‘Blog Items’ Archives
New Scrutiny for Iraq Contractors
The Wall Street Journal fleshes out congressional testimony from last week with update on the Killing by Blackwater Worker Poses Dilemma for U.S. Authorities.
Coalition of the Willing: Going, Going, Gone
Last year was the first year the Coalition of the Willing in Iraq found no non-U.S. new troops to replace the ones that went home. That means that U.S. troops now make up 92 percent of the boots on the ground in Iraq, according to the investigative arm of Congress, the Government Accountability Project. In the May 9 report, Stabilizing and [...]
Migrants Forced to Work in Iraq
The International Herald Tribune discovers that trafficking in Iraq of workers is alive and kicking: Instead of the conventional jobs that were promised, traffickers are hustling them into hardship conditions with little pay and no mobility, according to groups that work with migrants and small numbers of migrants themselves who have managed to [...]
Democrats Adding Up the Numbers
Congress Does the Math: Not only are there 145,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, there are over 100,000 private contractors working U.S. funded contracts. Many of them are doing jobs that the military once did. They may not be Americans, but they are drawing their pay stubs from the U.S. treasury -- making them the largest deployed private military force [...]
Warned Of Niger Forgery
Three months before President Bush claimed he had evidence that Saddam Hussein was building a nuclear weapon, State Department analyst Simon Dodge apparently determined that the evidence was likely fraudulent:Dodge emailed his assessment to fellow intelligence analysts in October 2002, and then again in January 2003 (two weeks before Bush's State [...]
Iraq Inspector General under Investigation
Stuart Bowen, the inspector general assigned to auditing the $22 billion in US reconstruction funds for Iraq is under investigation himself. This is nothing new. It involves complaints from former employees at the office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction filed in early 2006. What is New: Details about employees apparently [...]
‘Top Secret’ Material May Have ‘Devastated’ U.S. Iraq Mission
June 16, 2007 -- Massive amounts of "top secret" material stored in the living trailer of the former Camp Cropper prison commander was "extremely sensitive" and could have devastated the U.S. mission in Iraq if it had been leaked, an investigator said Tuesday. The hearing on allegations that Army Lt. Col. William H. Steele aided the enemy by [...]
Smokin’ Saddam: Cuban Cigars?
The latest from Camp Victory Hearing: At Tuesday's hearing to decide if the former military commander at Camp Cropper prison in Iraq must stand trial on charges that he aided the enemy, it was said that Steele bought Cuban cigars for one-time prisoner Saddam Hussein. Misappropriation of Funds? Two witnesses said Army Lt. Col. William H. Steele [...]
Giant Sucking Sound at the Border?
DynCorp is Hiring Again: 120 openings. Compensation includes more than $134,000 in salary, much of it tax-free, plus a $25,000 bonus for signing up in time for a May 5 training session. Working Conditions: Challenging. The border is in Iraq. (more…)
Civilian Contractor Casualties
Latest SIGIR Report: Since Iraq reconstruction began, 916 death claims for civilian contractors working on U.S.-funded projects in Iraq have been filed. In the quarter ending March 31, 2007, the Department of Labor reported 146 new death claims. reports that 16 U.S. civilians died in Iraq this quarter. Since the beginning of the U.S. [...]
