Cheney's Privatization Scam
In 1991 when he was Secretary of Defense, Dick Cheney decided that there were many services the Military performed for itself in logistics (food, fuel and construction) that might be done by private contractors. But within the Pentagon, there was considerable resistance to this idea. Generals asked “What if a contractor didn’t deliver what we paid for to a war zone?” So to quiet the resistance, Cheney hired an outside contractor, Brown and Root Services, a subsidiary of Halliburton and paid them $8.5 Million for a consulting survey of the privatization concept. Brown and Root reported back that privatizing the supply chain was a wonderful idea and Cheney was able to ram it through the bureaucracy in his last months in office.By 1994, Halliburton and KBR were doing most of the logistics for U.S. troops in the Balkans conflict and in 1995, Cheney became President of Halliburton.
I present this little history lesson because this morning The New York Times reports that the worst fears of the Generals who resisted Cheney’s privatization scam were realized in Iraq. Moreover, when one man stood up to KBR for overbilling $1 billion for non delivered food services, he was demoted and KBR was paid.
The Army official who managed the Pentagon’s largest contract in Iraqsays he was ousted from his job when he refused to approve paying more than $1 billion in questionable charges to KBR, the Houston-based company that has provided food, housing and other services to American troops.
The official, Charles M. Smith, was the senior civilian overseeing the multibillion-dollar contract with KBR during the first two years of the war. Speaking out for the first time, Mr. Smith said that he was forced from his job in 2004 after informing KBR officials that the Army would impose escalating financial penalties if they failed to improve their chaotic Iraqi operations.
When Smith told the KBR official he was withholding payment, they essentially blackmailed the Army- ”They said that KBR had warned that if it was not paid, it would reduce payments to subcontractors, which in turn would cut back on services.” Smith continued to hold back payments and demand KBR account for the missing services.
In August 2004, he told one of his deputies, Mary Beth Watkins, to hand deliver a letter about the threatened penalties to a KBR official visiting Rock Island. That official, whose name Mr. Smith said he could not recall, responded by saying, “This is going to get turned around,” Mr. Smith said.
Two officials familiar with the episode confirmed that account, but would speak only on the condition of anonymity out of concern for their jobs.The next morning, Mr. Smith said he got a call from Brig. Gen. Jerome Johnson, who succeeded General McManus when he retired the month before. “He told me, “You’ve got to pull back that letter,”’ Mr. Smith recalled. General Johnson declined to comment for this article.
Smith was then fired and KBR was paid their full $1 billion. My guess is that the KBR official could speak so confidently of a reversal of Smith’s order because they could appeal to a higher power in the Vice President’s office (who by the way was still a shareholder of Halliburton). I thought I had lost my capacity to be outraged by the conduct of Dick Cheney, so egregious has been his arrogance and incompetence in the last 8 years. But this morning as I read the The Times article, I felt that old familiar blood boil.
In the long sad history of American War Profiteers , Dick Cheney and the criminals at Halliburton and KBR must surely stand at the head of the class. If Waxman and Levin don’t haul all of these guys before Congress soon, it will be a crime.
Was is ever a question? I personally remember saying to my uncle in 2003 that Cheney is a war profiteer.
http://stuffwhitedbagslike.wordpress.com/2008/06/17/war-profiteering/
Was is ever a question? I personally remember saying to my uncle in 2003 that Cheney is a war profiteer.
http://stuffwhitedbagslike.wordpress.com/2008/06/17/war-profiteering/
http://goesdownbitter.wordpress.com/2008/06/12/breaking-the-army/
Me too, chimes in the Bitter Hinterlands. The civilian, read the current administration has blatantly stolen billions of dollars from the taxpayers while denying basic care for the military personnel. They don’t care when the troops come home, they just care about making as much money as possible.
http://goesdownbitter.wordpress.com/2008/06/12/breaking-the-army/
Me too, chimes in the Bitter Hinterlands. The civilian, read the current administration has blatantly stolen billions of dollars from the taxpayers while denying basic care for the military personnel. They don’t care when the troops come home, they just care about making as much money as possible.
That’s your classic Republican fiscal responsibility at work, hand-in-glove with their careful safeguarding of national security.
That’s your classic mid-90′s Contract with America style of reinventing government at work, hand-in-glove with transferring vast sums of cash to connected companies.
Support the Troops!
That’s your classic Republican fiscal responsibility at work, hand-in-glove with their careful safeguarding of national security.
That’s your classic mid-90′s Contract with America style of reinventing government at work, hand-in-glove with transferring vast sums of cash to connected companies.
Support the Troops!
Articles of Impeachment, anyone?
Articles of Impeachment, anyone?
Don’t forget Bunnatine Greenhouse. She too tried to stop the looting and was summarily demoted for her efforts.
And yes, impeachment. Although that still sounds too nice.
Don’t forget Bunnatine Greenhouse. She too tried to stop the looting and was summarily demoted for her efforts.
And yes, impeachment. Although that still sounds too nice.
Drawn, half-hanged, and quartered? That’s what the penalty was in the 17th century for high treason in merry olde England… Lovely depiction of the process in “Braveheart”…
Drawn, half-hanged, and quartered? That’s what the penalty was in the 17th century for high treason in merry olde England… Lovely depiction of the process in “Braveheart”…
I just finished reading Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine this evening. The book is absolutely depressing; it looks at how Friedman economics has been used for private company gain (mainly US), while devestating economies in South America and Eastern Europe.
Parts 5 & 6 looks at the Iraq war– including war profiteering and the explosive blowback that is to be expected.
It’s absurd that contractors refused to hire Iraqis to do the work and instead shipped Americans in; the same happened in terms of raw materials, rather than use Iraqi companies, materials were shipped in from across country lines. When it looked as though the new government would shoot down the incredibly invasive participation by contractors, the US went on to appoint, rather than elect a new gov’t so they could stay in control. One slap in the face after another for the country. Liberation, my ass. It’s amazing to see how different the outcome of the invasion of Iraq could have been had there been an iota of concern for the Iraqi people.
The US has crippled economies globally to keep that increasingly elusive growth in the business world alive. Klein goes on to make a comparison between Iraq and Katrina contracting.
It’s heart breaking and should be required reading before November.
I just finished reading Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine this evening. The book is absolutely depressing; it looks at how Friedman economics has been used for private company gain (mainly US), while devestating economies in South America and Eastern Europe.
Parts 5 & 6 looks at the Iraq war– including war profiteering and the explosive blowback that is to be expected.
It’s absurd that contractors refused to hire Iraqis to do the work and instead shipped Americans in; the same happened in terms of raw materials, rather than use Iraqi companies, materials were shipped in from across country lines. When it looked as though the new government would shoot down the incredibly invasive participation by contractors, the US went on to appoint, rather than elect a new gov’t so they could stay in control. One slap in the face after another for the country. Liberation, my ass. It’s amazing to see how different the outcome of the invasion of Iraq could have been had there been an iota of concern for the Iraqi people.
The US has crippled economies globally to keep that increasingly elusive growth in the business world alive. Klein goes on to make a comparison between Iraq and Katrina contracting.
It’s heart breaking and should be required reading before November.
Here is a thought: Let’s skip impeachment.
Let’s gear up for the War Crimes Tribunal:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/LAW-SCHOOL-TO-ORGANIZE-BUS-by-Sherwood-Ross-080615-783.html
I kind of like the idea of the whole rotten bunch of them, dressed in flamboyant orange jumpsuits, in chains, defending themselves at the Hague…
I cannot stress enough how far this might go to re-establish ourselves as the moral, upstanding, courageous nation we claim to be.
- Zhirem
Here is a thought: Let’s skip impeachment.
Let’s gear up for the War Crimes Tribunal:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/LAW-SCHOOL-TO-ORGANIZE-BUS-by-Sherwood-Ross-080615-783.html
I kind of like the idea of the whole rotten bunch of them, dressed in flamboyant orange jumpsuits, in chains, defending themselves at the Hague…
I cannot stress enough how far this might go to re-establish ourselves as the moral, upstanding, courageous nation we claim to be.
- Zhirem
Can we water board ‘em, can we can we??? Please can we??
Damn, wish I was being sarcastic. Opps.
Now, on a more serious note, here’s an insightful essay on how we got into a lot of this mess. Was doing one of those link follows link things and ran across this….
http://www.thomhartmann.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=171&Itemid=68
The personhood of corporations coming from a clerical addendum in a judicial opinion seems so ironic when you think of the righteousness with which Corporate lawyers assert it. Damn activist clerks anyway.
Could we get a Mulligan on that opinion please?
Can we water board ‘em, can we can we??? Please can we??
Damn, wish I was being sarcastic. Opps.
Now, on a more serious note, here’s an insightful essay on how we got into a lot of this mess. Was doing one of those link follows link things and ran across this….
http://www.thomhartmann.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=171&Itemid=68
The personhood of corporations coming from a clerical addendum in a judicial opinion seems so ironic when you think of the righteousness with which Corporate lawyers assert it. Damn activist clerks anyway.
Could we get a Mulligan on that opinion please?
[...] Cheney is also a case study in the use of corporate socialism for private enrichment. As we have pointed out before, while Secretary of Defense, Cheney set up Halliburton and its KBR subsidiary in the military [...]
[...] Cheney is also a case study in the use of corporate socialism for private enrichment. As we have pointed out before, while Secretary of Defense, Cheney set up Halliburton and its KBR subsidiary in the military [...]