Contractors Gone Wild
Theft, hookers, melting down Iraqi gold to make cowboy spurs? All in a day's work for private military contractors in Iraq?
Allegations of widespread mismanagement and corruption among private contractors in Iraq are nothing new; if anything, tales of cronyism, over-billing, and embezzlement have become so frequent that our national tolerance for them seems only to have increased as the Iraq War has drawn on. Even so, the testimony earlier this week of three whistleblowers before the Senate's Democratic Policy Committee (DPC) stands out for the sheer outrageousness of their accusations—namely that U.S. private contractors looted Iraqi palaces and ministries, stole military equipment, fenced supplies destined for U.S. troops, and even operated a prostitution ring that may have contributed to the death of fellow contractor. Yet despite its focus on such salacious matters as sex and corruption, the session earned little media attention.
The first to testify was Frank Cassaday, a former KBR employee who worked as an ice plant operator in Fallujah in 2004 and 2005. "Ice was a very valuable commodity in Iraq that was regularly stolen and bartered for other goods," he told the committee. He recalled how a convoy of U.S. Marines, in preparation for an operation that would take them outside the wire for several days, requested 28 bags of ice to keep their food fresh in the desert heat. They received only three. "The ice foreman was cheating the troops out of ice at the same time that he was trading the ice for DVDs, CDs, food, and other items at the Iraqi shops across the street," Cassaday said. "This foreman would change the ice tally sheets at the distribution area I worked in to make it seem as though we had handed out more ice to the Marines than we actually did."
Cassaday said he later observed his colleagues returning to KBR's camp with equipment they had stolen from the U.S. military, including refrigerators, artillery round detonators, two rocket launchers, and about 800 rounds of small arms ammunition. After he informed the KBR camp manager of the thefts, Marines searched the camp with dogs to recover the stolen property. For his trouble, Cassaday said, KBR security officers jailed him in his tent for two days. He then spent another four days in "protective custody" before being transferred, against his will, to work in a laundry.
The practice of stealing equipment and supplies destined for the U.S. military was so pervasive that KBR employees invented a slang term to describe it: "drug deals." But thefts were not limited to military supplies, said Linda Warren, another former KBR employee who testified at the hearing. Upon her arrival in Baghdad in 2004, she was shocked by the number of contractors involved in criminal activity. "KBR employees who were contracted to perform construction duties inside palaces and municipal buildings were looting," she said. "Not only were they looting, but they had a system in place to get contraband out of the country so it could be sold on eBay. They stole artwork, rugs, crystal, and even melted down gold to make spurs for cowboy boots." Like Cassaday, when she complained to her superiors about the thefts, she was punished. She said her vehicle was taken away, her movements were closely monitored, and her access to phones and the Internet were cut off. Eventually, she was transferred out of Baghdad.
Perhaps more shocking than any of this was the accusation from Barry Halley, a former project manager for Worldwide Network Services, a Washington, D.C.-based firm that was working on subcontract for DynCorp. According to Halley, his site manager in Iraq, who he said was employed by a "major defense contractor," moonlighted as the leader of a prostitution ring serving American contractors in Iraq that indirectly caused the death of a colleague. "A co-worker unrelated to the ring was killed when he was traveling in an unsecure car and shot performing a high-risk mission," he told the committee. "I believe that my co-worker could have survived if he had been riding in an armored car. At the time, the armored car that he would otherwise have been riding in was being used by a manager to transport prostitutes from Kuwait to Baghdad." The prostitution ring was shut down when the company's home office learned of it, but, Halley said, the manager who controlled it retained his job, moving on to work another contract in Haiti.
A theme running through all three witnesses' testimony, aside from the pervasiveness of corruption among private contractors in Iraq, was that blowing the whistle on abuses rarely did any good. As is often the case with whistleblowers, speaking out was a shortcut to getting fired or demoted. "There's a no-talk, no-speak policy in effect in Iraq about what goes on," Halley said.
According to Cassaday, although contractors for KBR are trained to report irregularities, the practice is generally frowned on by managers in the field. "In Houston at the training camp that I was at for two weeks before we went over to Iraq, they told us that, 'Our door is always open. If you have a problem, just come on in,'" he said. "But what they don't tell you is there's a back door to that office. If you come in and you complain about something, you're going to be going out that back door. You're going to either be transferred someplace you don't want to be, or you're going to be fired."
Arriving nearly two weeks after the military awarded a 10-year logistical contract worth up to $150 billion to DynCorp, KBR, and a third firm, the DPC hearing was the thirteenth in a series designed to look into contractor fraud and abuse in the reconstruction of Iraq. Although, as a partisan committee, it has no powers to pass legislation, DPC members do refer allegations to the Department of Justice and the Pentagon's Inspector General for further investigation, says Barry Piatt, the DPC's communications director. Committee chairman Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota has been advocating for the creation of a permanent, bipartisan Wartime Contracting Commission to look into the types of accusations raised this week, but so far, says Piatt, Senate Republicans have blocked the measure. Until he is able to obtain the necessary 60 votes, Dorgan will continue to negotiate with the opposition in hopes of peeling away enough support to establish the commission. In the meantime, "the hearings that need to be done will be done," says Piatt. "The Republicans won't able to block that, and by continuing to do them, [Senator Dorgan] is showing the work that a committee like that would do."
Photo by flickr user James Gordon used under a Creative Commons license.
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congress pays the bills so im told.cut the funding.they dont need any committee.an tell NANCY P that the president doesnt have to sign anything.or have the oil people pay the war bill .
The Bush admin. has been a complete Cluster-fuss on America. The examples cited are perhaps the most blatent but it penetrates every aspect of day-to-day life. Survival of the sleazyest. Welcome to the 21st century.
You know that bumper sticker, If your'e not outraged, your'e not paying attention? Well, obviously no one is paying attention!
When this criminal administraion is out of office, I want to see some accountablity. Right now, everyone seems too scared to stand up to them, but once they're gone, reality & honesty had better set back in.
A few years ago I descovered a web site
with pictures of naked women with the troops but I had no body to talk to because America becoming like the Soviet
Union no bocy can be trusted anymor.
Something else I read the the U.S. Marine had cought a USV full of weapons
and they were shooting at the U.S. troops and they were chased by the Marine & got arrested but their leader
ordered the Marine to release them and they were deported !
Note:they had anti tanks weapons and shooting at the U.S.Marine ! WHY ?
Unfortunately we are so corrupt that it is taken for "Business as usual". We The People are too tired to complain or to ignorant of what is REALLY going on to complain. The Committee of 300 is at it again and again. But do not tell CNN. They are part of the problem.
Yeah, but who's honestly going to see prison time of any real duration over anything that happens in Iraq?
I'd bring the troops home and put some people permanently out of business, but that's just me...
Not only do they do the things described they routinely engage in what would be akin to slavery in thier treatment of TCNs who work in dining facilities. Most of these workers come from India or Bangladesh or Sri Lanka and work 12 hour days 6 days a week for $300 a month. Most paid agents up to $4000 to get the job so the work over a year to break even. Security contracters who get thier people from Africa pay these men and women no more than 500-700 a month. There are many contractors who do the work and are so badly treated by the primary contracters, mostly by KBR. They are good people and don't deserve what the US Goverment allows the contracting agencies to do. The TCNs in particular do their jobs cheerfully and are wonderful people who deserve more than they get. It angers me as a miltary man to see how my government has treated these good people who do the crappy jobs so big contractors can make out like bandits. It's obscene.
"good people who do the crappy jobs so big contractors can make out like bandits"
Much like this publicrecords.com at the end of this page. Public Records are free, so why do these sites charge money for them? ie if you have to pay for information, it's not public - so who gave you the authority to distribute this information if not the people themselves - and are those people getting commission? Is the government? Sounds like theft.
Impeach, Fire, and Incarcerate the POTUS & VPOTUS. Forcibly dismantle KBR and DynCorp for their nefariousness. When the he** did the right thing become the wrong thing to do in America. Where did our Morals and ethics go?? When did Greed become the common currency, replacing one's 'Good Word?' I’m Sick of it!! Greed & Corruption enabled by Greedier even more corrupted politicians. PEOPLE can we please stand and take notice that these few are absolutely ruining the WORLD for the rest of us. Not a gross exaggeration. Please search your heart. Do you really want to explain to your grandchildren about a country that "Used to be.???" We are more than half way down that road sheeple. George "The Chimp" Bush repealed Posse Commitatus, Habius Corpus, and basic Personal Privacy. THIS IS NOT THE COUNTRY I LEARNED ABOUT IN SCHOOL!!! These greedy sphincter lovers need a lesson in humility. ALL of the Greedy "I am above the law" cabal in the US Government needs to be thrown out and prosecuted. If the non-corrupted Lawmakers are unwilling or unable, then might I suggest 'Armed Insurrection??' REMEMBER : Even the French stood up to their government pitting Pitchforks against Muskets and Cannons. Are we less brave and less resilient then the French?? Please my fellow Americans OPEN your eyes and wake up and DEMAND RIGHTEOUSNESS from your public officials. They have stolen, plundered, killed, and lied all in your name. All for the sake of 'protecting you.' When will the lies, the B.S., and all of the immorality end?!?!?!?!?! It has to start with us. These spoiled (grown up) rich kids that have never had to really work a day in their life are absolutely ruining this country. Why can’t the rest of you see it???!?!?!?!?
They were bringing in an armored carload of hookers? Was Senator David Vitter there on a fact finding mission? Maybe that's what McCain means when he says the surge is working?
AFRICA FOR AMERICANS!
TIME TO INVADE AND CLAIM RESOURCES FOR OUR OWN!
AFRICANS DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO OR HOW TO DO ANYTHING EXCEPT FAIL, OVER AND OVER AND OVER...
RELIEVE THEM OF THEIR SOVEREIGNTY, FOR THEY DO NOT DESERVE IT.
TRUE FACTS.
You guys are a bunch of left leaning hippy maggots, so who knows if this story is factual...I mean...we all know your agenda.
I ask that the author of the article contact me for first hand information regarding Dyncorp and their treatment of their personnel. I can be reached at gterryYOURHAT@netzero.net
remove YOUR HAT before replying.
My Dyncorp experience reagrds abuses in the "War on Drugs" in Colombia, but may well support an expose against Dyncorp in general
I would like to point out that an nother "great nation" had already tried it before and got their asses murderd...we are the continent that invented geurilla warfare. All that my country need's is an commen enemy. And then black,white,and brown will unite and when we unite we are unstoppble.
While I was stationed at LSA Anaconda as an intelligence officer, I had a couple of interesting conversations with people I met in the chow hall. One was a KBR construction foreman who had a mixed crew of Indians and Filipinos working for him. He said he had started smuggling fresh fruit out of the chow hall to give to his crew because they only got rice and chicken, two meals a day, for several months without change. He was actually starting to worry about their health. I also had a talk with an NCO who was in charge of a crew of Filipina women who were detailed to clean the military VIP quarters. She said she was having problems with other contractors coming down there and sexually assaulting her workers, but that she couldn't get any kind of security for them.
Even with contractors aren't doing something blatantly illegal, they are usually up to something highly questionable and seriously unethical.
We can be sure some zio-jew and some zio-christian that supports them is behind this mess. Read the Talmud you idiots!
I'm amazed at the military guys who "say" they knew of wrong doing and failed to do anything about it. Not your business right? And as for ousting the ktrs; who do you recomend to set up a logisitcs chain that streches to Iraq, services the mil an state department folks over there? It's easy to hide behind your morality and say "throw them out." Until you either plus the military back up to the point that they can do these functions themselves, you'll have to tolerate contractors.
People! War = Corruption! Has it ever been different? This endless reporting of the corruption coming as a result of the Iraq war is silly. Our fathers did it in Vietnam, our grandfathers did it in Korea and WW2, and their fathers did it in WW1. The GREAT war.
For Christ's sake stop acting like you don't think this is going on. Grow the [deleted] up and realize that this is life....this is what happens when you put men and women in situations that assault their sensitivities.
I think it is actually funny that our government thinks they have to use contractors to do the heavy lifting. Can't you see that they use contractors to avoid your reporting this story about the Army proper? Why? Because they know, as all smart thinking people know that "people are people" and they will inevitably do these things.
[deleted]. If I had a dime for every "US Soldier-run" brothel in WW2 or Vietnam....grow up you ass. Stop thinking you wouldnt do the exact same thing if put in that situation.
I was over in Iraq for 14 months in 2004-2005 and was very disappointed in some of the contractors working over there. There was a contracting firm who owned responsibility to manage certain aspects of technology and they had lots of people in theater. Very few of them had any business being over there with little or no skills in the field they were supposed to be working in, and at the same time, treating the soldiers often with disdain, all the while making well over 6 figures.
I was disgusted with the entire thing and decided that I couldn't work Federal anymore after this.
"Senate Republicans have blocked the measure".
Disgusting people. You would be ashamed of yourselves if you were anything close to human. Why don't you go out back and [deleted]ing kill yourselves?
Go back into the hole you crawled out of, you freakin' bigot!
I worked as the assistant materials controller building a "portable" nerve gas neutralizer for a major contractor. We had a guy making belt buckles out of high grade metals. We even built a bbq out of stainless steel, the entire thing, for our Friday potlucks. The inspector from the DOD finally had to say no beer on the property.
I actually did tell quite a few people, but no one really listened. I sent letters to my Congressional representatives, and even told a reporter I know. Nothing ever came of it. Given that I was down there working some 16 hours a day, there was a limited amount of time I could divert to attempt to fix the problems, especially as they were well out of my jurisdiction.
YOu people are too stupid to be allowed to vote.
WS, you're exactly what all these comments are complaining about. A loyal Bushy, well, enjoy your ride while it lasted, the neo-cons will be gone soon and this stench of corruption and revisionist history will too.
This article is a "story."
If you have a problem with the way your Country is being protected then do it yourself..No news story about how lazy left wingers are..cry about the enviroment...and drive an SUV around with your little fat kids.
I have called and written my public officials and they send me back form letters and have interns answer their phones sounding annoyed. You arent alone, rest assured. If you can rest.
I do not beleive the Iraq military action is ethically comparible to the Vietnam War but there is one noteworthy similarity:
During the latter part of the Vietnam War, there were the same types of hyper-patriots, who got angry at the news reporter(s) who printed photos of napalm burning Asian children, rather then directing their anger at the immoral nature of the attacks being pictured. These same guys have no resentment whatsoever--of the money they are paying in taxes, to support the rampant corruption and "thunder-dome" enterprize being run by the US government. These are not stupid people, they are just, well, acting stupid.
PS> At least in the Vietnam war, no one blamed the Jews.
Hey john chaney, I went to Iraq twice and I still work for DoD as a counter terrorism analyst. What did you do for your country today?
Contractors are doing illegal and immoral things in Iraq, and they are not doing it in the name of "freedom" but in the name of their own profits. Their practices hurt not only our war effort but our soldiers. And you're actually defending these criminals? What the hell kind of patriot are you?
this is further proof of Bush's "private war" US Troops could not usually get away with that crap, but private contractors basically have carte blanche.
I worked for KBR for close to 2 1/2 yrs overall in Iraq to call us contractors is a big joke though they do pay with a 1099 & do not pay ssn ,medicare or unemployment insur. they try to control every working hour, meetings that we are required to attend every day , constant monitoring of the work day. This micromanagement tends to reach over into the nonworking hours as well.
Drug deals is more a term associated with favors & dealings most of the time with the military that are outside work usually done with work orders the Fallujah ice house was back to providing
service for the marines in the 1st quarter of 2006 where an iceplant & storage area for movement of the ice was build I was part of that effort in March 2006
This must be \\\\\\\\\\\\Dick Chaney posting this absurd comment.;
Someone asked:
"When did greed become the common currency?"
1981 I think, when some actor was president...
This story is false. I couldn't find any other credible sources online that can back up this story. You people are just a bunch of left-wing nutjobs. I know some contractors and they would never act this way, you have to remember most contractors have prior military experience and respect military personnel.
Shame on you for making up stories and spreading lies!
WS You have not lived in Midland Odessa Texas. I was there in 1979. People there drink 3-6 cocktails a night on weeknights. They do this 3-4 times a week. They party and they do not read anything. Prostitution is so accepted that anyone can engage it and still show up at respectable clubs. Locals pay Dr. O. for their abotions. He purchased for his daughter with a portion a 24 thousand dollar Oscar De La Renta gown for her coming out party at the local swank event.Immigrant brags to me "I can seduce any married woman in the town " He then tells me who he has entertained.
I spent 2 mos in Europe with a bus load of Texas rich girls. They slept with the stewards on the SS France. They fell drunken off bridges in Florence -Hit the front pages. Got us kicked 'outta the Rotterdam Hilton ""Hey Yall the bars down here"" Too drunk and hung over They managed to learn nothing from 2 months in Europe excpt the locations of bars.
You obviously have not met Texas.In 1978 Odessa the had a bumber sticker that read "Drive 90 and freeze a damn Yankee" --Well...tell me have they changed one bit??
THis is out OUTRAGEOUS!
You can't blame the service men for the greed of these large corp.
I need to do something about this. What can one little person do, when the %#$%*(&&^%^ goverment is closing their eyes and ears.
Ask Speaker Pelosi to support legislation effectively banning Blackwater from Iraq. We need to stop Blackwater before they use their mercenary profits from Iraq to set up a base of operations in San Diego just three blocks from the Mexican border.
If we can convince Speaker Pelosi to stop Blackwater from privatizing national security with our tax dollars, it could be the beginning of the end for Blackwater in Iraq. And California.
Please join me in asking Speaker Pelosi -- California's most powerful member of Congress -- to take leadership by supporting the "Stop Outsourcing Security Act" as soon as possible.
Will you join me?
http://www.couragecampaign.org/BanBlackwater
Thanks!
If Congress would uphold their Constitutional obligation by IMPEACHING the criminals at the top, Bush & Cheney, then the rest of the sleazy contractors and war profiteers could be brought to justice as well. Where is the outrage of the U.S. populace? The past 7+ years are the WORST in all of our history and BushCo. needs to be tried in criminal court for "high crimes" and treason! If Congress doesn't act, then we need to sack those shameless 'paid for' politicians and make sure they are kicked out of office in shame & without any of the 'perks' they keep refining for themselves. America really sucks right now! I'm ashamed of my country and despair for it's future...
The fact is that once any republic loses its democratic structure -- that is, when a democracy falls to a coup d'etat -- its liberty and justice is lost. When the powers who have staged the coup take the reins of government, they then, invariably, do two things. 1) The use the powers of government to enrich and indulge themselves, sometimes beyond all measure; 2) they work very diligently to strip the rest of the citizens of their liberty by instituting all of the mechanism of the police state, in order to make sure that the processes of democracy, accountability, and the redress of grievances is squelched, so they may continue, undisturbed, with the sacking of the unfortunate nation whose government they have managed to subvert for the purpose of their own aggrandizement. The junta then reserve for themselves the right to operate outside the annoying strictures of democracy, accountability, and justice.
When America lost the battle for electoral integrity in Florida and when the corrupt Supreme Court in 2000, validated the coup, only a fool would have expected anything to follow from it but officially sanctioned crime, emboldened and enabled by the resulting, illegitimate goverment.
This is what has happened to us, and we, apparently, are content to allow it, in the name of an ironical "freedom."
At that point, it was the duty of Americans to surround the White House in their millions and demand that the "president" and his "administration" vacate the premises and go home, to await their indictments.
That we did not do this is a clear sign that we have lost our America to a gang of thieves, torturers, and murderers, all of whom should meet the same fate as they meted out to Saddam Hussein -- they all deserve to be hung in a filthy basement, in the midst of derision and insult.
I wanted to make a comment, and to select and copy it, and save it to my Word Processor, but you "Post a Comment, would not allow this, so I had to remove my original comment. Sorry.
I have heard of things similar in nature to what the articles discuss. Where I am at they lease 40-50 thousand vehicles for 100-200 thouand dollars. War is big business.
I am a contractor; I support my country and believe in its policies. My company, myself, and my peers do not engage in any activities that are against U.S. laws. If anyone here did anything that was describes in this riotous article then they would be prosecuted by the law. The people who believe that we (as contractors) are any more subversive than a random cross section of the American people (which we are; just better ones) then you truly have a simple mind and your opinions are of little consequence to me, or the people who are helping you keep your freedoms to spill your ignorance over the Internet (another leap forward brought in large part by contractors.)
Well of course you haven't broken any laws, since you were specifically exempted from them.
Our military should line up the private contractors who are over billing, stealing, whoring, etc. against a wall and put bullets in their heads. I'm done paying taxes. I will not pay one more dime so our imcompetent & corrupt federal govt. can so shamelessly waste it. I urge all Americans to stop paying federal income taxes and excize taxes. [deleted] those God damn criminals in Washington!!!!
Criminals are running our govt., so it's no wonder they hired criminals who masquarade as private contractors. I wish I was the one who could pull the trigger and put bullets in each one of their heads. They are the reason some of our soldiers are dying. I would enlist just so I could go over there and assassinate those piles of worthless flesh. I have a freind who was short changed by those criminal private contractors. It almost cost him his life. Death to the private contractors in Iraq!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
F U to all private contractors in Iraq!!! F.U. to the criminal administration. Dick Cheney Fs prostitutes!!! The day they drop dead is the day I throw a 10 keg party!
What a moron you are to say you are subversive. Actually it's good that you admit your guilt. The random cross section you are referring to are the millions of American Patriots who are fed up with the lies. Your days may very well be numbered, especially if you support the criminal govt. who have hijacked our country and strated their criminal wars. You call it a ritous article instead of what it really is....the truth you jaboney!! The truth hurts don't it? If you plan on going back to Iraq, or you are still there, you are now a marked man. You are the enemy!!!!!!!!
Furthermore you kook; the wars we are now in have nothing to do with protecting our freedom, and everything to do with taking it away. So go sell your lies somewhere elese. You aren't protecting my freedom. You are ripping off Iraq and the U.S. military.
