One of the most insidious acts of treachery in wartime is war profiteering. George W. Bush’s grandfather, Prescott Bush, could tell you that. Not that he considered such acts insidious. No, he just found them profitable. He was an ardent financial supporter of the Nazis until his assets were seized under the Trading with the Enemy Act in 1942. The historian in you will remember that Hitler declared war on the US in 1941 (but that’s a story for another time).
War profiteers are lower than pond scum. They are the crap that pond scum scrapes off the bottom of its shoes. The shit that the crap scrapes off the bottom of its shoes? You need look no further than our Vice President’s old company (which still pays him, btw), Halliburton. Why are they “lower than low”? Because they are making excessive, fraudulent profits directly from the screwing of our soldiers. How, you ask? Submitted for your perusal, a veritable laundry list of despicable acts, brought to you by Halliburton, no-bid contractor and bosom buddy of the Bush administration. But be advised, Halliburton is not alone. They are just a “shining” example of how our president and vice-president “support” our soldiers.
http://democrats.senate.gov/dpc/dpc-new2.cfm?doc_name=inv2#halloverbill
Top Twenty Iraq Oversight Outrages Uncovered by the DPC
Republicans in Congress Refuse to Demand Accountability in Iraq;
Billions of Dollars Wasted, Our Mission Undermined
Over the last three years, Senate Democratic Policy Committee (DPC) hearings have uncovered massive waste, fraud, and abuse relating to government contractors operating in Iraq. This report presents twenty of the worst oversight outrages, as documented in testimony and evidence presented at DPC hearings:
1) Halliburton billed taxpayers $1.4 billion in questionable and undocumented charges under its contract to supply troops in Iraq, as documented by the Pentagon’s own auditors. More…
2) Parsons billed taxpayers over $200 million under a contract to build 142 health clinics, yet completed fewer than 20. According to Iraqi officials, the rest were “imaginary clinics.” More…
3) Custer Battles stole forklifts from Iraq’s national airline, repainted them, then leased the forklifts back to the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) through a Cayman Islands shell company — charging an extra fee along the way. More…
4) Halliburton allowed our troops in Iraq to shower, bathe, and sometimes brush their teeth with water that tested positive for e. coli and coliform bacteria. One expert has said that the troops would have been better off using the highly polluted Euphrates River. Halliburton has admitted that it lacked “an organizational structure to ensure that water was being treated in accordance with Army standards and its contractual requirements.” More…
5) Halliburton served the troops food that had spoiled or passed its expiration date. Halliburton managers ordered employees to remove bullets from food in trucks that had come under attack, then saved the bullets as souvenirs while giving the food to unwitting soldiers and Marines. More…
6) Halliburton charged taxpayers for services that it never provided and tens of thousands of meals that it never served. More…
7) Halliburton double-charged taxpayers for $617,000 worth of soda. More…
8) Halliburton tripled the cost of hand towels, at taxpayer expense, by insisting on having its own embroidered logo on each towel. More…
9) Halliburton employees burned new trucks on the side of the road because they didn’t have the right wrench to change a tire — and knew that the trucks could be replaced on a profitable “cost-plus” basis, at taxpayer expense. More…
10) Halliburton employees dumped 50,000 pounds of nails in the desert because they ordered the wrong size, all at taxpayer expense. More…
11) Halliburton employees threw themselves a lavish Super Bowl Party, but passed the cost on to taxpayers by claiming they had purchased supplies for the troops. More…
12) Halliburton chose a subcontractor to build an ice factory in the desert even though its bid was 800 percent higher than an equally qualified bidder. More…
13) Halliburton actively discouraged cooperation with U.S. government auditors, sent one whistleblower into a combat zone to keep him away from auditors, and put another whistleblower under armed guard before kicking her out of the country. More…
14) Halliburton sent unarmed truck drivers into a known combat zone without warning them of the danger, resulting in the deaths of six truck drivers and two soldiers. Halliburton then offered to nominate the surviving truck drivers for a Defense Department medal — provided they sign a medical records release that doubled as a waiver of any right to seek legal recourse against the company. More…
15) Halliburton’s no-bid contract to rebuild Iraq’s oil infrastructure was the worst case of contract abuse that the top civilian at the Army Corps of Engineers had ever seen. She was demoted after speaking out. More…
16) Under its no-bid contract to rebuild Iraq’s oil infrastructure contract, Halliburton overcharged by over 600 percent for the delivery of fuel from Kuwait. More…
17) Halliburton failed to complete required work under its oil infrastructure work, leaving distribution points unusable. More…
18) Iraq under the CPA was like the “Wild West,” with few limits and controls over how inexperienced officials spent — and wasted — millions of taxpayer dollars. More…
19) Cronies at the CPA’s health office lacked experience, ignored the advice of international health professionals, failed to restore Iraq’s health systems, and wasted millions of taxpayer dollars. The political appointee who ran the office had never worked overseas and had no international public health experience. More…
20) Administration officials promoted construction of a “boondoggle” children’s hospital in Basra, which ended up more than a year behind schedule and at least 100 percent over budget. More…
So what punishment has Halliburton faced? Surely, you jest. Here is an excerpt from testimony that explains it:
http://judiciary.house.gov/OversightTestimony.aspx?ID=989
A third reason why the Civil False Claims Act has been unsuccessful in punishing and preventing war profiteering in Iraq is that the Bush Administration has done virtually nothing to pursue such cases. It has settled two cases, without litigation, for pennies on the dollar. It has declined to prosecute nine more cases. All the others remain under seal. In our fifth year of the War in Iraq, the Bush Administration has not litigated a single case against any war profiteer under the False Claims Act. It evidently has not even sued any U.S. contractor in Iraq, for breach of contract. Two years ago, Senator Grassley wrote to the Attorney General, asking why the Administration was taking no action in such cases. There was no reply. For all the Bush Administration claims to do in the war against terrorism, it is a no-show in the war against war profiteers.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the same assholes that started this unnecessary war are allowing their pals to profit handsomely. And it’s not just the awarding of lucrative no-bid contracts. If Halliburton and the others were actually fulfilling the obligations of the contracts properly and completely, it would be bad enough. But they are SCREWING the taxpayers, SCREWING the soldiers (bathing in e coli? What the fuck?) and committing wonton fraud. What does Bush do? PROTECTS WAR PROFITEERS.
War profiteering
One of the most insidious acts of treachery in wartime is war profiteering. George W. Bush’s grandfather, Prescott Bush, could tell you that. Not that he considered such acts insidious. No, he just found them profitable. He was an ardent financial supporter of the Nazis until his assets were seized under the Trading with the Enemy Act in 1942. The historian in you will remember that Hitler declared war on the US in 1941 (but that’s a story for another time).
War profiteers are lower than pond scum. They are the crap that pond scum scrapes off the bottom of its shoes. The shit that the crap scrapes off the bottom of its shoes? You need look no further than our Vice President’s old company (which still pays him, btw), Halliburton. Why are they “lower than low”? Because they are making excessive, fraudulent profits directly from the screwing of our soldiers. How, you ask? Submitted for your perusal, a veritable laundry list of despicable acts, brought to you by Halliburton, no-bid contractor and bosom buddy of the Bush administration. But be advised, Halliburton is not alone. They are just a “shining” example of how our president and vice-president “support” our soldiers.
http://democrats.senate.gov/dpc/dpc-new2.cfm?doc_name=inv2#halloverbill
Top Twenty Iraq Oversight Outrages Uncovered by the DPC
Republicans in Congress Refuse to Demand Accountability in Iraq;
Billions of Dollars Wasted, Our Mission Undermined
Over the last three years, Senate Democratic Policy Committee (DPC) hearings have uncovered massive waste, fraud, and abuse relating to government contractors operating in Iraq. This report presents twenty of the worst oversight outrages, as documented in testimony and evidence presented at DPC hearings:
1) Halliburton billed taxpayers $1.4 billion in questionable and undocumented charges under its contract to supply troops in Iraq, as documented by the Pentagon’s own auditors. More…
2) Parsons billed taxpayers over $200 million under a contract to build 142 health clinics, yet completed fewer than 20. According to Iraqi officials, the rest were “imaginary clinics.” More…
3) Custer Battles stole forklifts from Iraq’s national airline, repainted them, then leased the forklifts back to the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) through a Cayman Islands shell company — charging an extra fee along the way. More…
4) Halliburton allowed our troops in Iraq to shower, bathe, and sometimes brush their teeth with water that tested positive for e. coli and coliform bacteria. One expert has said that the troops would have been better off using the highly polluted Euphrates River. Halliburton has admitted that it lacked “an organizational structure to ensure that water was being treated in accordance with Army standards and its contractual requirements.” More…
5) Halliburton served the troops food that had spoiled or passed its expiration date. Halliburton managers ordered employees to remove bullets from food in trucks that had come under attack, then saved the bullets as souvenirs while giving the food to unwitting soldiers and Marines. More…
6) Halliburton charged taxpayers for services that it never provided and tens of thousands of meals that it never served. More…
7) Halliburton double-charged taxpayers for $617,000 worth of soda. More…
8) Halliburton tripled the cost of hand towels, at taxpayer expense, by insisting on having its own embroidered logo on each towel. More…
9) Halliburton employees burned new trucks on the side of the road because they didn’t have the right wrench to change a tire — and knew that the trucks could be replaced on a profitable “cost-plus” basis, at taxpayer expense. More…
10) Halliburton employees dumped 50,000 pounds of nails in the desert because they ordered the wrong size, all at taxpayer expense. More…
11) Halliburton employees threw themselves a lavish Super Bowl Party, but passed the cost on to taxpayers by claiming they had purchased supplies for the troops. More…
12) Halliburton chose a subcontractor to build an ice factory in the desert even though its bid was 800 percent higher than an equally qualified bidder. More…
13) Halliburton actively discouraged cooperation with U.S. government auditors, sent one whistleblower into a combat zone to keep him away from auditors, and put another whistleblower under armed guard before kicking her out of the country. More…
14) Halliburton sent unarmed truck drivers into a known combat zone without warning them of the danger, resulting in the deaths of six truck drivers and two soldiers. Halliburton then offered to nominate the surviving truck drivers for a Defense Department medal — provided they sign a medical records release that doubled as a waiver of any right to seek legal recourse against the company. More…
15) Halliburton’s no-bid contract to rebuild Iraq’s oil infrastructure was the worst case of contract abuse that the top civilian at the Army Corps of Engineers had ever seen. She was demoted after speaking out. More…
16) Under its no-bid contract to rebuild Iraq’s oil infrastructure contract, Halliburton overcharged by over 600 percent for the delivery of fuel from Kuwait. More…
17) Halliburton failed to complete required work under its oil infrastructure work, leaving distribution points unusable. More…
18) Iraq under the CPA was like the “Wild West,” with few limits and controls over how inexperienced officials spent — and wasted — millions of taxpayer dollars. More…
19) Cronies at the CPA’s health office lacked experience, ignored the advice of international health professionals, failed to restore Iraq’s health systems, and wasted millions of taxpayer dollars. The political appointee who ran the office had never worked overseas and had no international public health experience. More…
20) Administration officials promoted construction of a “boondoggle” children’s hospital in Basra, which ended up more than a year behind schedule and at least 100 percent over budget. More…
So what punishment has Halliburton faced? Surely, you jest. Here is an excerpt from testimony that explains it:
http://judiciary.house.gov/OversightTestimony.aspx?ID=989
A third reason why the Civil False Claims Act has been unsuccessful in punishing and preventing war profiteering in Iraq is that the Bush Administration has done virtually nothing to pursue such cases. It has settled two cases, without litigation, for pennies on the dollar. It has declined to prosecute nine more cases. All the others remain under seal. In our fifth year of the War in Iraq, the Bush Administration has not litigated a single case against any war profiteer under the False Claims Act. It evidently has not even sued any U.S. contractor in Iraq, for breach of contract. Two years ago, Senator Grassley wrote to the Attorney General, asking why the Administration was taking no action in such cases. There was no reply. For all the Bush Administration claims to do in the war against terrorism, it is a no-show in the war against war profiteers.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the same assholes that started this unnecessary war are allowing their pals to profit handsomely. And it’s not just the awarding of lucrative no-bid contracts. If Halliburton and the others were actually fulfilling the obligations of the contracts properly and completely, it would be bad enough. But they are SCREWING the taxpayers, SCREWING the soldiers (bathing in e coli? What the fuck?) and committing wonton fraud. What does Bush do? PROTECTS WAR PROFITEERS.