LAT: US Contractor Found Liable for Fraud in Iraq (in SPITE of Bush Admin)

Nothing Without Hope

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Fri Mar-10-06 03:52 AM
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LAT: US Contractor Found Liable for Fraud in Iraq (in SPITE of Bush Admin)

Edited on Fri Mar-10-06 04:49 AM by Nothing Without Hope

Custer Battles is one of the smaller fry as Iraq contractors go, but it's good to see their crimes brought to light. The REAL story here, though, is that this case was brought and prosecuted only because of an antique, Civil War-vintage law that allows civilian whistleblowers to file suits "on behalf of the government." At no time did the Bush Administration step forward to help with this case. No surprise - as the article explains, this free ride from the Bushies was a product of "political considerations": "Battles ran as a Republican candidate for Congress in 2002, and Custer boasted of the company's ties to the administration."

As Alan Grayson, the lawyer for the whistleblowers who brought this case, said: "There is an orgy of greed among contractors in Iraq, and the Bush administration is for all practical purposes participating in it. They have done nothing to get the taxpayers' money back. They've done nothing to punish the wrongdoers."

I want to see those filthy conduits between the corrupt contractors and the Bush Administration explored, exposed, and prosecuted. There is a huge, writhing nest of them, poisonous vermin that continue to glut and damage. They are dangerous to any who would bring them to justice, as Col. Ted Westhusing (may we never forget this honest and courageous man) found before his "suicide" at the site of another greedy contractor he was investigating for fraud:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2298564&mesg_id=2298640
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2298564

Here is the new story on the crooked, greedy contractor company with its ties to the endlessly corrupt Bush Administration that HAS been brought to justice IN SPITE OF those ties.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-fraud10mar10,0,6430906.story?track=tothtml

U.S. Contractor Found Liable for Fraud in Iraq

A federal jury tells a security firm to pay back millions to the American government.
By T. Christian Miller, Times Staff Writer
March 10, 2006

(snip)

Company owners Scott Custer and Mike Battles were former Army Rangers who were short of weapons, experience and money when they arrived in Iraq after the March 2003 invasion.

Within a matter of months, they won two contracts with the provisional authority, which governed Iraq until June 2004. The company held one contract worth as much as $16.8 million to provide security guards at Baghdad airport and a second worth as much as $21.4 million to provide logistical support for a currency exchange in which Iraqis turned in old dinars for new bills provided by the coalition.

As outlined in a Los Angeles Times story, two whistle-blowers came forward in the fall of 2003 to accuse Custer Battles of fraud. Robert Isakson and William "Pete" Baldwin eventually filed a claim under the False Claims Act, a Civil War-era anti-fraud measure that allows private citizens to file suit on behalf of the government and to receive a portion of any money recovered. In this case, the two men stand to receive as much as $3 million, with the government recovering the rest.

The False Claims Act allows the Justice Department to join whistle-blowers in the prosecution of cases. But in this case, government attorneys did not intervene. Grayson, the lawyer for Isakson and Baldwin, attributed the decision to political considerations. Battles ran as a Republican candidate for Congress in 2002, and Custer boasted of the company's ties to the administration.

(snip)

Among the implications and lessons from this story is this: whistleblowers CAN bring these monsters down. Just don't go alone to confront them in their camp as Col. Westhusing did. These are criminals, and criminals kill for money.

LAT: US Contractor Found Liable for Fraud in Iraq (in SPITE of Bush Admin)

U.S. Contractor Found Liable for Fraud in Iraq

Troops said to get tainted water

So, what's happening on the Democratic-only investigation of Halliburton knowingly giving our troops water containing raw sewage? I think we should keep asking about it.

Jury fines defense contractor in Iraq $10M