[Paul Ross]

Sad thing is, no matter the findings, no matter the facts, no matter the regulations, there will be a fair share of people out there that will employ the conservative version of the liberal rant: “Grumble, grumble, Haliburton, Bush-Cheney. . . grumble. . .” In the case of the tanker we hear: “Grumble, grumble, Boeing cheated. . .GAO/politicians bought off. . . grumble, grumble.”) I guess it’s easier to grumble away than admit the Air Force made a mistake.

Agreed. Certainly mistakes in process. And if we can break through the cone of silence and subterfuge, wherein the AF Procurement team blithely reposted EADs spin points, I think it is demonstrable that the EADs plane was not acceptable in a rather large number of particulars.

The USAF clearly felt it was under intense pressure from somewhere to keep EADs in the game such that it clearly waived game-ending disqualifications one after the other, which, as Loren concluded, essentially tilted the playing field irreversibly towards the EADs bid. A process of bias that had no surviving internal natural counter within the process after the politically-motivated interventions had undermined the integrity of their decision-making.

[cmdr straker]

I’ll agree with that statement. The USAF was pressured or someone was. Think they need to look at some employee’s bank accounts, or if they have been offered a job after they are planning to retire ie a major command general.

reading the GAO verdict the EADS plane cannot perform certain emergency proccedures, cannot refuel certain types of aircraft, has boom envelope problems and a unproven boom.