‘Iraq’ Archives
Privatized War is Here to Stay
by David Phinney Oct. 24, 2007 -- Taking the stance that the U.S. is fighting a war in Iraq with more private contractors than military personnel with a ratio estimated at around 180,000 contractors to 160,000 uniformed personnel, Reuters columnist Bernd Debusmann dishes up his realistic analysis: Even if there were political will to stop using [...]
Iraq Revokes Security Contractor Immunity
by David Phinney Oct. 24, 2007 -- The Iraqi government has decided to revoke immunity from prosecution that the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority extended to private security companies operating in the war-ravaged country, according to journalist Ammar Karim. "The cabinet held a meeting yesterday and decided to scrap the article pertaining [...]
What Happened to Sabah and Nashat?
by David Phinney April 9, 2007 -- Iraqi officials jailed two young men in the summer of 2005 for allegedly pocketing the wages of hundreds -- if not thousands -- of Iraqis working for the Sandi Group, a Washington, DC, firm doing a multi-million-dollar business in Iraq as the leading subcontractor to DynCorp's $1.2-billion Iraqi police [...]
State Department Inspector General Under Fire
by David Phinney Oct. 23, 2007 -- (Sorry about the previous typos, guys. I am in the market for a new blog program.) The $592-million Baghdad embassy contract, the $1.2-billion police training program in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the security contract for Blackwater are all under intense scrutiny -- and so is the State Department Inspector [...]
Iraq’s Police Training Program Records in Disarray
by David Phinney Oct. 23, 2007 -- The State Department so terribly managed a $1.2 billion contract for Iraqi police training that it can't figure out what it got for the money spent, a new report says (pdf). Total Disarray: in invoices and records on the project -- and because the government is trying to recoup money paid inappropriately to [...]
Read It: ‘Suicide Is Not Painless’
New York Times columnist Frank Rich delivers a scathing analysis of Pentagon and US government-guided procurement in Iraq begins with the suicide of Charles D. Riechers, 47, the second-highest-ranking procurement officer in the United States Air Force who killed himself by running his car’s engine in his suburban Virginia garage several weeks [...]
Grapes and Sex and Government Contracts
Talk about low-hanging fruit: A prostitute testified Wednesday that former U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham fed her grapes as she sat naked in a Jacuzzi before they headed to a bedroom at a Hawaiian resort. The woman testified at the bribery trial of defense contractor Brent Wilkes, who is accused paying the former congressman with $700,000 in [...]
Baghdad Embassy Coverup
by David Phinney Oct. 19, 2007 -- A project manager and the State Department Inspector General covered up "enormous problems" in the management of the $592-million embassy project in Baghdad, McClatchy newspaper reporters Warren P. Strobel and Jonathan S. Landay report today. Problems became apparent after a mortar shell smashed into the [...]
Blackwater Morphing
Robert Young Pelton's take on Blackwater -- as filtered by Dan Rather Reports on HDNet. Petlon says the interview took place nine months ago, but was netcast only recently: Go to minute 37:50 after first story: Petlon and Rather talking about Blackwater.
What is USProtect Doing in Iraq?
by David Phinney If these bribes between USProtect and the General Services Administration in California took place, you have to wonder how USProtect is going about its business in Iraq: Oct. 17, 2007 -- A former chief executive for USProtect, a security company pleaded guilty earlier this month to giving bribes to a contracting officer at [...]
