billings for military support work in Iraq:

The U.S. Government has privity of contract with the prime contractor, in this case KBRS. The specifics of sub-contractor oversight are usually within the purview of the parties involved; the prime and sub-contracted entities.

One Kuwaiti subcontractor under KBR that has been accused of coercing employees to work in Iraq against their will is now the prime contractor tasked with building new $592-million US embassy project in Baghdad.

The April military directive announces that contractors will be required to take part in new education and awareness programs, policy enforcement and inspections by Joint Contracting Command's Inspector General in the coming months for compliance.

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April 22, 2006

Labor Trafficking in Iraq.....

This is an interesting development according to a KBR worker who complained about working conditions of low-paid Asian laborers working under US contracts.

The development follows my series on the working conditions and trafficking of south Asians Blood, Sweat & Tears along with Cam Simpson's series that followed in The Chicago Tribune:

I have some good news to report. Things are shakin', probably as a result of Cam's article and others like his, and perhaps as a result of the survey of 32 Indian workers and related summary I sent up the KBR chain.
Two days ago an internal investigative team (one HR supervisor and a Hindi interpreter) came to interview the same 32 laborers. It was all very hush hush, but I confirmed afterward with my guys that the questions had been the same ones I had asked them, about the amount of their agency fees, the interest on their loans, time to repay, etc. Incidentally the Indians were terrified at first, certain that they were about to lose their jobs. They were assured by everyone involved that this was not the case.

The investigation, I'm certain, was to verify the validity of my report.

The other event - coincidentally happening within the same week - was a multi-page document entitled KBR Trafficking in Persons Awareness Training. All personnel are required to read it and familiarize themselves with the rules.

The U.S. has issued a new FRAGO (dont' ask me what that acronym means, but it's the law) Military MNF-I Frago 06-188 [Trafficking in Persons]

3.C.3.A. Direct contractors and subcontractors at all tiers to return worker passports in compliance with Title 18, U.S.C., Sections 1589 and 1592, and/or other laws as may be appropriate NLT 01 May 2006.....

3.C.3.D. Incorporate contract language that prohibits contractors and subcontractors at all tiers from utilizing unlicensed recruiting firms, or firms that charge illegal recruiting fees, and includes appropriate penalties for non-compliance.

3.C.3.E. Require contracts to have measurable, enforceable standards for living conditions (e.g., sanitation, health, safety, etc.) and establish 50 feet as the minimum acceptable square footage of personal living space per worker. (they have 23 now)

There are many other provisions, enforcement of compliance, assuring that laborers are given a copy of their contract (which non of my guys were given, to prove they were told they would be given a day off a month)

To me, this is encouraging. It means we've touched a nerve, or created awareness where there was none.

It has eased the misanthropy I have felt for the company I work for, the U.S. Military, but sorry... I still think Bush and his gang are idiots.

Posted by davidphinney at 05:30 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

December 13, 2005

Coalition of the Billing

Foreign Policy magazine fingers private security contractors and their enlistment of unemployed mercenaries formerly employed by South American dictators. Under the banner "Top Ten Stories You Missed in 2005," the magazine suggests that the phenomenon is a story that "fell through the cracks but will have a lasting impact for years to come."

Private security firms in Iraq are hiring an increasing number of ex-guerrillas and soldiers from Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Chile. A recent ad on Iraqijobcenter.com, for example, offered the services of "a thousand Colombian combat-trained ex-soldiers and policemen" for security work in Iraq. This year, U.S. security firm Halliburton employed Colombians to protect oil installations in several Iraqi cities. Blackwater, another private security firm, has had a group of soldiers who once served for Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet on the payroll. Recruits often come from militaries known for human rights abuses or paramilitaries with ties to narcotrafficking. So why are U.S. contractors hiring Latin American mercenaries? "If a contractor is killed," says Peter Singer, an expert on private military firms at the Brookings Institution, "it is less likely to make the news [than if it's a U.S. soldier]. If it's a contractor from another country, it is even less likely."

Posted by davidphinney at 07:42 PM | Comments (0)

December 09, 2004

'Contract Meals Disaster' for Abu Ghraib Prisoners

Is this how the situation began deteriorating at Abu Ghraib?

CorpWatch
Dec. 9, 2004

'Contract Meals Disaster' for Iraqi Prisoners
by David Phinney

Rotten food crawling with bugs, traces of rats and dirt. Rancid meats and spoiled food resulting in diarrhea and food poisoning.

This is what detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad were regularly given to eat by a private contractor in late 2003 and early 2004, causing anger to swell to a furious boil between the U.S. military guards and the prisoners.

Foul as the food was, there never was enough. The private contractor, run by an American civilian who was subsequently killed, routinely fell short by hundreds of meals for Abu Ghraib's surging prison population. When the food did arrive, there were often late and frequently contaminated.

So went another sad chapter in the story of the Abu Ghraib prison, where U.S. military personnel and private contractors would make headlines and ignite international outrage over allegations of torture psychological abuse in May of this year.

Captured in photographs now infamous for portraying naked, hooded prisoners and smiling guards, the behavior is believed to be one of the most damning acts toward Iraqi civilians by coalition forces. Other acts of violence toward the prisoners include physical abuse and still unproved allegations of rape and murder.

The Abu Ghraib prison, already infamous under Saddam Hussein’s regime, for overcrowding, ill-treatment and torture, was opened up by the over-extended military soon after the April 2003 occupation.

The inmates were a mix of petty and hardened Iraqi criminals, suspected members of the resistance, and thousands of innocent bystanders hauled out of their homes in midnight raids or off the streets of Baghdad. Many say that they just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, but were held without charges by coalition forces for months before being released.

Unable to run the prison themselves, the U.S. military hired private translators from Titan, a California-based company, interrogators from CACI, a Virginia-based company, two large and well known military contractors. In addition, they hired a small, virtually unknown contractor from Qatar, to provide food to the inmates.

A shocked Army Major, David Dinenna of the 320 Military Police Battalion, was one of the first to recognize the food problem. In a string of frantic e-mails to commanders during October and November of 2003, he called for assistance from his chain of command while working at the prison.

"Contract meals Disaster," he called it in an October 27 e-mail last year. "That is the best way to describe this issue … As each day goes by, the tension within the prisoner populations increases," he continued. "For the past two days prisoners have been vomiting after they eat."

The food was largely to blame for a November 24, 2003 prison riots in which Army guards shot four detainees after the prisoners failed to comply with commands to stop and disburse. A subsequent Pentagon investigation found that prisoners were not attempting a "mass" escape as first thought.

"All evidence indicates that the detainees were simply protesting the deplorable food and living conditions," the report concludes, which attributes the same reasons to a second prison riot on December 24, 2003.

Dinenna's messages and the riot investigations are part of a collection of documents from a classified report by Army Major General Anthony Taguba that was leaked to the news media last spring together with the now-famous photos of naked prisoners. The documents were originally obtained by several news organizations, including US News & World Report, Rolling Stone and the Center for Public Integrity in October 2004.

Torin Nelson, a contract interrogator who worked at the prison from November 2003 until February 2004 and aided in the Taguba investigation as a witness, arrived at Abu Ghraib just days after the November riot.

He recalls being told by witnesses that none of the guards had been informed about the ongoing problems of bad food given to the prisoners. "Because the guards didn't understand Arabic, they didn't know the prisoners were complaining about the food," Nelson said. "They thought there was an uprising."

Frustration erupted into screaming and the protest ignited panic among the guards. Guns were pointed as more and more prisoners gathered in the outburst. The situation spun out of control, Nelson said. "The guards began firing non-lethal rounds at the prisoners, but ran out. Then, what I was told, they got permission to use lethal rounds.

While the U.S. Justice Department is now investigating six private contractors working as interrogators and translators for Titan and CACI, for their roles in the mistreatment, the food contractor remains forgotten and unnamed in the numerous Pentagon investigations of the prison conditions that have been made public.

The contractor's name, American Service Center (ASC), based in Qatar, has surfaced only after dozens of inquiries by CorpWatch over the past month to the Pentagon and military officials in Iraq.

The little known firm boasts on a simple company Web site that it offers services in the line of housing, furniture, vehicle rentals, telephone and internet services. Closely affiliated to a sister company, Advanced Internet Center, ASC claims to work with the U.S. Amy in Qatar and military contractors such as ITT and Dyncorp.

No mention is made of food services or Abu Ghraib. ASC's owner and chief executive, Ali Hadi, hesitates to talk about the contract or his company's performance at the prison and declined to respond to numerous e-mails with questions about his company.

"I have no information about the project," Hadi said during a phone call as he traveled to a Qatar airport en route to Dubai. "I am the owner of the company," he said, "not the operator,” adding that ASC subcontracted the food contract for the prisoners to a local Baghdad caterer.

Despite the finding of abysmal performance in providing food to prisoners, Hadi said ASC holds about "10 to 16" other contracts with the U.S. military, but he is unsure if they are "active."

Any knowledge about the Abu Ghraib contract died with ASC's contract manager, Ray Parks, Hadi claimed. A 56-year-old West Virginia native and former Vietnam veteran, Parks was ambushed and murdered in his Baghdad driveway by three gunmen wearing black robes on the morning of February 16. At the time, Parks was preparing to resign from his job as director of ASC.

Family members of Parks immediately demanded a thorough investigation of events surrounding his murder. Millie Mercer, sister to Parks, said that an Army investigator called the Parks family, but then disappeared. Very little came of the investigation, Mercer said. The investigator "was transferred."

Parks had been a government contractor for many years outside the United States and went to Iraq because he "wanted to help people." He took a job with ASC in June 2003 to work in computers, she added. Mercer wants to hear nothing more about her brother's death. She prefers holding on to the good memories. "So many contractors are seeing much bigger horrors," she said.

But Major Dinenna appeared to believe that Parks was contributing to the horror of Abu Ghraib in his e-mails. "Parks is full of shit and not the least bit trustworthy," Dinenna wrote in a second Oct. 27, 2003, e-mail complaining about food for prisoners marked "URGENT URGENT URGENT."

Dinenna was responding to an earlier e-mail from an Army Major Green, who discounted Dinenna's complaints about the food service and other services ASC was relied upon to provide. "Who is making the charges that there is dirt, bugs or what ever in the food?" Green asked in his e-mails. "If it is the prisoners, I would take it with a grain of salt."

Dinenna fired back: "Our MPs (military police), Medics and field surgeon can easily identify bugs, rats, and dirt, and they did."

In addition to providing food services, ASC was also retained under an $8.2 million agreement to provide "life support" services to the U.S. military at the prison, Hadi said.

But there appears to have been confusion about that support contract among prison commanders. In his string of e-mails, Dinenna faults Parks for constant delays in providing proper lighting for the prison to help in security and prevent escapes.

Then after months of pushing Parks to provide the lighting, Dinenna discovered from a commanding officer that ASC was not responsible for the job.

The ASC contracts are only another example of poor contracting performance in Iraq and bad planning on the part of the Pentagon, said Peter Singer, an expert on the contracting for military services at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC.

"It just shows how the Pentagon has operated on an ad hoc basis," Singer said. "They were lacking in the needed planning, services and doctrine to manage large scale prisons. Everything was done at the last minute."

Nelson believes that the end result of last minute planning resulted in long term problems for the United States and its role in Iraq. "All the sickness and rotten food not only produced a safety and security concern for the guards and the prisoners," he said. "It was also a morale factor. Here were all these rich Americans coming to Iraq to fix things and they couldn't even afford to feed the prisoners."

A group of interrogators also complained to Colonel Thomas Pappas, the Army officer in charge of the prison, in November 2003, about the poor quality of the food served to the inmates by the food contractors. Nelson says that the sickness made it hard for the interrogators to extract information from detainees. "Anything that affects the morale of the locals affect our mission," he added.

In May 2004, the contract for food service at Abu Ghraib was taken away from ASC, according to Army spokesman Jeff Magruder in Baghdad who said the company apparently was responsible for most aspects of the prison, ranging from power generation to food services.

ASC "did a good job on the other stuff but obviously not so good a job on the food services side for both detainees and soldiers," Magruder said. "Their main problem was that the food would sometimes be rotten and the calorie content was not up to their standards."

Today the food for detainees and soldiers is "much better," Magruder says. Meals for detainees "now far exceed all international standards for calorie content and provide food that is more culturally sensitive. Also, during Ramadan they worked an alternate chow schedule to assist those who were fasting."

You can contact the author, David Phinney, at phinneydavid@yahoo.com.

Posted by davidphinney at 02:35 AM | Comments (0)

David Phinney

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