Government, Inc.
Oh beautiful, for smoggy skies, insecticided grain
For strip-mined mountain's majesty above the asphalt plain.
America, America, man sheds his waste on thee
And hides the pines behind billboard signs
from sea to oily sea!
--George Carlin, fr. Class Clown (1972)
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- I'm just going to run this piece from Robert O'Harrow Jr's "Government Inc." blog at the WaPo.
Bribery Abroad
This just in from the Department of Justice:
"A U.S. Army Major pleaded guilty today to bribery and conspiracy to commit bribery arising out of his activities as a Contracting Officer in Camp Arifjan, Kuwait in 2005 and 2006, Thomas O. Barnett, Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division and Matthew Friedrich, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division announced.
"The Justice folks said James Momon Jr. accepted some good money -- about $5.8 million -- in returned for awarding contracts to firms supplying bottled water and other stuff to the U.S. bases in Kuwait.
"The punishment: Momon must pay back the bribe amounts as restitution. He also faces many years in prison. Sound familiar?
"Momon took over duties at Camp Arifjan from Major John C. Cockerham, who served as a Contracting Officer in Kuwait in 2004 and 2005. Major Cockerham was arrested on July 22, 2007, for bribery, money laundering, and conspiracy arising out of his activities at Camp Arifjan. Cockerham solicited and received more than $9 million in bribes from DOD contractors in exchange for contracts and BPA calls for bottled water and other goods and services. Cockerham's wife, Melissa Cockerham, and sister, Carolyn Blake, were also charged for their roles in the conspiracy to commit bribery and to launder the funds. John and Melissa Cockerham pleaded guilty on Jan. 31, 2008, and their pleas were unsealed on June 24, 2008 in U.S. District Court in San Antonio, Texas. Carolyn Blake's trial is scheduled to begin on Oct. 27, 2008."
Details from Justice here.
In addition, "Sometime this year, U.S. spending on contractors in Iraq will reach $100 billion, a telling marker of the Bush administration's use of private corporations to support the war effort, according to a story today in the New York Times."
We have written previously on the suspect 2006 death of 41-yr-old chief logistics officer and whistle blower Lt. Col. Marshall Gutierrez at Camp Arifjan here.
Labels: camp arifjan scandal, iraq contractor scandal, marshall gutierrez
posted by Lisa at 11:49 PM
3 Comments:
THE FLOOD
The flood it is gathering
Soon it will move
Across every shoreline
Against every roof
The body will drown
And the soul will shake loose
I write all this down
But I don’t have the proof
-Leonard Cohen
the lesson of history that the "outsourcers" and "privatisers" neglected was the way things were at the beginning of the mexican war. that corruption of civilian contractors who alternately poisoned, or endangered the troops under winfield scott by delivering bad food, powder than wouldn't go boom, and other abuses led to him establishing the quatermaster corps, and the medical corps.
he wanted the suppliers of rations, medicines, and ordinance to be wearing uniforms. it worked fine until these bastards got there.
MB,
Don't forget that this problem resurfaced in the CW and was resolved again. ANd again in WW2 to a certain extent- Therefore the War Production Board set priority/ national policy/ and standards.All of which benefitted the military effort. jim
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