Never ending FUBAR

[jeezeweeze]

The mess in Iraq is never ending. Its not from our military, its from the contractors...seems to me everything the military accomplished...is being undermined by idiots. Its not just sandland, its quicksand land, and its sucking the life out of America. JMHO

"Millions of dollars of lucrative Iraq reconstruction contracts were never finished because of excessive delays, poor performance or other factors, including failed projects that are being falsely described by the U.S. government as complete, federal investigators say."

Investigators: Millions in Iraq contracts never finished | The Journal Gazette

[wordsmythe]

And who do you think hired those contractors?

If they could get the lights on and the water running it would go a LOT farther toward settling that placed down than shooting them.

Of course if that happens then the contract work goes away.

[Made in the USA]

Originally Posted by jeezeweeze

The mess in Iraq is never ending. Its not from our military, its from the contractors...seems to me everything the military accomplished...is being undermined by idiots. Its not just sandland, its quicksand land, and its sucking the life out of America. JMHO

"Millions of dollars of lucrative Iraq reconstruction contracts were never finished because of excessive delays, poor performance or other factors, including failed projects that are being falsely described by the U.S. government as complete, federal investigators say."

Investigators: Millions in Iraq contracts never finished | The Journal Gazette

Not to mention the Billions of dollars that the US sent over there that disappeared, or was used to fund the war against us!

[88-31-10]

As it should be.
Remember, "Most people don't want to know or could not handle the truth."

[notyoubob]

Watched C-Span Monday on the senate hearings on corruption, fraud and mismanagement of Halliburton and its subsidiary, KBR. Pretty disgusting, but haven't seen any media coverage on it.

[Justoo]

I could hand a story on local corruption to my local media and they would not report it. I am sure they are following the big boys. Hide the corruption. They are just as guilty as those they protect.

[jeezeweeze]

Originally Posted by notyoubob

Watched C-Span Monday on the senate hearings on corruption, fraud and mismanagement of Halliburton and its subsidiary, KBR. Pretty disgusting, but haven't seen any media coverage on it.

I watch C-Span on occasion. I get so fired up on most of the hearings I have to change to cartoons....lol

Yeah...whats up with the media?

[wordsmythe]

Originally Posted by jeezeweeze

I watch C-Span on occasion. I get so fired up on most of the hearings I have to change to cartoons....lol

Yeah...whats up with the media?

The Journalists have been taken over by the advertising and profit side of the business.

Instead of setting the agenda and saying HEY LOOK WHAT THEY ARE DOING TO YOU! they are letting the dregs of society decide what gets attention.

So, we get crap like American Idol, Dancing with the stars and Deal or no Deal.

[SGT T.]

First of all, I have to tell you, I am a big fan of deal or no deal, and I occasionally watch American idol. Hells Kitchen is my new personal favorite, I like to watch the regular cooks get yelled at and stressed out by the quasi-military head chef.

As for whats going on in Iraq with the re-construction projects that are just playing fast and lose with the money, let me tell you that working with the MiTT team, I have some knowledge of how that all works. We get three estimates on a project, for example, to get all the windows replaced in the Iraqi Army Dining Facility. As soon as the Iraqis find out its for the Iraqi Army, the price goes up 200%. The reasons for this are two fold. One, they know that the Iraqi Army is bankrolled by the rich imperialist Americans, and two, they are risking their lives by "helping" the Iraqi Army, who are widely seen as puppets of the occupiers. So, because we have no choice, we pay the 200% mark-up, then the contractor buys the windows, and takes his finders fee, then pays the labor guys, who also use the "risking our lives" line to justify a huge fee, and they of course do the work, but they do it badly, because they know that when those windows break again, or fall out, or are stolen, guess who gets another contract to fix it all again? And then theres the Iraqi Army themselves. For example an IA Commander might decide that those windows would look better at his house, so he will order his troops to do a little covert action late one night, and then complain to us about a missing window the next day.
Bottom line...
It's a money pit. No amount of Government oversight is going to fix that. The only way to fix it is to change the mindset of the Iraqi people.

As for KBR, its a necessary evil. We need them to run our bases, but they need to do it better. For every example we have of them fleecing the Government, we need to fine them that ammount plus 200%. That would just about do it.

[notyoubob]

The portion of the hearings I saw had three former sub-contractors telling what they witnessed. And some of that would make your blood boil. Such as KBR mangers rippiing off the US taxpayers by requiring each GI to sign in and out of each room in a USO-lke facilty to help the GIs get a little R&R, even to and from the bathroom. Then KBR would turn in the hugely inflated numbers to get paid because their contract calls for so much taxpayer money for each GI "helped." Also stealing ice for the GIs to sell to the Iraqis.
Also, the three testified that if any one of their workers complained, they were threatend to be locked outside the secure area to let the Iraqis deal with them.
So, it's not just the Iraqis that are ripping us off, it's the broken, pork-laden system that the current administration allowed to contact out to VP Dick Cheney's former company with no competition or bids. But what do we expect from the borrow and spend methods of those in charge the past few years.
Wait until that bill comes for taxpayer payment after the current administration goes back to private business, it will be comparable to the high fuel prices.