So No One Was Watching the Contractors As They Sucked Up Government Dollars
By Susie Madrak Saturday May 30, 2009 5:00pmIt's probably not news to you that BushCo essentially outsourced the government, getting in return much higher costs - and much lower quality. But then, government outsourcing was never meant to be efficient, except as a way of funneling money to friends and contributors:
The U.S. Special Operations Command, which has Army Special Forces units worldwide, has been criticized by the Pentagon inspector general for not providing adequate oversight of $1.7 billion in logistic support contracts at 20 locations and for allowing contractors to perform what are considered "inherently government functions."
Federal government rules and regulations prohibit the hiring of contractors who perform actions reserved for government employees, yet a Special Operations Command unit managing the contract with L-3 Communications Integrated Systems permitted contractor approval of such matters as overtime and acceptably completed work, according to a report by the Pentagon inspector general released this week.
The contracts called for L-3 Communications to provide logistic support for Special Forces equipment including repair, maintenance and support that between 2003 and 2008 involved 2,148 separate tasks. The Special Operations Forces Support Activity, which administered the contract, designated one government employee to be the contracting officer for the contract. But the IG report noted that "it is not feasible for one individual to effectively oversee 2,148 task orders requiring surveillance in 20 locations."
No L-3 Communications official was available to comment on the report.
The report pointed out that no quality-assurance plan was developed for tasks that typically would guide contracting officers in determining whether contracting tasks were being completed as required. Instead, the IG report said, the Special Operations Forces unit relied on complaints from those receiving the contractor services.
One example cited by the IG report was chipping and flaking paint on six helicopters because of poor preparation before painting. "These aircraft needed to be repainted and, therefore, reduced the warfighter's ability to support military operations as scheduled," according to the report. The contractor charged the government an additional $225,000 to repaint the aircraft.
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this is why the criticsm of obama really gets me
for 8 years, bush and his criminal cabal were helping their pals steal the treasury blind
but what really bugs me is that when the dems took control of congress, they didnt immediatly begin the investigations
they are also culpable
Many reasons why no top level investigations will occur.
i am sick of this
years and years of corruption, and the american people are getting the short stick
i dont care if every dem leader falls because of this
Look at the bright side.
At least we are too broke now to launch another war.
You certainly couldn't go to war with China because I doubt the Chinese would agree to pay for that.
to pull out of two losing wars, Dien Ben Phu, Vietnam etc, lets play the retard game to its pathetic end.
At least pass a law that says you can't declare another war until your previous war is finished. (ie Korea, Iraq, Iraq, Afghanistan, Drugs)
that says Congress most make a Decleration of the War before any money is spent on it..... oh wait... never mind we've got one of those and no one is using it anymore. Well except for all those "socialist" nations that used it for the basis of their government that is.
They don't even have money for paper in our schools. Yet these bastards were given trillions without a 2nd thought.
They oughta hang every SOB in Washington who took part in this treason.
Along with their Bush family crime syndicate cronies.
but its not their money, and they have magical printing presses to print more fantasy money.
Just remember its not over til the hyper inflation kicks in.
What about Bunnatine (Bunny) H. Greenhouse. She got canned for doing her job! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunny_Greenhouse
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/08/11/nat...
n/c
http://www.defencetalk.com/british-army-bases...
Rather quaint, local police raiding a British army base, can you imagine some local cops trying this on a US army base ! They would be shot rather dead rather quickly.
British army SIB investigator shot dead by persons unknown in Iraq on a British army base, in 2004.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3973773.stm
And whistle blower on CPA corruption..
http://www.greenchange.org/article.php?id=3991
http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/arch...
It sure is strange how the witnesses always end up dead or missing ....
With the rampant corruption and probably nobody trusting anybody, logistics going missing/stolen, how can a war be conducted or won.
And dont forget that lucky Florida teenager Ifraim, who got awarded that no bid $300 million arms contract to supply weapons to Afghanistan and Iraq, so he went out and bought 40 year old illegal ex soviet stuff, which was also rusty garbage to boot.
http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/wa...
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?contex...
Somehow I suspect he had aroused some hostility in somebody who had access to him.
Bushco made America the envy of corrupt Nigerians.
What say you Sean Hannity and your show "Waste 101"?
when you privatize... actually franchise a war? Or any other government function for that matter. To those who still claim that private industry can do it cheaper and better than the military or the government can do it for themselves... Maybe you ought to find yourself a comprehensive history of Halliburton/KBR in Iraq and do some reading.
At least the military doesn't put profit ahead of supplying our soldiers with drinking water in a desert war zone while their sub franchisees have tons of the stuff sitting on pallets in their staging areas.
How long has it been since you heard of a GI being electrocuted in the shower in a barracks the US Army had built for him to live in? Food poisoning in GI messes?
Anytime you make profit for a corporation the primary factor in any kind of government operation, you're going to sacrifice service. It's just the way it is in America's first corporate, franchised war.
from the contactors who have an over abundance of it bought with US taxpayer money and hired to deliver it to the soldiers does kinda rankle a bit doesn't it. Welcome to War Inc.
The Teabag Rappers! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/30/youn...
Nothing like white boy conservatives in suits trying to be all homey and shit rappin the same ole right wing platforms. Mike Steele would should out they be down dog! Word!
"For the past 8 years I was sittin around draggin
But now that there's a Democrat in da House
That's why I'm out teabaggin"
Damn and he coulda been in Iraq or Afganistan having a grand old time. Yellow Elephants are just soooooo sad.
About the statistical audit of Federal employee credit cards, 40% fraud which comes in at a whopping $5.9 billion. That Republican 'stimulus package' came out early for the lucky ones.
It's OK folks. Now we have a laser that will fix all our defense challenges:
This laser system is an incredible success not just for California, but for our country and our world," Schwarzenegger said.
With this laser in the hands of Arnold, we will conquer the world.
That would be the Republican way.
Gates had proposed canceling Arnie's Terminator ray gun.
"Now we have a laser that will fix all our defense challenges:"
Does it keep Republicans out of office?
You have to aim carefully because it will take them out and anyone standing behind them, like maybe say, a Democrat.
seen this film before. Bedtime for Bonzo? Or was it Santa Fe Trail? Wait, wait I've got it! Star Wars!
Massive corruption surrounding their Parliamentary expenses, including corrupt civil servants who approved and vetted the expense accounts (for kickbacks no doubt).
No doubt the corruption and the fear of exposure coerced quite a few MPs to support the unpopular wars.
What would we find if Congressional expense accounts were audited !?
Good faith and fiscal discipline?
in regard to corrupt holier than tho politicians.
neither should we be
does anyone here really care if pelossi gets her ass handed to her?
.
"Reform" is just going to be a capitulation. We'll all be required to support Big Healthco, with no improvements in coverage, quality or costs. "Change"? Yeah, there has to be a change in 2010 & 2012: Corporate whores out of Washington.
.
Which was one of the points that came up in the primaries.
Effectively it will be buy it and starve, or refuse to buy and be a criminal, for the poor.
The medical health insurance companies must be rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect. 30% profits on enforced MI will do wonders for their share price and bonuses.
If you refuse to buy it, you're a criminal, which puts you in jail, where you get health coverage for free!
Ladies and Gentlemen, we finally have socialized medicine for all!
.
50% of drivers can't afford that either. And the InsCo's just shunt all their risk onto the State, and keep the profits. That's where we're headed here: Not universal, not affordable and not good quality healthcare. Just another pipeline from our Treasury to corporate accounts offshore. CHANGE the Democratic Party, then maybe we'll get real change.
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Or, is this just another one of those CYA missives that, in itself, is a ripoff of taxpayer dollars allocated to the military?
We were watching! All sorts of people were watching.
But the fact is, THOSE IN POWER DIDN'T CARE.
Also THE MEDIA DIDN'T CARE, because it's simply owned by the corporations that were fleecing our nation.
The only way we're going to change ANY of this is through grassroots efforts to change Congress, starting with Campaign Finance Reform.
If we can't do that, and we sure don't seem to be organized enough at this point, then Democracy will stay dead.
His subtle comment about IF lived in a democracy, a few in the audience got the joke :)
In World War II, who provided logistical support to our armed forces? It wasn't a private company, it was our very own armed forces. If it was good enough then, why not now?
What will the survivors think, when they read their history books by candle and oil lamp, about the abject corruption of the Bushco years.
We need a new Gibbons.
Dick Cheney and GHWB weren't set up to rake in the dough their own private companies stood to rake in through profiteering.
CheneyBushCo 'legalised' torture and war profiteering.
Privatize everything.
Next are fire departments, the roads we drive on, our national parks.
The fact that this story has not been headline news since we first learned about $9billion going missing in Iraq shows that the owners of this country are glad that most people just don't want to hear about what is really going on and will gladly listen to the bullshit, like what is being thrown at Obama now.
As long as you put any substance into the arguement the majority in America will roll along with whatever the owners want.
That Rummy reported "missing" from the Pentagon the day before September 11th, 2001??
A trillion here, a trillion there....pretty soon we're talking about REAL money!!!!!!
If Rich in San Bruno saw that Brush and Cheney's cronies were ripping us off...why did'nt the people who's job it was to oversee these contractor see the same thing or become suspious??? It' not too late...Let's have an independent investigation to weed out the crooks and punish them.
They're too wealthy. The rule of law doesn't apply to the most wealthy.
All that money had to go somewhere.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/feb/08/u...
Quite a hot topic of the W!T!F people, and prob closer to possibly $22 Billion than 12.
And apparently he is offering $1 million US to anybody who can get GWB, Cheney or Tony Blair physically into court on war crimes charges.
http://firedoglake.com/2009/05/30/fdl-book-sa...
One of his comments on Firedoglake, from when he was in Afghanistan, was seeing a $70,000 fence around a park, and the contractors charging $10 million for this fence, and getting paid for it.
This is why we have these endless wars in the first place: to ensure that the corporo-fascists and their buds in the various gov'ts. involved can continue to reap the rewards = Moolah.
It's all about the GREED - for money and power. Until the Bush Crime Family and the international financial cabal is destroyed - don't hold your breath for that to happen. And, don't hold your breath for our dear leaders to investigate/prosecute anyone for this theft or the one on Wall Street, or to change campaign finance laws.
During the campaign, John McCain promoted the perception that he was a straight shooter committed to weeding out fraud and abuse.
Not so much.
And where was the corporate media who refused to report on these abuses? They have been well known for a long time. As additional evidence percolates to the surface, bloggers report on them but you don't see much in the MSM.
Earth First.
We'll rape the other planets later.
...charged with overseeing all those "2,148 separate tasks"?
Milo "we're all part of the syndicate!" Minderbinder
Col. Jessup was right. We just can't handle the truth.
but its not their money, and they have magical printing presses to print more fantasy money.
Just remember its not over til the hyper inflation kicks in.
---------------------
Every inflation ends in a deflation. It isn't over until the hyper deflation kicks in, when the money becomes worthless.
here you go:
http://www.wanttoknow.info/corruptiongovernme...
jus
follow the money..
like this story right here...
so where the
heck it the law in the United States?
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/comments?type=s...
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