In another Saturday afternoon bad news release, the Army’s investigative division pursues corruption in the various “War on Terror” theaters. This comes after Bush boldly exclaimed “influence purchasing”, a Republican Party value, was off limits for other countries. There are some parts of democracy too sacrosanct to export.
From high-dollar fraud to conspiracy to bribery and bid rigging, Army investigators have opened up to 50 criminal probes involving battlefield contractors in the war in Iraq and the U.S. fight against terrorism, The Associated Press has learned. Senior contracting officials, government employees, residents of other countries and, in some cases, U.S. military personnel have been implicated in millions of dollars of fraud allegations.
"All of these involve operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait," Chris Grey, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, confirmed Saturday to the AP. The cases range in type, seriousness and complexity and involve contractors both inside and outside the United States.
Recall the Iraqi Electricity Minister charged with multiple counts of corruption but broken out of jail in the secure Green Zone and spirited out of the country, eventually making his way back to Chicago, of all places. He claims to be a personal friend of President George Bush. Isn’t that how one gets appointed nowadays?
Did you notice the firms under investigation are not mentioned in the news piece? Halliburton specifically has a policy that allows “facilitating payments” hard to distinguish from illegal bribes in its corporate ethics guidelines. Did they pass a few million in greased paper to get bridge building contracts needed on that road to democracy?
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