‘Contractors’ Archives
Under Sworn Testimony: Misleading Statements about U.S. Embassy in Baghdad
by David Phinney Oct. 6, 2007 -- Two months ago, a top US State Department official in charge of embassy construction gave misleading statements under sworn testimony about the new US embassy in Baghdad. He claimed that it would be completed on budget and on time. Now numerous news reports say that the project's completion will be delayed for [...]
New US Embassy in Baghdad Delayed
Widespread construction flaws and substandard work have delayed completion of the US State Department’s mammoth new $592-million embassy in Baghdad despite previous official statements that the ambitious fortified compound would be finished in September, numerous sources familiar with the project have been telling me for several weeks. Those [...]
A Review of an Alleged Million-Dollar Bribe
Update on Jeff Mazon, a KBR contract officer being accused of taking bribes from businesses seeking work to support the US military in Iraq: Country Club Hills man accused in Iraq war kickback scheme. Mazon faces four counts of major fraud and eight counts of wire fraud. Under way in federal court in Rock Island, Mazon's trial has shed light on [...]
DOD Failed to Stop Worker Exploitation in Iraq
The Washington Post finds little evidence of human trafficking in the United States despite well-funded programs to combat it. But the lengthy page-one Sonday story above the fold neglects to mention the allegations of trafficking under US-funded contracts in Iraq. Human Trafficking Evokes Outrage, Little [...]
Badges Dishonored
A DynCorp worker was busted Tuedasy for alledgedly approving various badges to Iraqi friends and a DynCorp vice president allowing access to Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone even though they were not entitled to receive them. DynCorp finds the allegation disturbing and an government contracting association leader, Stan Soloway, president of [...]
‘War-Zone Procurement System in Disarray’
Up, up and away: Criminal investigators are now scrutinizing $6 billion in spending on Pentagon contractors operating in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan that (allegedly) provide essential supplies to American troops -- including food, water and shelter, according to congressional testimony Thursday. That's up from a previously acknowledged $3 [...]
Embassy Contractor Accused of Bribes
The Kuwaiti company building the U.S. embassy in Baghdad has been accused of agreeing to pay $200,000 in kickbacks in return for two unrelated Army contracts in Iraq. See the AP report. ALSO: The limited partnered investigation by the embassy contractor and Philippine officials of possible labor trafficking is officially closed. (Sounds like [...]
Iraq Government Bans Blackwater Security Company
The Iraqi government said it had revoked the license of Blackwater USA, a private security company that provides protection for American diplomats across Iraq, after shots fired from an American convoy killed eight Iraqis: Abdul-Karim Khalaf, a spokesman for Iraq’s Ministry of Interior, said the authorities had canceled the company's license and [...]
The Great Iraq Swindle
How Bush Allowed an Army of For-Profit Contractors to Invade the U.S. Treasury: Great attitudinal piece in Rolling Stone covering all the turf that's been covered before -- except for the last part about a previously unreported tip-of-the -iceberg, fly-by-night company known as Wolfpack. A few new morsels include: Wolfpack employee Russell [...]
US Military Breaks Budget to Protect Civillian Workers
The U.S. military has paid $548 million over the past three years to two British security firms that protect the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on reconstruction projects, more than $200 million over the original budget, according to previously undisclosed data that show how the cost of private security in Iraq has mushroomed. Here's the story: [...]
