Kleptocracy, Cronyism and War Profiteers – Part Seven

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Part Six

Halliburton isn’t the only pig chowin’ down at the taxpayer trough by any means – it simply has the honor of being the most conspicuous. The “War on Terror” has given birth to a shadow government of contractors , and the midwife from hell is proud poppa Pentagon, who has even outsourced that role . He can now pass out cigars and show off his beautiful bouncing baby deficit while bragging, “see that? I made that myself!” Poppa Rummy is so excited he telephones Uncle Rush (Limbaugh) and Auntie Ann (Coulter) to spread the good news!

There are many colorful phrases in the South, and the one dancing around in my head at the moment is: “sometimes, the baby is just ugly”. And what an ugly baby this is! It has the lying lips of a politician , the nose of a pork barrel pig , and the appetite of a special interest lobbyist .

We all know the ole saying of things happen in “threes”, so let’s take a passing glance at two other war profiteers and make this a trifecta. Who are the other two? I’m going to serve up Custer Battles and Blackwater, two you might not have heard of before.

Custer Battles started off as a private security company, much like Blackwater, however, they evolved into much more by creating a number of subsidiary companies, which served to confuse auditors by double and triple billing for the same charges. In some ways you could say they took the old Army slogan to heart: be all that you can be.

Custer Battles is a small fish as compared to Halliburton, however, that doesn’t mean their fraud games are any less painful to the taxpayer wallets – fraud is still fraud. The funny thing is this fish got hooked thanks to two whistleblower patriots who had the courage to stand up and do the right thing in a sea of corruption. My personal favorite fraud: it’s a tie between playing football with the $100 bricks of cash, but their innovation of stealing existing Baghdad Airport equipment, repainting it with their logos, and then selling it to the powers that be, just barely trumps a good football game.

There have been various court documents filed in regards to this fraud, but the main trial came to a head when this contractor was found guilty in March 2006.

The jury found that all of the U.S. funds spent under the contract were fraudulently billed. In addition, the jury found more than 30 separate fraudulent acts, each one of which is subject to an $11,000 penalty. The total award in this case is in excess of $10 million .

At the heart of the litigation was the decision as to who was actually paying the bills Custer Battles falsely submitted: the U.S. taxpayers, or the Coalition Provisional Authority. Lawyers for the defendant argued along the following line:

“…Since none of the money that the CPA paid to Custer Battles came from U.S. taxpayers, the False Claims Act does not apply. Indeed, he says that the CPA paid Custer Battles with money that were recovered from Saddam Hussein’s palaces, frozen international back accounts and oil revenues and not a penny more.

In the end the jury did not buy into this lie, but federal judge T.S. Ellis months later set aside the verdict, letting the hooked fish swim free. His rationale ?

The former Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Iraq could not be considered a US government entity. (There’s a more in-depth article here .)

That’s a “mulligan” if I’ve ever seen one! The contract clearly states the agreement is with the U.S. Army and not the Coalition Provisional Authority. Even if it weren’t, Custer Battles knew they were involved in fraudulent activity , based upon their own internal memos! They are guilty and the original penalties should stand and not be vacated.

Over and over it’s the same – Americans are cited by courts all around the country for not reporting for jury duty, and yet when they do take the time out of their lives to perform their civic duty, judges throw out their verdicts!

Another fat, dumb, and happy pig at the slop farm is another private security firm by the name of Blackwater . You might have seen the results of their work when four of their employees were murdered, burned, dragged through the streets, and then hung from a bridge in Fallujah. Arrogance breeds anger and resentment, and Blackwater brought that out in Iraqis in dangerous levels with no one to blame but themselves.

“ ‘The problem is, his guys are trying to protect the ambassador. But I would ride around with Iraqis in an Iraqi truck, and they were running me off the road. We were threatened and intimidated. But they (Blackwater’s security) were doing their job, doing what they were paid to do in the way they were paid to do it. And they were making enemies on every single pass out of of town.’ The ‘first rule’ of an insurgency, said Hammes, is ‘you don’t make any more enemies.’ And Blackwater clearly failed in that mission. ”

It doesn’t take much brains, but a lot of guts, to confront the ugly truth that hides behind a politically correct and comfortable euphemism of “private military companies” to identify them as they actually are: mercenaries for hire. This video may not be from Blackwater, but it illustrates the point of the lawlessness that has been a gripping hallmark of these private firms not under U.S. , international, or the war zone country laws. Mercenary groups and private contractors have been involved in many scandals, including the Abu Ghraib prison abuse (the full report can be found here ). Think about this: Americans were being paid huge sums of cash to torture Iraqis, while most Americans feel torture is un-American and wrong , the Beltway insiders sing about torture .

"If the American people disagree with [the President's] policy [on prisoner interrogations], they have options: Congress can change the law, or the electorate can change the administration."

The problem lies in not only our perception of the truth, but our willingness to confront and measure what impact it has on our daily lives. “Why do they hate us?” If after watching the video you still don’t know, chances are you’re disconnected to the horrors being committed the name of the United States . Ok, so you might not see the point I’m making and you might even be rooting for these mercenary groups, but what if I told you these mercenaries were writing the rules of war, not the Pentagon?

“The field manual written by MPRI acknowledges that Pentagon oversight of contractors is uniformly ambiguous. It notes, "Currently, there is no specifically identified force structure nor detailed policy on how to establish contractor management oversight within an AOR [area of responsibility]."

The manual continues, "Consolidated contractor management is the goal, but reality is that it has been, and continues to be, accomplished through a rather convoluted system."

So now we’ve got the inmates not only running the asylum, but also dictating the course of treatment. As Dana Carvey’s “Church Lady” character sanctimoniously quipped, “Well isn’t that SPECIAL?” The contractors admit there’s no effective oversight program, and even a few years later, it’s still being reported the oversight is lax or non-existent.

The Center for Public Integrity reported that since 1994, the Defense Department entered into 3,601 contracts worth $300 billion with 12 U.S. based PMCs. Some view this as an inevitable cost cutting measure and responsible privatization of critical aspects of a military. However, many feel this is a troubling trend, since these private companies are not directly accountable to a legislative body and may cost more than providing the same functions within the military.

We’ve got a basic framework established for Blackwater to operate in: the rules are…there are no rules. Rarely are “contractors” held liable for any crime(s) they’ve committed, and their sentences have been exceptionally lenient , which isn’t much of a deterrent.

It’s been alleged by the parents of four murdered employees, Blackwell cut corners in favor of profits. Those parents have filed suit against Blackwell in court, based on a ruling this past August, the wrongful death suit can proceed . Blackwell argued strenuously the claim should be paid out under the Defense Base Act insurance all contracting firms are required to carry when doing business in a foreign country:

Section 4(a) of the Act requires every employer to be liable for, and to secure the payment of, disability, medical, and death benefits to its employees in the event of injury or death.

It would be one thing if Blackwell’s mess stopped there, but they’re shoved themselves under a white-hot spotlight for other conspicuous stunts like their heavy-handed tactics in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina (also here if you want another source). They’ve got no one to blame but themselves when it you look at their advertising at trade shows in the Middle East: “…Blackwater has been marketing the concept of private armies for low-intensity conflicts” , and they’ve offered their services to the United Nations to help secure Darfur . “Need to spill blood? Call 1-800-WISE-GUY.”

Want more critical thinking? You can find articles by Suzanne Bald and other authors at Axis of Logic . If you enjoyed this article, consider digging it with others!