Bullypulpit
Senior Member
<center><a href=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20430153/><h1><font color=red>Iraq fraud whistleblowers vilified...</font></h1></a></center>
...They get demoted...they get subjected to detention and interrogation techniques reserved for "enemy combatants". As in the case of Donald Vance, a Navy veteran who had the temerity to report illegal arms sales to the FBI. For his actions, "...he was imprisoned by the American military in a security compound outside Baghdad and subjected to harsh interrogation methods."
Such is the plight of those acting in good faith to uproot the fraud, waste and abuse which have plagued the reconstruction of Iraq since day one. It also gives lie to any claims of the Bush administration that it will not tolerate waste,fraud or abuse on the part of US contractors in Iraq.
And then there was Bunnatine Greenhouse. She testified before congress in 2005 regarding billions of dollars of fraud in the rebuilding contracts awarded to Haliburton and KBR. Soon afterwards, she was demoted to a position of no authority after an otherwise spotless career and having been "...he highest-ranking civilian contracting officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers...".
And then there was the case of Julie McBride, who testified that,
<blockquote>"...as a “morale, welfare and recreation coordinator” at Camp Fallujah, she saw KBR exaggerate costs by double- and triple-counting the number of soldiers who used recreational facilities.
She also said the company took supplies destined for a Super Bowl party for U.S. troops and instead used them to stage a celebration for themselves."</blockquote>
Callous enough behavior on the part of her employers, but then,
<blockquote>“After I voiced my concerns about what I believed to be accounting fraud, Halliburton placed me under guard and kept me in seclusion,” she told the committee. “My property was searched, and I was specifically told that I was not allowed to speak to any member of the U.S. military. I remained under guard until I was flown out of the country.”</blockquote>
It should be noted that the Bush administration, via the DoJ has failed to sign on to ANY of the whistle-blower suits filed. But that's understandable given the close economic, political and personal ties the White House has with a number of the contractors mentioned in those suits. Rather than deal, and harshly, with the perpetrators of these frauds the Bush administration seems content to ignore their transgressions and punish those who would reveal those transgression.
If there was ever a need for war profiteers to be brought to justice, this and other such cases, are but the tip of the iceberg. These profiteers MUST be held accountable. Their actions have done more than rob the tax-payer of money. They have damaged the moral and even the health and safety of the men and women serving in our armed forces.
Seig heil, y'all.
(P.S. Click on the head-line to link to the story the quotes are sourced from.)
...They get demoted...they get subjected to detention and interrogation techniques reserved for "enemy combatants". As in the case of Donald Vance, a Navy veteran who had the temerity to report illegal arms sales to the FBI. For his actions, "...he was imprisoned by the American military in a security compound outside Baghdad and subjected to harsh interrogation methods."
Such is the plight of those acting in good faith to uproot the fraud, waste and abuse which have plagued the reconstruction of Iraq since day one. It also gives lie to any claims of the Bush administration that it will not tolerate waste,fraud or abuse on the part of US contractors in Iraq.
And then there was Bunnatine Greenhouse. She testified before congress in 2005 regarding billions of dollars of fraud in the rebuilding contracts awarded to Haliburton and KBR. Soon afterwards, she was demoted to a position of no authority after an otherwise spotless career and having been "...he highest-ranking civilian contracting officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers...".
And then there was the case of Julie McBride, who testified that,
<blockquote>"...as a “morale, welfare and recreation coordinator” at Camp Fallujah, she saw KBR exaggerate costs by double- and triple-counting the number of soldiers who used recreational facilities.
She also said the company took supplies destined for a Super Bowl party for U.S. troops and instead used them to stage a celebration for themselves."</blockquote>
Callous enough behavior on the part of her employers, but then,
<blockquote>“After I voiced my concerns about what I believed to be accounting fraud, Halliburton placed me under guard and kept me in seclusion,” she told the committee. “My property was searched, and I was specifically told that I was not allowed to speak to any member of the U.S. military. I remained under guard until I was flown out of the country.”</blockquote>
It should be noted that the Bush administration, via the DoJ has failed to sign on to ANY of the whistle-blower suits filed. But that's understandable given the close economic, political and personal ties the White House has with a number of the contractors mentioned in those suits. Rather than deal, and harshly, with the perpetrators of these frauds the Bush administration seems content to ignore their transgressions and punish those who would reveal those transgression.
If there was ever a need for war profiteers to be brought to justice, this and other such cases, are but the tip of the iceberg. These profiteers MUST be held accountable. Their actions have done more than rob the tax-payer of money. They have damaged the moral and even the health and safety of the men and women serving in our armed forces.
Seig heil, y'all.
(P.S. Click on the head-line to link to the story the quotes are sourced from.)
