Army Official Ousted For Doing His Job While Corrupt Bushite Pentagon Protects KBR
I've written many articles about KBR, one of the Bush administrations criminal war profiteering corporate cronies such as: "KBR has been mired in scandals according to a Chicago Tribune investigative report. Not just its heinous conduct regarding the rapes and abuse of female employees in Iraq, not just supplying our troops with dirty water and spoiled food, but criminal fraud.
The Bush administration always finds money for KBR, but Jim Webb's GI Bill is too expensive, as was effective armor for troops on the ground in Iraq.
As the NYTimes reports: "The Army official who managed the Pentagon’s largest contract in Iraq says 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.
"Army auditors had determined that KBR lacked credible data or records for more than $1 billion in spending, so Mr. Smith refused to sign off on the payments to the company. 'They had a gigantic amount of costs they couldn’t justify,' he said in an interview. 'Ultimately, the money that was going to KBR was money being taken away from the troops, and I wasn’t going to do that.'
"But he was suddenly replaced, he said, and his successors — after taking the unusual step of hiring an outside contractor to consider KBR’s claims — approved most of the payments he had tried to block.
"Mr. Smith, a civilian employee of the Army for 31 years, spent his entire career at the Rock Island Arsenal, the Army’s headquarters for much of its contracting work, near Davenport, Iowa. He said he had waited to speak out until after he retired in February."
Well, what else can you expect from this corrupt administration and its politicized Pentagon? Even its generals lie to Congress about war profiteers like KBR.
As I wrote in a posting: "Why would an Army general lie to Congress and provide cover for KBR? Because he can do so with impunity, can protect the Bush-Cheney corporate crony war profiteers with no adverse consequences, and doesn't give a damn about the troops.
"From Mother Jones (via Cursor.org): "When Major Gen. Jerome Johnson appeared under oath before a congressional committee last year, he told enough untruths about KBR's work for the military that the US Army took the unusual step of retracting a portion of his testimony. Now it appears that Johnson also misled members of the Senate Armed Services Committee on another KBR-related matter: its provisioning of potentially contaminated water to US troops in Iraq.
"Overlooked entirely, though, was a different part of Johnson's testimony, in which he claimed the Army was unaware of reports that KBR had also been supplying military bases with contaminated water. Because of this, a 2006 investigation by Dorgan's policy committee found, soldiers had unwittingly bathed and brushed their teeth using bacteria-ridden water. The committee's findings prompted Dorgan to request an investigation by the Pentagon's inspector general.
"Johnson even denied that KBR had anything to do with the provision of water to troops at the base. "KBR was not operating the water site," he told the panel.
"But this March, when the inspector general's office released its report, investigators noted that the Pentagon had been notified on March 31, 2007—three weeks before Johnson's testimony—of KBR's role in providing polluted water to military bases, which 'may have degraded to the point of causing waterborne illnesses among US forces.'
"Investigators found that KBR was indeed in control of water quality at Camp Ar-Ramadi, and that at three of four US bases subject to inspection—including Ar-Ramadi—KBR had shirked its contractual obligation to test the water it supplied."
I concluded: "Johnson and his ilk should have been demoted and fired, at the very least. Lying to Congress is a criminal offense.
"In addition Johnson and the rest of the senior command who ignored or tried to cover up the contaminated water scandal should be relieved of their commands, demoted, court martialed, or fired. Their protection of KBR and abrogation of responsibility for US troops is despicable.
"A high level, lucrative position probably awaits Johnson at KBR."
The Bush administration always finds money for KBR, but Jim Webb's GI Bill is too expensive, as was effective armor for troops on the ground in Iraq.
As the NYTimes reports: "The Army official who managed the Pentagon’s largest contract in Iraq says 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.
"Army auditors had determined that KBR lacked credible data or records for more than $1 billion in spending, so Mr. Smith refused to sign off on the payments to the company. 'They had a gigantic amount of costs they couldn’t justify,' he said in an interview. 'Ultimately, the money that was going to KBR was money being taken away from the troops, and I wasn’t going to do that.'
"But he was suddenly replaced, he said, and his successors — after taking the unusual step of hiring an outside contractor to consider KBR’s claims — approved most of the payments he had tried to block.
"Mr. Smith, a civilian employee of the Army for 31 years, spent his entire career at the Rock Island Arsenal, the Army’s headquarters for much of its contracting work, near Davenport, Iowa. He said he had waited to speak out until after he retired in February."
Well, what else can you expect from this corrupt administration and its politicized Pentagon? Even its generals lie to Congress about war profiteers like KBR.
As I wrote in a posting: "Why would an Army general lie to Congress and provide cover for KBR? Because he can do so with impunity, can protect the Bush-Cheney corporate crony war profiteers with no adverse consequences, and doesn't give a damn about the troops.
"From Mother Jones (via Cursor.org): "When Major Gen. Jerome Johnson appeared under oath before a congressional committee last year, he told enough untruths about KBR's work for the military that the US Army took the unusual step of retracting a portion of his testimony. Now it appears that Johnson also misled members of the Senate Armed Services Committee on another KBR-related matter: its provisioning of potentially contaminated water to US troops in Iraq.
"Overlooked entirely, though, was a different part of Johnson's testimony, in which he claimed the Army was unaware of reports that KBR had also been supplying military bases with contaminated water. Because of this, a 2006 investigation by Dorgan's policy committee found, soldiers had unwittingly bathed and brushed their teeth using bacteria-ridden water. The committee's findings prompted Dorgan to request an investigation by the Pentagon's inspector general.
"Johnson even denied that KBR had anything to do with the provision of water to troops at the base. "KBR was not operating the water site," he told the panel.
"But this March, when the inspector general's office released its report, investigators noted that the Pentagon had been notified on March 31, 2007—three weeks before Johnson's testimony—of KBR's role in providing polluted water to military bases, which 'may have degraded to the point of causing waterborne illnesses among US forces.'
"Investigators found that KBR was indeed in control of water quality at Camp Ar-Ramadi, and that at three of four US bases subject to inspection—including Ar-Ramadi—KBR had shirked its contractual obligation to test the water it supplied."
I concluded: "Johnson and his ilk should have been demoted and fired, at the very least. Lying to Congress is a criminal offense.
"In addition Johnson and the rest of the senior command who ignored or tried to cover up the contaminated water scandal should be relieved of their commands, demoted, court martialed, or fired. Their protection of KBR and abrogation of responsibility for US troops is despicable.
"A high level, lucrative position probably awaits Johnson at KBR."
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