THE US, THE UN AND IRAQ, ELEVENTH THREAD

billions are missing in reconstruction funds

The Madness of the War Profiteering in Iraq
By Robert Greenwald, AlterNet
Posted on May 10, 2007, Printed on May 12, 2007
http://www.alternet.org/story/51719/
The following is Robert Greenwald's testimony to the House Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Defense about war profiteering.

Thank you for inviting me to testify today. I appreciate the opportunity to share with you what I have learned in the course of making the documentary film, "Iraq For Sale: The War Profiteers." Along with my colleagues at Brave New Films, I spent a year researching the experiences of soldiers, truck drivers and families affected by the presence of private military contractors in Iraq. They shared with us their harrowing experiences of how military privatization and war profiteering have affected their lives, and in some cases taken the life of a loved one.

It is their personal stories that compel me to testify today. I am not a lawyer or a financial specialist or a government expert, but I can tell you from my extensive first-hand experience with these folks that something is seriously wrong. We are hurting our country and the many patriots who serve in the military. Our taxpayer dollars are being spent, abused, mis-used, and wasted on profiteers. It is a true tragedy, and it is costing the lives of Americans and Iraqis.

Please let me introduce you to a few of these people and their stories.

Imagine someone with the exact same job as you, working next to you, but getting paid three times as much as you! We heard this story over and over again from the soldiers we interviewed. And in the case of US Army SPC David Mann, a radio repair technician who served in Iraq, he was even required to train KBR contractors to replace him. In "Iraq For Sale," David shared his frustration:

"When I could be actively becoming a better soldier and becoming more proficient in my job, instead I'm going to sit up on guard duty and wait around while KBR contractors are doing the job that I had to train them to do."

US Army specialist Anthony Lagouranis also spoke of the effects of the private contractors on the military:

"It certainly affected retention because I don't know why any military person would re-enlist to do the same job when they could get out of the military and make six times the money -- I really don't understand why they were outsourced. I mean, it seems like this is a military job and the military should be doing it. Especially because the more civilians you have out there, the more military people you need to guard them. So we're spreading us thin."

"Iraq For Sale" was seen by hundreds of thousands of people around the country, and I cannot tell you the number of soldiers who saw it and thanked us for exposing the toll that contracting and profiteering are taking on our armed forces and on the war in Iraq.

I was also appalled to learn of the amount of waste by contractors in Iraq.

I remember clearly my interview with Stewart Scott, a former Halliburton employee. With pain and rage in his voice, he said how dare Halliburton put its people up at five-star hotels, while the soldiers, who he was there to help, were sleeping on the ground. I did not believe in him at first, but then he began naming the hotels and the locations. It was all true.

I also spoke with Shane Ratliff, a truck driver from Ruby, South Carolina.

He saw Halliburton advertising a job for truck drivers in Iraq and he signed up. When Shane started telling me that empty trucks were being driven across dangerous stretches of desert, I assumed he was mistaken. Why would they do that? Then he explained that Halliburton got paid for the number of trips they took, regardless of whether they were carrying anything. These unnecessary trips where putting the lives of truckers at risk, exposing drivers and co-workers to attack. This was the result of cost-plus, no-bid contracts.

Another young Halliburton worker named James Logsdon told me about the burn pits. Burn pits are large dumps near military stations where they would burn equipment, trucks, trash, etc. If they ordered the wrong item, they'd throw it in the burn pit. If a tire blew on a piece of equipment, they'd throw the whole thing into the burn pit. They burn pits had so much equipment, they even gave them a nickname -- "Home Depot."

The trucker said he would get us some photos. And I naively asked, how big are they, the size of a backyard swimming pool? He laughed, and referred to one that he had seen that was 15 football fields large, and burned around the clock! It infuriated him to have to burn stuff rather then give it to the Iraqis or to the military. Yet Halliburton was being rewarded each time they billed the government for a new truck or new piece of equipment. With a cost- plus contract, the contractors receive a percentage of the money they spend. As Shane told me, "It's a legal way of stealing from the government or the taxpayers' money."

These costs eat up the money that could be used for other supplies.

Sgt. Phillip Slocum wrote to us and said, "In previous experiences I went off to war with extra everything, and then some. This time however, Uncle Sam sent me off with one pair of desert boots, two uniforms, and body armor that didn't fit."

Cost-plus and no-bid contracts are hopelessly undermining our efforts and costing the taxpayers billions. They do not operate within a free-market system and have no competition, but instead create a Stalinist system of rewarding cronies. In a letter from Sgt. Jon Lacore talking about the enormous amount of waste, he said, "I just can't believe that no one at all is going to jail for this or even being fired or forced to resign."

In my research, I was also shocked to discover the role of contractors in the tragedy of Abu Ghraib. Its images are seared into the minds of people throughout the world, yet few realize the role of CACI and its interrogators. As our team dug deeper and deeper into the numerous contracts, CACI and JP London kept appearing over and over. The Taguba report, the Fay report, and the Human Rights Watch report "By The Numbers" all made clear that CACI had played a significant role in the torture. As Pratap Chatterjee, head of CorpWatch has stated, CACI was using "information technology contracts through the department of Interior. So either somebody was in a big hurry or they did this deliberately so nobody would ever be able to track this ... CACI does a lot of work directly with OSD, Office of the Secretary of Defense."

And even after the investigations, there were no consequences; in fact, CACI continued to receive more and more contracts with no oversight. Later, CACI and JP London were even hired to process cases of fraud and incompetence by contractors! I kid you not -- CACI, a corporation that had profited enormously from the war and whose CEO JP London personally made $22,249,453 from his stock and salary in 2004 -- was being hired to oversee other contractors! This is a madhouse run amuck. And we need your help to fix this.

We know corporations are designed to create significant returns for its shareholders. Do we really believe they can and should be fighting for hearts and minds? Do we really think that the corporations with their legal commitment to profitability are to be given the responsibility for some of our country's most critical decisions and actions? Do we want corporations representing us in the battles for our country?

Robert Greenwald is the director/producer of "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism," as well as many other films. He is a board member of the Independent Media Institute, AlterNet's parent organization.

Xingu, That is not a new story; the reason many civilians take on those jobs is the money. They get paid many times more than the soldiers that has to protect them. That the majority of Americans are clue-less is not a surprise, but it galls me to know that congress are also at fault for not making sure all those billions of no contract jobs are wasted while Bush cuts back on proper equipment for our soldiers and veteran's benefits. All we see in the media are soldiers that say they are proud to help the Iraqi people, and to try to bring peace to their country. They seem to be separated from the realities of many of those soldiers that see how the civilian contractors trained by our soldiers are being paid much more while they are placed on "guard" duty.

This whole war is a farce from the bottom up. Those running the war are also clue-less - including general Petraeus. It's my understanding a good percentage of the US military are mercenaries getting paid over $100 grand with no chain of command.

Bush has everybody hoodwinked, and nobody has the guts to speak up about all these criminal activities involved with this war. After over four years of the same milarky, I doubt anything will happen to clean up this chaos called Iraq.

xingu wrote: What galls me is this corruption is not being presented by the mainstream media. Why do we hear of this on AlterNet and not CNN or CBS?

They are all scared shiteless out of their tiny brains.

Here, ican, while we have your undivided attention:

(Duplicate of a previous post.)

Another piece of evidence that ican doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to al Qaida. ican is not only a bore, but an ignorant one.

All Iraqi Ethnic Groups Overwhelmingly Reject al Qaeda
But Groups Vary on Iran, Syria, Hezbollah

Full Report
Questionnaire/Methodology
Transcript of Brookings Saban Center Event

A new poll of Iraqis shows that al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden are rejected by overwhelming majorities of Shias and Kurds and large majorities of Sunnis.

Shias have mildly positive views of Iran and its President, while Kurds and Sunnis have strongly negative views. Shias and Kurds have mostly negative views of Syria, while Sunnis are mildly positive. Shias have overwhelmingly positive views of Hezbollah, while Kurds and Sunnis have negative views.

The poll was conducted for WorldPublicOpinion.org by the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland and was fielded by KA Research Ltd. / D3 Systems, Inc. A nationwide representative sample of 1,150 Iraqi adults was surveyed September 1-4.

ican, You can go crawl back into your hole, now. If you're going to tell us something, at least be accurate in your info - if that's at all possible.

The Taleban's top military commander in Afghanistan, Mullah Dadullah, has been killed in fighting in the south.
His body was shown to reporters in Kandahar, and Taleban sources confirmed the death, after initial denials.

Afghan senate calls for direct talks with Taliban

By Sayed SalahuddinTue May 8, 10:04 AM ET

Afghanistan's government should hold direct talks with the resurgent Taliban and other opposition forces, the senate voted on Tuesday, in a bid to end the rising bloodshed in the country.

The senate, the upper house of the Afghan parliament, also urged Western troops in the U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces to halt the hunt for Taliban fighters and other militants.

The motion comes at a time of rising public discontent with the government of President Hamid Karzai over civilian casualties at the hands of Western troops, corruption and the failure to turn billions of dollars in aid into better livelihoods.

The senate motion calling for "direct negotiations with the concerned Afghan sides in the country" was passed by an overwhelming majority and now goes to Karzai, who has in the past failed in efforts to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table.

It follows a controversial law offering an amnesty from war crimes committed over nearly three decades of civil war.

Former cabinet minister Wadir Safi, now a political scientist at Kabul University, said the vote was a positive step, but added friction within Karzai's government over how to reach out to the Taliban needed to be resolved before peace talks could start.

"Talking to the Taliban and other opponents should be a must, for without it the crisis will go on and on," he said, adding a way should be found to include them in the government.

The Taliban could not be contacted for comment, but in the past they have ruled out peace talks and have vowed to drive out foreign troops and topple Karzai's government.

KARZAI CONFIDANT

The senate is led by former president Sibghatullah Mojadidi, a confidant of Karzai who heads a presidential commission that has tried to reach out to the Taliban and other opposition groups.

Nearly half of the 101 members of the senate are appointed by Karzai and it usually works in cooperation with him.

The senate said efforts should be made to find out the demands of the Taliban and other opponents and in the meantime military operations against them should cease.

"If the need arises for an operation, it should be carried out with coordination of the national army and police and with the consultation of the government of Afghanistan."

Karzai is under pressure from his own government after key members last month joined critics to form a new political group, the National Front, effectively the first opposition in a parliament that has no formal party structure.

They have called for some of the president's powers to be removed through the creation of a new role of prime minister.

FIGHTING ESCALATING

Fighting has escalated since early last year to its worst level since the Taliban were toppled in 2001.

On Tuesday, a civilian was killed in crossfire between the Taliban and Western troops near in the southern city of Kandahar, NATO-led forces said, just hours after a U.N. driver was shot dead in the same city on his way to work.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, who held talks with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad on Tuesday, said the fight against the Taliban must push on, but added more was needed to resolve the conflict.

"The final answer in Afghanistan will not be a military one and cannot be a military one," de Hoop Scheffer said. "The final answer in Afghanistan is reconstruction, development and nation-building."

NATO has more than 35,000 troops in Afghanistan -- the alliance's biggest ever ground operation.

De Hoop Scheffer said the relationship between Afghanistan and Pakistan was of great importance.

Leaders of the uneasy neighbors held their first talks in months on April 30 in Turkey, and de Hoop Scheffer said he hoped their meeting would have positive results.

"We are all in the same boat. We are fighting terrorism, we are fighting extremism, we are preventing Afghanistan becoming again a failed state," he said.

"We cannot afford to fail because the consequences would be felt in the region ... and globally."

(Additional reporting by Robert Birsel in Islamabad)

Improving for whom, exactly?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070508/wl_nm/afghan_dc

Quote:

Afghan senate calls for direct talks with Taliban

By Sayed SalahuddinTue May 8, 10:04 AM ET

Afghanistan's government should hold direct talks with the resurgent Taliban and other opposition forces, the senate voted on Tuesday, in a bid to end the rising bloodshed in the country.

The senate, the upper house of the Afghan parliament, also urged Western troops in the U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces to halt the hunt for Taliban fighters and other militants.

The motion comes at a time of rising public discontent with the government of President Hamid Karzai over civilian casualties at the hands of Western troops, corruption and the failure to turn billions of dollars in aid into better livelihoods.

The senate motion calling for "direct negotiations with the concerned Afghan sides in the country" was passed by an overwhelming majority and now goes to Karzai, who has in the past failed in efforts to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table.

It follows a controversial law offering an amnesty from war crimes committed over nearly three decades of civil war.

Former cabinet minister Wadir Safi, now a political scientist at Kabul University, said the vote was a positive step, but added friction within Karzai's government over how to reach out to the Taliban needed to be resolved before peace talks could start.

"Talking to the Taliban and other opponents should be a must, for without it the crisis will go on and on," he said, adding a way should be found to include them in the government.

The Taliban could not be contacted for comment, but in the past they have ruled out peace talks and have vowed to drive out foreign troops and topple Karzai's government.

KARZAI CONFIDANT

The senate is led by former president Sibghatullah Mojadidi, a confidant of Karzai who heads a presidential commission that has tried to reach out to the Taliban and other opposition groups.

Nearly half of the 101 members of the senate are appointed by Karzai and it usually works in cooperation with him.

The senate said efforts should be made to find out the demands of the Taliban and other opponents and in the meantime military operations against them should cease.

"If the need arises for an operation, it should be carried out with coordination of the national army and police and with the consultation of the government of Afghanistan."

Karzai is under pressure from his own government after key members last month joined critics to form a new political group, the National Front, effectively the first opposition in a parliament that has no formal party structure.

They have called for some of the president's powers to be removed through the creation of a new role of prime minister.

FIGHTING ESCALATING

Fighting has escalated since early last year to its worst level since the Taliban were toppled in 2001.

On Tuesday, a civilian was killed in crossfire between the Taliban and Western troops near in the southern city of Kandahar, NATO-led forces said, just hours after a U.N. driver was shot dead in the same city on his way to work.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, who held talks with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad on Tuesday, said the fight against the Taliban must push on, but added more was needed to resolve the conflict.

"The final answer in Afghanistan will not be a military one and cannot be a military one," de Hoop Scheffer said. "The final answer in Afghanistan is reconstruction, development and nation-building."

NATO has more than 35,000 troops in Afghanistan -- the alliance's biggest ever ground operation.

De Hoop Scheffer said the relationship between Afghanistan and Pakistan was of great importance.

Leaders of the uneasy neighbors held their first talks in months on April 30 in Turkey, and de Hoop Scheffer said he hoped their meeting would have positive results.

"We are all in the same boat. We are fighting terrorism, we are fighting extremism, we are preventing Afghanistan becoming again a failed state," he said.

"We cannot afford to fail because the consequences would be felt in the region ... and globally."

(Additional reporting by Robert Birsel in Islamabad)

The Taliban will be back in power soon enough, it seems.

Cycloptichorn