Krugman: Patriots and Profits

Patriots and Profits

"Last week there were major news stories about possible profiteering by Halliburton and other American contractors in Iraq. These stories have, inevitably and appropriately, been pushed temporarily into the background by the news of Saddam's capture. But the questions remain. In fact, the more you look into this issue, the more you worry that we have entered a new era of excess for the military-industrial complex.

The story about Halliburton's strangely expensive gasoline imports into Iraq gets curiouser and curiouser. High-priced gasoline was purchased from a supplier whose name is unfamiliar to industry experts, but that appears to be run by a prominent Kuwaiti family (no doubt still grateful for the 1991 liberation). U.S. Army Corps of Engineers documents seen by The Wall Street Journal refer to "political pressures" from Kuwait's government and the U.S. embassy in Kuwait to deal only with that firm. I wonder where that trail leads.

Meanwhile, NBC News has obtained Pentagon inspection reports of unsanitary conditions at mess halls run by Halliburton in Iraq: "Blood all over the floors of refrigerators, dirty pans, dirty grills, dirty salad bars, rotting meat and vegetables." An October report complains that Halliburton had promised to fix the problem but didn't.

And more detail has been emerging about Bechtel's much-touted school repairs. Again, a Pentagon report found "horrible" work: dangerous debris left in playground areas, sloppy paint jobs and broken toilets."

more at link (edited to fix link)

Don't worry, some sort of semi-invisible outsourced help will come along and fix it up.

Right?

nt

See this post at Josh Marshall's TPM on how Wolfowitz gutted the oversight of Pentagon contracts for Iraq.

When Congress voted the $87 billion for military expenditures and reconstruction in Iraq they were keen to create an office of Inspector General at the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) to watch out for all manner of waste, fraud, abuse, price gouging and various other shenanigans.

Now it seems that Paul Wolfowitz has gutted that provision.

According to Inside the Pentagon, a weekly newsletter, "Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz last week directed a newly formed inspector general's office in Iraq not to request sensitive information about Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) activities related to intelligence or operational plans."

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2003_12_07.html#002316

Paul's 3rd paragraph angers me to no end.

WHAT THE HELL IS HALIBURTON DOING SERVING FOOD IN SUBSTANDARD CONDITIONS TO OUR SOLDIERS??????

Is THAT "Contracting Out" at its' BEST?????

Ka-Ching!

...any other law for that matter. They can do whatever the hell the want. The is a textbook example of what is wrong with Herr Rumsfeldts tooth to tail bullshit.

aren't they ashamed of their lack of investigative reporting? Krugman's right: "To top it all off, after 9/11 the U.S. media — which eagerly played up the merest hint of scandal during the Clinton years — became highly protective of the majesty of the office."

I like his last line, FDR chose Truman who waged battle against profiteering, Bush chose Cheney.