Apparently weve paid out over 85 billion dollars to contractors in Iraq.
Quote:
The United States paid $85 billion to contractors in the Iraq theater for work ranging from food service to guarding diplomats, according to a report released Tuesday.
How many contractors do we have over there you might wonder.
Quote:
The United States relied more heavily on contractors in Iraq than in any other war. At least 190,000 contract employees are working in the Iraq theater, with the ratio at about one contractor for every U.S. military member, according to the report.
We have a war that lasted 3 months.
Weve had a 5 year occupation of the country.
Its cost U.S. taxpayers 85 billion dollars in non combat related contracts.20% of the bill for Iraq has gone to contractors.
We have guys risking thier lives on a daily basis for relatively little money while were paying billions out to people in the private sector.How could a 3 month long war require this many people?Wheres all this money going?Some people are getting rich off this it would seem, I wonder who they are.Sure would like to see a more detailed copy of this report, Im sure this moneys going to a much better use than it would 9on something else, say in our own country where we have no problems
You are absolutely correct to say people are getting rich off of this. So are people getting rich off of the money wasted for Katrina, other defense spending, road construction, education ....... There mere fact that our federal budget is not well over 20% of our GDP only begs for corruption and folks to get rich. Where is the incentive for government to do better? They get to steal more by gunpoint. Did you make a comment on the Nation of Thieves thread?
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On top of that Peta, there are like 30 some supply officers and enlisted currently either under investigation, indictment or have already plead guilty for talking payoffs. The story was in the paper this week where a guy who graduated from the citadel and served 3 tours over in Kuwait was getting $.50 on every case of water delivered to his area. I think he and his wife plead guilty in Tx and the guy's sister is fighting the charges in court. They pocketed millions.
Quote:
An Army major today pleaded guilty in Washington to bribery charges, admitting he had a $5.8 million deal to steer military contracts for bottled water and other supplies to favored companies.
The guilty plea by Major James Momon Jr. of Virginia is the latest development in one of the Justice Department's largest military contracting fraud investigations.
Momon served as a contracting officer at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait in 2005-2006.
He succeeded Major John Cockerham, a native of Bienville Parish, who pleaded guilty in January to money laundering as part of a $9 million bribery scheme involving bottled water contracts.
Cockerham has been cooperating with investigators since pleading guilty in federal court in San Antonio.
Momon, as part of his plea agreement, agreed to do the same.
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John Adams “The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.”
Ronald Reagan: 'Everybody that is for abortion has already been born'
"I never said I was worth it. I only said I wouldn't do it for less " William F. Buckley Jr.
$85 Billion...so what? They borrowed $150 billion from China for your Stimulus Checks....
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Eric Barton, a former manager in Iraq for EOD Technology (EODT), was accused by the Army Suspension and Debarment Office of helping his company win convoy security work last year while having an affair with Air Force Capt. Sherrie Remington, a contracting officer, according to records released to USA TODAY under the Freedom of Information Act.
Remington gave Barton information about previous security contracts and awarded his company seven contracts between January and March of 2006, according to the records from the Army Suspension and Debarment Office.
Remington gave two contracts to EODT without asking for other bids, and approved three other contracts for the Tennessee-based company even though other firms had lower bids, the records show. In contracting files, Remington said the lower-priced competitors were either too busy with other work or had problems delivering on past contracts.
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RE: Money well spent
I know some of the money they paid is setting up and running the bases over there, by that I mean making sure the bases have power, the mess halls have food delivered and prepared, and that all the facilites are running. I've seen it first hand in Qatar and the other bases I went to while I was deployed. Not saying the faciites were in the best condition but they are trying to make it better everyday.
Graft, corruption, and outright budgetary incompetence have been part of every conflict going back to when Roman Legionnaires were given spoiled food by corrupt merchants and quartermasters.The Civil War was a good example of this early in our country's history.Some of the early examples of "whistle blowing" strategies to combat corruption and mismanagement developed during that era. Butpeople are still gonna try to cheat the system. Nothing really new here folks....
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I think Lanse is on track here...and some are trying to lay this at the feet of the current administration
which is pure crap. Part of this entrenched corruption lies in the fact that we did not just destroy Iraq
and leave. We occupy the country, we are rebuilding infrastructure, we need services which are essential,
and like all things, the buzzards folllow......just prosecute and jail the theives but don't blame the administration for the actions of the few.
A huge percentage of the biggest contractors were given contracts behind closed doors, with agenda's attached. I imagine some given on 9/12...... Haliburton, Kellog Brown & Root, Blackwater, ect.ect.
I think Lanse is on track here...and some are trying to lay this at the feet of the current administration
which is pure crap.
I never mentioned the current administration, for that matter I have no idea how these contracts are decided, who decides how many contractors to send in, or anything else, thats why I posted it.
And FM has an excellent point{yeah, that hurt a little}, its not just Iraq where these contracts for staggering sums of money are given, it happens every day in almost anything the government has anything to do with.And the people they contract seem to be consistantly behind schedule, cutting corners, or over budget if not all of the above and there seems to be no penalty for it.And oddly enough many times they dont seem to have to account for where much of the moeny has gone at the end of the project.
I dont much care what administrations in charge, I dont care what party is running what because its the same story with all of them no matter whos in charge.And they hire the same damn people time after time knowing full well theyre gona waste millions if not billions of dollars in the process.Why do we give these people an open checkbook and keep filling the account for them with no questions asked.Shouldnt there be some kind of review of these contracts as they are unfolding?
Money well spent
}, its not just Iraq where these contracts for staggering sums of money are given, it happens every day in almost anything the government has anything to do with.And the people they contract seem to be consistantly behind schedule, cutting corners, or over budget if not all of the above and there seems to be no penalty for it.And oddly enough many times they dont seem to have to account for where much of the moeny has gone at the end of the project.
