Iraq Corruption Whistleblowers Face Penalties

MSNBC ^ | August 25, 2007 | AP

[khnyny]

One after another, the men and women who have stepped forward to report corruption in the massive effort to rebuild Iraq have been vilified, fired and demoted.

Or worse.

For daring to report illegal arms sales, Navy veteran Donald Vance says he was imprisoned by the American military in a security compound outside Baghdad and subjected to harsh interrogation methods.

[cardinal4]

For daring to report illegal arms sales, Navy veteran Donald Vance says he was imprisoned by the American military in a security compound outside Baghdad and subjected to harsh interrogation methods.

Yeah, right..

[khnyny]

See also:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,129489,00.html

Audit Shows $8.8B Missing in Iraq

[misterrob]

Read the entire article.....

[KantianBurke]

“Navy Capt. John Fleming, a spokesman for U.S. detention operations in Iraq, confirmed the detentions but said he could provide no further details because of the lawsuit.”

[misterrob]

".....Navy Capt. John Fleming, a spokesman for U.S. detention operations in Iraq, confirmed the detentions but said he could provide no further details because of the lawsuit.

From the article

[billbears]

Corruption has long plagued Iraq reconstruction. Hundreds of projects may never be finished, including repairs to the country’s oil pipelines and electricity system. Congress gave more than $30 billion to rebuild Iraq, and at least $8.8 billion of it has disappeared, according to a government reconstruction audit.

I'm in the wrong line of work. I should be a government contractor. Of course I note the article doesn't address the $12 billion of money that disappeared with no accounting either.

[litehaus]

One after another, the men and women who have stepped forward to report corruption in the massive effort to rebuild Iraq have been vilified, fired and demoted.

Dateline: Sept. 2009,Wash.D.C.--------------One after another, the men and women who have stepped forward to report corruption in the massive effort to rebuild---- NEW ORLEANS--- have been vilified, fired and demoted.

Nuttin changes, just the names, places.....

[Cogadh na Sith]

I'm getting the distinct whiff of bullsh^t:

So Vance says he blew the whistle, supplying photos and documents and other intelligence to an FBI agent in his hometown of Chicago because he didn’t know whom to trust in Iraq.

For his trouble, he says, he got 97 days in Camp Cropper, an American military prison outside Baghdad that once held Saddam Hussein, and he was classified a security detainee.

Reading between the lines, what I want to know is: Who was that FBI agent posing as when Vance passed classified intel to him? Al Qaida? Iranians? Homegrown terrorists?

I'm glad the FBI is catching these guys.

[cardinal4]

I did read the article. It presents only one side..his. Im just skeptical, sorry..

[PAR35]

See also comments at previous posting here:

Iraq Corruption Whistleblowers Face Penalties
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1886460/posts

[khnyny]

Perhaps this article is a little clearer:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1889855/posts

This is a big problem. There are investigations ongoing.

“The investigation into contracts for materiel to Iraqi soldiers and police officers is part of an even larger series of criminal cases. As of Aug. 23, there were 73 criminal investigations related to contracting, fraud and abuse in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan, Colonel Dan Baggio, an army spokesman, said Monday. Twenty civilians and military personnel have been charged in federal court as a result of the 73 inquiries, he said. The inquiries involve contracts valued at more than $5 billion, and Baggio said that the charges so far involved more than $15 million in bribes.

Just last week, an army major, his wife and his sister were indicted on charges that they accepted up to $9.6 million in bribes for Defense Department contracts in Iraq and Kuwait.”

[khnyny]

Thanks.

[cardinal4]

Im not denying contracting fraud exists. Iraq is a land of shadowy contractors, security teams, etc. But I have a hard time believing that whistleblowing got this guy locked up. There has to be more to the story. Just my opinion..

[khnyny]

I hear ‘ya. If it ever gets to court, I guess we’ll find out - maybe.

[khnyny]

I was thinking to myself that I couldn’t imagine something like this happening on this scale during WWII.

The next obvious question being, why not? Personally, I think it boils down to the degradation of our culture’s morals over the past 40 years or so. Instead of patriotism and ethics, it’s a “what’s in it for me” attitude that’s become the norm, rather than the exception.

[MamaTexan]

Personally, I think it boils down to the degradation of our culture’s morals over the past 40 years or so. Instead of patriotism and ethics, it’s a “what’s in it for me” attitude that’s become the norm, rather than the exception.

Exactly!

We've become an instant gratification nation.

Things are no longer done right just because its the right thing to do.

--------

I've never really understood America's habit of blowing things up just to 'rebuild' them again, either...but maybe it's just me.

:-)

[Stayfree]

Consider the source.....
But when one of my employers was doing business in the Mid-East and specifically in Iran before the Shah was chased out, every country had its bribery norms. If you wanted to do business in Iran, you had to pay 15% of the contract amount directly to the Pahlavi Foundation in Switzerland.

[perez24]

I read where shady contracting and supply practices occurred in the Civil and Spanish-American wars, so why wouldn’t it have happened in WWII?

Degradation of morals notwithstanding, and I in no way am justifying it, but I think it happens in every war.

[perez24]

I’m not exactly disagreeing with you, but an article from the Center for Corporate Policy included this blurb:

In 1941, Harry S. Truman, then a U.S. Senator, launched a special committee to investigate fraud and waste in WWII contracts. While today’s lawmakers have held only a handful of hearings on Iraq war contracts, the Truman Committee held 432 hearings with 1,798 witnesses and issued 51 reports between 1941 and 1948.

The Truman Committee saved taxpayers some $15 billion (in 1940s dollars) and prevented hundreds, if not thousands of deaths by uncovering faulty military equipment. For example, the Committee revealed that the military helped aerospace firm Curtiss-Wright cover up defects in airplane motors it sold to the Air Force.

Doesn’t justify what goes on today, but an indicator that things aren’t all that different.

http://www.corporatepolicy.org/topics/warprofiteering.htm

Now I don’t know if this some sort of left wing hate site or whatever, but it showed up in a search.