Defense Contractor Fraud Hurts Every American
Under the Bush administration, defense contractor fraud has reached its zenith. In one of the most recent cases, as reported in the NYTimes, "A North Dakota manufacturer has agreed to pay $2 million to settle a suit saying it had repeatedly shortchanged the armor in up to 2.2 million helmets for the military, including those for the first troops sent to Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Twelve days before the settlement with the Justice Department was announced, the company, Sioux Manufacturing of Fort Totten, was given a new contract of up to $74 million to make more armor for helmets to replace the old ones, which were made from the late 1980s to last year."
$2 million is chump change for this cheating contractor, a slap on the wrist that is already paid for by the $74 million new contract.
Bush's invasion and occupation of Iraq has been a money machine for Shrub's buddies, the GOP corporate defense contractors. Just Google "Defense Contractor Fraud" and voila, a veritable buffet of crime perpetrated on the American taxpayers and a Pentagon that continues to dole out taxpayers' money to these corporate fraudsters.
Corporations like Halliburton, Dick Cheney's former company, and KBR owe their military contracts to a horrendous, misguided policy. "This profound shift of duties from the military to private companies was supposed to save the government money, and it is an uncomfortable political fact that it has instead triggered a free-for-all of fraud and waste." according to the article, "The People vs. The Profiteers."
Yes, that KBR, which overcharged the military and fed our troops spoiled food and dirty water.
As reported in the People vs. Profiteers article, Alan Grayson a watchdogging crusader against government contract fraud, says, "....a nightmare combination of jacked-up bids, waste, kickbacks, and inflated subcontracts means that as much as half the value of every contract he has seen 'ends up being fraudulent in one way or another." He adds, 'Cumulatively, the amount that's been spent on contractors in the four-plus years of the war is now over $100 billion. Pick any number between 10 percent and 50 percent-I don't think you can seriously argue that the scale of the fraud is less than 10 percent. Either way, you're talking cumulatively about something between $10 and $50 billion.' "
And what has Bush's politicized Department of Justice and Pentagon done about the fraud, stealing, and other contractor crimes?
"David Walker, of the G.A.O., fears that the weakened state of oversight is poised to get 'much worse.' Not only is there a large 'skills gap,' but 'a significant percentage of the existing contract workforce is eligible to retire or will be eligible to retire within the next few years.' Outsourcing oversight brings still more problems in its wake, he says, starting with conflicts of interest, which arise whenever the company being monitored has other business, existing or potential, with the one doing the monitoring.
"False Claims Act suits could help to remedy these deficiencies, if only the Department of Justice weren't suppressing them. One day, though, the seals on the complaints will have to be lifted. 'I wish I could tell you about the ones that are under seal,' says Grayson, 'because some of them really are time bombs. They're literally burying these cases to keep the public from finding out about them, and to keep anything from being done on them. But it is a time bomb, because any normal amount of attention on these cases would result in massive amounts of money being recovered for the taxpayers.' "
CorpWatch has more excellent information about these defense contractors' crimes and the the lack of accountability, lack of oversight, and corporate "profits are everything" philosophy instead of concern for of the lives and safety of our troops.
Another criminal Bushite policy with disastrous consequences for the American people and the US Armed Forces.
And impeachment is still of the table.
"Twelve days before the settlement with the Justice Department was announced, the company, Sioux Manufacturing of Fort Totten, was given a new contract of up to $74 million to make more armor for helmets to replace the old ones, which were made from the late 1980s to last year."
$2 million is chump change for this cheating contractor, a slap on the wrist that is already paid for by the $74 million new contract.
Bush's invasion and occupation of Iraq has been a money machine for Shrub's buddies, the GOP corporate defense contractors. Just Google "Defense Contractor Fraud" and voila, a veritable buffet of crime perpetrated on the American taxpayers and a Pentagon that continues to dole out taxpayers' money to these corporate fraudsters.
Corporations like Halliburton, Dick Cheney's former company, and KBR owe their military contracts to a horrendous, misguided policy. "This profound shift of duties from the military to private companies was supposed to save the government money, and it is an uncomfortable political fact that it has instead triggered a free-for-all of fraud and waste." according to the article, "The People vs. The Profiteers."
Yes, that KBR, which overcharged the military and fed our troops spoiled food and dirty water.
As reported in the People vs. Profiteers article, Alan Grayson a watchdogging crusader against government contract fraud, says, "....a nightmare combination of jacked-up bids, waste, kickbacks, and inflated subcontracts means that as much as half the value of every contract he has seen 'ends up being fraudulent in one way or another." He adds, 'Cumulatively, the amount that's been spent on contractors in the four-plus years of the war is now over $100 billion. Pick any number between 10 percent and 50 percent-I don't think you can seriously argue that the scale of the fraud is less than 10 percent. Either way, you're talking cumulatively about something between $10 and $50 billion.' "
And what has Bush's politicized Department of Justice and Pentagon done about the fraud, stealing, and other contractor crimes?
"David Walker, of the G.A.O., fears that the weakened state of oversight is poised to get 'much worse.' Not only is there a large 'skills gap,' but 'a significant percentage of the existing contract workforce is eligible to retire or will be eligible to retire within the next few years.' Outsourcing oversight brings still more problems in its wake, he says, starting with conflicts of interest, which arise whenever the company being monitored has other business, existing or potential, with the one doing the monitoring.
"False Claims Act suits could help to remedy these deficiencies, if only the Department of Justice weren't suppressing them. One day, though, the seals on the complaints will have to be lifted. 'I wish I could tell you about the ones that are under seal,' says Grayson, 'because some of them really are time bombs. They're literally burying these cases to keep the public from finding out about them, and to keep anything from being done on them. But it is a time bomb, because any normal amount of attention on these cases would result in massive amounts of money being recovered for the taxpayers.' "
CorpWatch has more excellent information about these defense contractors' crimes and the the lack of accountability, lack of oversight, and corporate "profits are everything" philosophy instead of concern for of the lives and safety of our troops.
Another criminal Bushite policy with disastrous consequences for the American people and the US Armed Forces.
And impeachment is still of the table.
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