BELLACIAO - Paul Bremer and the Looting of Iraq - Collective Bellaciao
I have never met Paul Bremer. Yet like a criminal investigator I have stalked him across Iraq for the past 2-1/2 years. In Baghdad I kept my distance from the "Coalition Provisional Authority." I immediately felt this organization would be a disaster, and I was right.
Since his return to the United States last June Bremer has tried to disassociate himself from his own record. Yet there is now no doubt that Iraq was systematically looted under Bremer’s administration. Like a piano player in a frontier saloon, Bremer claims to be ignorant of what was going on in the hotel rooms above. But he cannot escape responsibility and liability so easily.
President Bush stated that we would treat Iraqi oil money as a solemn trust to be disbursed solely for the benefit of the Iraqi people. Now nine billion dollars of Iraqi funds are missing. Over forty cents ($.40) of every Iraqi dollar supervised by the United States is unaccounted for.
Every large organization maintains "petty cash" accounts. Occasionally a "bookkeeper” will embezzle funds, from a bank. MCI officials are on trial in New York for inflating their financial records by more than $10 billion. But $9 billion missing? This has to be the greatest robbery in history. And it took place under Bremer’s nose.
In a little-noticed lawsuit pending in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia a bogus operation calling itself "Custer Battles LLC" and managed by a former Republican candidate for congress was paid millions of dollars in cash. Again Bremer claims to be ignorant of this defalcation as well.
Bremer says "Western" accounting methods were impossible in Iraq because it was a war zone. When Bremer arrived in May 2003 Baghdad was quiet. President Bush had just proclaimed "Mission Accomplished," the roads were safe and violence was at a minimum.
The fact that the United States has lost forty cents of every Iraqi dollar Bremer administered is a disgrace. Why did President Bush award Bremer a "Medal of Freedom" for this mass incompetence and corruption? Where is the missing money? The magnitude of the defalcated funds staggers. Nine billion dollars? Millions of dollars paid out in cash to suspect characters?
And now the United States Government claims in a federal court it needs more than a month to explain how Bremer came to me in Iraq and who conferred authority on him. How can Attorney General Gonzales plead ignorance? Wasn’t Mr. Gonzales--who worked in the White House--watching TV or reading the newspapers? Bremer was appointed by the United States; he was Rumsfeld’s man, the neo-con "man on a wedding cake" as I characterized him in my reporting from Baghdad. How can federal attorneys now plead ignorance of our role in Iraq, and seek to shuffle the blame on Britain, Poland and maybe Tonga as well? Lawyers sometimes make their clients look like asses; this is one of those occasions.
President Bush must take decisive action to revoke Bremer’s medal, and to demand an independent counsel (special prosecutor) or he will find the United States increasingly isolated as a predatory and unscrupulous nation of thieves who looted Iraq while mouthing pious platitudes about trust and responsibility. The credibility of our nation has been undermined by Bremer; he has disgraced the United States.
Iraq has been boldly and blatantly looted. Who is responsible? Bremer, and who else? "Custer Battles" is making a "last stand" in a federal court in Virginia. What about Bremer’s last stand? He destroyed Iraq. Now he is under the gun. It is a shameful episode in our history, and it will only lead to more embarrassment and more disasters. Attorney General Gonzales, President Bush, are you listening?
2005-02-24
2005-02-16
Nazis Enriched Uranium for US Bombs
Feature: New Atomic-Bomb History Offered
An author that challenges the traditional history of how the United States developed the nuclear weapons used to end World War II invites the face-to-face scrutiny of some of the nation's most respected scientists and historians.
Carter Hydrick's book has raised eyebrows since it was published nearly two years ago, arguing that enriched uranium found in a surrendered German submarine in 1945 was used in the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan.
The uranium found aboard submarine U-234 off the East Coast of the United States at the end of the war in Europe was used in the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, and infrared fuses also from the vessel were used to develop the plutonium bomb dropped on Nagasaki, his book asserts.
Hydrick has presented his case to audiences at both the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and the Oak Ridge Nat ional Laboratory in Tennessee, both of which were involved in the development of the atomic bomb 60 years ago. He has a return engagement scheduled Tuesday in Los Alamos.
Hydrick said he was nervous the first time he appeared before the audiences, made up mostly of scientists, because he is not a scientist or an historian. Some scientists initially refused to take his book seriously because he was butting up against long-accepted history.
"My answer to them was that's why I'm here - to get the critical review," he said in a recent interview. "If they can shoot it down, I will be sad because I put a lot of my life into it. If that's what it is, that's what it is."
Historians were some of his most severe critics in the beginning because he lacked credentials as an historian, but the climate has changed after the appearances at the laboratories and in academic settings around the nation.
Anthony Stranges, an associate professor at Texas A&M University who specializes in the history of science, knows Hydrick's work and he says the author has appeared twice on the campus to address the history honors society.
"He has some evidence there that seems worth pursuing," Stranges said.
Hydrick is challenging traditional history that has stood for decades, and that is a tough job, Stranges said.
The Texas-based writer spent 10 years researching the book, "Critical Mass: How Nazi Germany Surrendered Enriched Uranium for the United States' Atomic Bomb," which came out in a second edition last year, published by Whitehurst & Company (380 pages, $29.95).
Hydrick, a native of San Diego, began his career in film and video screenwriting and production. He eventually spent more than 20 years in the corporate world, overseeing corporate and marketing communications.
The story of the surrendered U-boat and its possible link to the Manhattan Project first came to his attention when a producer asked him to meet a retired World War II German officer with an interesting story. He thought it might be a possible script, but it turned out to be more.
Hydrick said there were "only two or three little scraps of information," but it was enough to get his attention. If they had validity, however, he wanted to do proper research and pursue critical review. It consumed 12 years of his life.
The Manhattan Project was created because the U.S. government feared Germany was ahead in development of the atomic bomb and what the consequences would be for the world if the Nazis actually acquired nuclear weapons.
The project, based at Los Alamos, was largely a U.S. project, with a large team of scientists, many of them émigrés from Nazi-occupied Europe. The project lasted for three years at a cost of $2 billion.
Hydrick's book asserts for the first time that the surrender of submarine U-234 and its cargo of enriched uranium and infrared fuses allowed the Manhattan Project to complete and drop its bombs on Japan in time to meet an important mid-August 1945 deadline for war planners.
"Without the surrender of U-234 we would not have been able to make the uranium bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima or the plutonium bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki, and would probably not have had a bomb of our own until late 1945 or early 1946," he said.
The Soviet Union announced that it was going to declare war on Japan in mid-August, which meant that if the war lasted much more than a few weeks beyond that, the allies would have to partition off the Pacific like Eastern Europe.
Hydrick cites captured cargo manifests from German submarine U-234 that list 580 kilograms - nearly 1,300 pounds - of uranium oxide, which is not conclusive proof that it was enrich ed uranium, but he found other stronger evidence.
The containers were labeled U235, according to one eyewitness, the submarine's chief radio operator. He also saw two Japanese officers, who were to travel aboard the submarine, painting the label U235 on the containers as they were being loaded for the Atlantic voyage.
The submarine's eventual destination was Japan, where the uranium and other high-tech weaponry and equipment were to be turned over to the Japanese government.
Hydrick traced the enriched uranium, which is necessary to build an atomic bomb, and other components to Los Alamos, where he argues they gave the U.S. team the help they needed to complete the bombs as soon as they did.
Hydrick also presents evidence that indicates infrared fuses found on the German submarine were used to fix problems the project scientists were having with the triggering mechanism for the plutonium bomb dropped on Nagasaki.
An author that challenges the traditional history of how the United States developed the nuclear weapons used to end World War II invites the face-to-face scrutiny of some of the nation's most respected scientists and historians.
Carter Hydrick's book has raised eyebrows since it was published nearly two years ago, arguing that enriched uranium found in a surrendered German submarine in 1945 was used in the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan.
The uranium found aboard submarine U-234 off the East Coast of the United States at the end of the war in Europe was used in the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, and infrared fuses also from the vessel were used to develop the plutonium bomb dropped on Nagasaki, his book asserts.
Hydrick has presented his case to audiences at both the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and the Oak Ridge Nat ional Laboratory in Tennessee, both of which were involved in the development of the atomic bomb 60 years ago. He has a return engagement scheduled Tuesday in Los Alamos.
Hydrick said he was nervous the first time he appeared before the audiences, made up mostly of scientists, because he is not a scientist or an historian. Some scientists initially refused to take his book seriously because he was butting up against long-accepted history.
"My answer to them was that's why I'm here - to get the critical review," he said in a recent interview. "If they can shoot it down, I will be sad because I put a lot of my life into it. If that's what it is, that's what it is."
Historians were some of his most severe critics in the beginning because he lacked credentials as an historian, but the climate has changed after the appearances at the laboratories and in academic settings around the nation.
Anthony Stranges, an associate professor at Texas A&M University who specializes in the history of science, knows Hydrick's work and he says the author has appeared twice on the campus to address the history honors society.
"He has some evidence there that seems worth pursuing," Stranges said.
Hydrick is challenging traditional history that has stood for decades, and that is a tough job, Stranges said.
The Texas-based writer spent 10 years researching the book, "Critical Mass: How Nazi Germany Surrendered Enriched Uranium for the United States' Atomic Bomb," which came out in a second edition last year, published by Whitehurst & Company (380 pages, $29.95).
Hydrick, a native of San Diego, began his career in film and video screenwriting and production. He eventually spent more than 20 years in the corporate world, overseeing corporate and marketing communications.
The story of the surrendered U-boat and its possible link to the Manhattan Project first came to his attention when a producer asked him to meet a retired World War II German officer with an interesting story. He thought it might be a possible script, but it turned out to be more.
Hydrick said there were "only two or three little scraps of information," but it was enough to get his attention. If they had validity, however, he wanted to do proper research and pursue critical review. It consumed 12 years of his life.
The Manhattan Project was created because the U.S. government feared Germany was ahead in development of the atomic bomb and what the consequences would be for the world if the Nazis actually acquired nuclear weapons.
The project, based at Los Alamos, was largely a U.S. project, with a large team of scientists, many of them émigrés from Nazi-occupied Europe. The project lasted for three years at a cost of $2 billion.
Hydrick's book asserts for the first time that the surrender of submarine U-234 and its cargo of enriched uranium and infrared fuses allowed the Manhattan Project to complete and drop its bombs on Japan in time to meet an important mid-August 1945 deadline for war planners.
"Without the surrender of U-234 we would not have been able to make the uranium bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima or the plutonium bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki, and would probably not have had a bomb of our own until late 1945 or early 1946," he said.
The Soviet Union announced that it was going to declare war on Japan in mid-August, which meant that if the war lasted much more than a few weeks beyond that, the allies would have to partition off the Pacific like Eastern Europe.
Hydrick cites captured cargo manifests from German submarine U-234 that list 580 kilograms - nearly 1,300 pounds - of uranium oxide, which is not conclusive proof that it was enrich ed uranium, but he found other stronger evidence.
The containers were labeled U235, according to one eyewitness, the submarine's chief radio operator. He also saw two Japanese officers, who were to travel aboard the submarine, painting the label U235 on the containers as they were being loaded for the Atlantic voyage.
The submarine's eventual destination was Japan, where the uranium and other high-tech weaponry and equipment were to be turned over to the Japanese government.
Hydrick traced the enriched uranium, which is necessary to build an atomic bomb, and other components to Los Alamos, where he argues they gave the U.S. team the help they needed to complete the bombs as soon as they did.
Hydrick also presents evidence that indicates infrared fuses found on the German submarine were used to fix problems the project scientists were having with the triggering mechanism for the plutonium bomb dropped on Nagasaki.
Military Spending: Iraq, Afghanistan, Tsunami
Bush seeks 82 billion for Iraq, Afghanistan
US President George W. Bush on Monday formally asked lawmakers for 81.9 billion dollars to fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as for Indian Ocean tsunami relief.
"This request reflects urgent and essential requirements. I ask the Congress to appropriate the funds as requested and promptly send the bill to me for signature," he said in a statement.
The request includes 150 million dollars for Pakistan; 200 million to help the Palestinians; 300 million in economic and security assistance for Jordan; and brings total US tsunami aid to 950 million dollars, the White House said.
It also includes 7.4 billion dollars to accelerate the training of local security forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. Bush has made the latter a precondition for withdrawing the roughly 140,000 US forces in Iraq.
The request calls for two billion dollars to help Afghanistan prepare for upcoming legislative elections, fund reconstruction efforts, and combat drug trafficking.
And it includes 717 million dollars for US embassy and security expenses in Iraq, including 658 million to build a permanent facility for US diplomats there.
Bush asked for 400 million dollars meant to help countries that have contributed troops to US-led military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The request also includes 242.4 million dollars in food aid and refugee assistance for Sunday's trouble Darfur region, and 100 million dollars to help Sudan implement a peace agreement signed in January.
And it includes 60 million dollars earmarked to help supported newly-elected President Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine.
US President George W. Bush on Monday formally asked lawmakers for 81.9 billion dollars to fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as for Indian Ocean tsunami relief.
"This request reflects urgent and essential requirements. I ask the Congress to appropriate the funds as requested and promptly send the bill to me for signature," he said in a statement.
The request includes 150 million dollars for Pakistan; 200 million to help the Palestinians; 300 million in economic and security assistance for Jordan; and brings total US tsunami aid to 950 million dollars, the White House said.
It also includes 7.4 billion dollars to accelerate the training of local security forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. Bush has made the latter a precondition for withdrawing the roughly 140,000 US forces in Iraq.
The request calls for two billion dollars to help Afghanistan prepare for upcoming legislative elections, fund reconstruction efforts, and combat drug trafficking.
And it includes 717 million dollars for US embassy and security expenses in Iraq, including 658 million to build a permanent facility for US diplomats there.
Bush asked for 400 million dollars meant to help countries that have contributed troops to US-led military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The request also includes 242.4 million dollars in food aid and refugee assistance for Sunday's trouble Darfur region, and 100 million dollars to help Sudan implement a peace agreement signed in January.
And it includes 60 million dollars earmarked to help supported newly-elected President Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine.
War is Fun in 2020 - Ultimate High Ground
US Conducts Space War Game To Test Warfighting Capability
The US military has completed a week-long space war game in Nellis Air Force Base, in the western state of Nevada, to see how space-based assets can be used in a hypothetical war against terrorism in 2020, military officials said Thursday.
Despite of its name "the Schriever III" space war game, the game was not focused on a military fight in space, game officials said.
"Our focus was how best to use space assets to coordinate the joint terrestrial fight," said Brigadier General Daniel Darnell, game executive director and commander of the Space Warfare Center at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado.
In the game, which began Feb. 5 and ran through to Feb. 11, a 350-person team of space professionals battled in a global environment scenario set in the year 2020, the Air Force said in a statement.
Besides officials from about 20 agencies of the US Defense Department, officials from Australia, Canada and Britain were also present in the game, to investigate future space systems, the missions they support, and how to ensure their survivability, a statement said.
The war game aimed to ensure the United States maintained its ultimate high ground - space superiority, Darnell said.
Darnell noted that the game examined the capabilities required to ensure global stability and explored how to build a seamless integration of manned and unmanned space systems, supporting homeland defense and US global and theater interests.
There were very few things in conventional combat today that did not involve space systems, he said. Missile warning, battle-space awareness, precision munitions guidance, navigation and timing, and military satellite communications all critically relied on space support, he said.
"Schriever III is more than a war game - it's a valuable forum that establishes partnerships and fosters innovative thought at the strategic- and operational-levels of war," said General Lance W. Lord, commander of US Air Force Space Command.
The US military has completed a week-long space war game in Nellis Air Force Base, in the western state of Nevada, to see how space-based assets can be used in a hypothetical war against terrorism in 2020, military officials said Thursday.
Despite of its name "the Schriever III" space war game, the game was not focused on a military fight in space, game officials said.
"Our focus was how best to use space assets to coordinate the joint terrestrial fight," said Brigadier General Daniel Darnell, game executive director and commander of the Space Warfare Center at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado.
In the game, which began Feb. 5 and ran through to Feb. 11, a 350-person team of space professionals battled in a global environment scenario set in the year 2020, the Air Force said in a statement.
Besides officials from about 20 agencies of the US Defense Department, officials from Australia, Canada and Britain were also present in the game, to investigate future space systems, the missions they support, and how to ensure their survivability, a statement said.
The war game aimed to ensure the United States maintained its ultimate high ground - space superiority, Darnell said.
Darnell noted that the game examined the capabilities required to ensure global stability and explored how to build a seamless integration of manned and unmanned space systems, supporting homeland defense and US global and theater interests.
There were very few things in conventional combat today that did not involve space systems, he said. Missile warning, battle-space awareness, precision munitions guidance, navigation and timing, and military satellite communications all critically relied on space support, he said.
"Schriever III is more than a war game - it's a valuable forum that establishes partnerships and fosters innovative thought at the strategic- and operational-levels of war," said General Lance W. Lord, commander of US Air Force Space Command.
Senator Harry Reid: President Bush Jr. is Miserable Failure
Aljazeera.Net - US senator slams Iraq reconstruction
Tuesday 15 February 2005, 1:56 Makka Time, 22:56 GMT
The ex-US occupation authority is accused of mismanagement
A senator and civilian contractors have accused the US administration of allowing Iraqi reconstruction to become as chaotic as the Wild West.
Senator Harry Reid made particular criticism of the government's former occupation administration in Iraq on Monday.
And civilian witnesses said Washington had protected an American contractor accused of fraud. They also accused the US of media censorship.
"This is a scandal," said Reid, who heads the opposition Democrats in the US Senate. "We are close to 24 months into this conflict with Iraq, and the administration still can't seem to get it right."
Reid spoke during hearings in Congress into the management of the so-called Coalition Provisional Authority's (CPA) multi-billion dollar reconstruction programme.
Bags of cash
In the hearings, civilians compared operations to the Wild West, saying bags full of cash were tossed freely about.
Franklin Willis, who supervised aviation for the CPA in late 2003, accused the organisation of "poor execution" and called it "naive".
He said millions of dollars stored in the basement of the CPA offices were casually distributed to favoured contractors with little accounting discipline.
Another witness accused the government of hampering an investigation into alleged fraud by US-based Custer Battles, which had contracts worth as much as $100 million in Iraq for airport security and other jobs.
Fraud accusation
Custer Battles was accused of repainting old airport equipment and billing the CPA for new equipment, among other schemes.
"We estimate that the government's total losses are tens of millions of dollars," said lawyer Alan Grayson, who represents former employees of the company.
"Yet for more than a year, the Bush administration has done nothing to recover these ill-gotten gains."
Censorship
Don North, a journalist hired by the CPA to create a new independent Iraqi television station, said he was scandalised by the censorship imposed on the operation.
Instead of covering stories of consequence to Iraqis, the station had to cover CPA publicity events, he said.
"It resulted in our newscasts appearing to be a laundry list of CPA activities," North, who formerly worked with leading US television networks, said, adding, "I left after four months of frustrations."
Tuesday 15 February 2005, 1:56 Makka Time, 22:56 GMT
The ex-US occupation authority is accused of mismanagement
A senator and civilian contractors have accused the US administration of allowing Iraqi reconstruction to become as chaotic as the Wild West.
Senator Harry Reid made particular criticism of the government's former occupation administration in Iraq on Monday.
And civilian witnesses said Washington had protected an American contractor accused of fraud. They also accused the US of media censorship.
"This is a scandal," said Reid, who heads the opposition Democrats in the US Senate. "We are close to 24 months into this conflict with Iraq, and the administration still can't seem to get it right."
Reid spoke during hearings in Congress into the management of the so-called Coalition Provisional Authority's (CPA) multi-billion dollar reconstruction programme.
Bags of cash
In the hearings, civilians compared operations to the Wild West, saying bags full of cash were tossed freely about.
Franklin Willis, who supervised aviation for the CPA in late 2003, accused the organisation of "poor execution" and called it "naive".
He said millions of dollars stored in the basement of the CPA offices were casually distributed to favoured contractors with little accounting discipline.
Another witness accused the government of hampering an investigation into alleged fraud by US-based Custer Battles, which had contracts worth as much as $100 million in Iraq for airport security and other jobs.
Fraud accusation
Custer Battles was accused of repainting old airport equipment and billing the CPA for new equipment, among other schemes.
"We estimate that the government's total losses are tens of millions of dollars," said lawyer Alan Grayson, who represents former employees of the company.
"Yet for more than a year, the Bush administration has done nothing to recover these ill-gotten gains."
Censorship
Don North, a journalist hired by the CPA to create a new independent Iraqi television station, said he was scandalised by the censorship imposed on the operation.
Instead of covering stories of consequence to Iraqis, the station had to cover CPA publicity events, he said.
"It resulted in our newscasts appearing to be a laundry list of CPA activities," North, who formerly worked with leading US television networks, said, adding, "I left after four months of frustrations."
US Treasury Looted in Iraq
TimesDispatch.com | U.S. payments in Iraq: 'Bring a bag'
U.S. officials in postwar Iraq paid a contractor by stuffing $2 million worth of bills into his gunnysack and routinely made cash payments around Baghdad from a pickup truck, a former official with the occupation government says.
Because the country lacked a banking system, contractors and Iraqi ministry officials were paid with bills taken from a basement vault in one of Saddam Hussein's palaces that served as headquarters for the Coalition Provisional Authority, former CPA official Frank Willis said.
Officials from the CPA, which ruled Iraq from June 2003 to June 2004, would count the money when it left the vault, but nobody kept track of the cash after that, Willis said.
"In sum: inexperienced officials, fear of decision-making, lack of communications, minimal security, no banks, and lots of money to spread around. This chaos I have referred to as a 'Wild West,'" Willis said in testimony he is prepared to give today before a panel of Democratic senators who want to spotlight the waste of U.S. funds in Iraq.
A senior official in the 1980s at the State and Transportation departments under then-President Ronald Reagan, Willis provided a copy of his testimony.
The Pentagon, which had oversight of the CPA, did not immediately respond to requests. But the administrator of the former U.S. occupation agency, L. Paul Bremer III, in response to a federal audit criticizing the CPA, strongly defended the agency's financial practices.
When the authority took over the country in 2003, Bremer said, there was no functioning Iraqi government and services were primitive or nonexistent.
Iraq's economy was "dead in the water" and the priority "was to get the economy going."
Also in response to that audit, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman had said, "We simply disagree with the audit's conclusion that the CPA provided less than adequate controls."
Willis served as a senior adviser on aviation and communications matters for the CPA during the last half of 2003 and said he was responsible for the operation of Baghdad's airport.
Describing the transfer of $2 million to one contractor, Willis said: "We told them to come in and bring a bag."
He said the money went to Custer Battles of Middletown, R.I., for providing airport security for civilian passengers.
Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D. and head of the Democratic group holding today's hearing, said he arranged for Willis' testimony because "This isn't penny ante. Millions, perhaps billions of dollars have been wasted and pilfered."
U.S. officials in postwar Iraq paid a contractor by stuffing $2 million worth of bills into his gunnysack and routinely made cash payments around Baghdad from a pickup truck, a former official with the occupation government says.
Because the country lacked a banking system, contractors and Iraqi ministry officials were paid with bills taken from a basement vault in one of Saddam Hussein's palaces that served as headquarters for the Coalition Provisional Authority, former CPA official Frank Willis said.
Officials from the CPA, which ruled Iraq from June 2003 to June 2004, would count the money when it left the vault, but nobody kept track of the cash after that, Willis said.
"In sum: inexperienced officials, fear of decision-making, lack of communications, minimal security, no banks, and lots of money to spread around. This chaos I have referred to as a 'Wild West,'" Willis said in testimony he is prepared to give today before a panel of Democratic senators who want to spotlight the waste of U.S. funds in Iraq.
A senior official in the 1980s at the State and Transportation departments under then-President Ronald Reagan, Willis provided a copy of his testimony.
The Pentagon, which had oversight of the CPA, did not immediately respond to requests. But the administrator of the former U.S. occupation agency, L. Paul Bremer III, in response to a federal audit criticizing the CPA, strongly defended the agency's financial practices.
When the authority took over the country in 2003, Bremer said, there was no functioning Iraqi government and services were primitive or nonexistent.
Iraq's economy was "dead in the water" and the priority "was to get the economy going."
Also in response to that audit, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman had said, "We simply disagree with the audit's conclusion that the CPA provided less than adequate controls."
Willis served as a senior adviser on aviation and communications matters for the CPA during the last half of 2003 and said he was responsible for the operation of Baghdad's airport.
Describing the transfer of $2 million to one contractor, Willis said: "We told them to come in and bring a bag."
He said the money went to Custer Battles of Middletown, R.I., for providing airport security for civilian passengers.
Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D. and head of the Democratic group holding today's hearing, said he arranged for Willis' testimony because "This isn't penny ante. Millions, perhaps billions of dollars have been wasted and pilfered."
Reconstruction Deconstruction
Chronogram - Blood Money
The Top Ten War Profiteers of 2004
By the Center for Corporate Policy
At the start of the Iraq war, Andrew Natsios of USAID proclaimed that the reconstruction of Iraq would look like a modern-day Marshall plan. The grand designs of the Bush administration, however, have made a handful of companies serious money.
This list was compiled by the Center for Corporate Policy, a non-profit, non-partisan public interest organization working to curb corporate abuses and make corporations publicly accountable. More information is available at www.corporatepolicy.org.
Aegis
In June, the Pentagon's Program Management Office in Iraq awarded a $293 million contract to coordinate security operations among thousands of private military contractors (PMCs) to Aegis, a UK firm whose founder was once investigated for illegal arms smuggling. An inquiry by the British parliament into Sandline, Aegis head Tim Spicer's former firm, determined that the company had shipped guns to Sierra Leone in 1998 in violation of a UN arms embargo. Sandline's position was that it had approval from the British government, although British ministers were cleared by the inquiry. Spicer resigned from Sandline in 2000 and incorporated Aegis in 2002.
A protest brought by rival PMC bidder Dyncorp after its bid was deemed unacceptable by the Army, was dismissed by the General Accounting Office, which concluded that Dyncorp "lacked standing to challenge the integrity of the awardee (Aegis)." Critics say that's just the problem. US and international law have failed to address the role of PMCs in Iraq, resulting in a near-total lack of accountability that epitomizes what's wrong with the corporate takeover of Iraq. PMCs fall outside the Military Code of Justice and possibly cannot be prosecuted by Iraq's own laws, due to CPA order #17, which says foreign contractors, including private security firms, are granted full immunity from Iraq's laws, even if they injure or kill an innocent party.
Bearing Point
Critics find it ironic that Bearing Point, the former consulting division of KPMG, received a $240 million contract in 2003 to help develop Iraq's "competitive private sector," since it had a hand in the development of the contract itself. According to a March 22 report by USAID's assistant inspector general Bruce Crandlemire, "Bearing Point's extensive involvement in the development of the Iraq economic reform program creates the appearance of unfair competitive advantage in the contract award process."
Bearing Point spent five months helping USAID write the job specifications and even sent some employees to Iraq to begin work before the contract was awarded, while its competitors had only a week to read the specifications and submit their own bids after final revisions were made. "No company who writes the specs for a contract should get the contract," says Keith Ashdown, the vice president of Washington, DC-based Taxpayers for Common Sense.
Neither Crandlemire nor other critics claim BearingPoint broke the law. But the company's ties to the Bush administration (according to the Center for Responsive Politics, BearingPoint employees gave $117,000 to the 2000 and 2004 Bush election campaigns, more than any other Iraq contractor) is an example of "crony contracting" that undermines the legitimacy of those who might claim to be working to establish competitive markets in the "newly liberated" country.
Bechtel
Bechtel was literally tasked with repairing much of Iraq's infrastructure—schools, hospitals, bridges, airports, water treatment plants, power plants, railroad, irrigation, electricity, etc.—a job that was critical to winning hearts and minds after the war. To accomplish this, the company hired over 90 Iraqi subcontractors for at least 100 jobs. Most of these subcontracts involved rote maintenance and repair work, however, and for sophisticated work requiring considerable hands-on knowledge of the country's infrastructure, the company bypassed Iraqi engineers and managers.
The company has yet to meet virtually any of the major deadlines in its original contract. In October, according to USAID, the CPA had restored only 4,400 MW (mega-watts) of electrical generating capacity target, falling short of its goal of 6,000 MW by end of June (USAID's goal was 9,000 MW, a level that existed in the country before the first gulf war). According to a June GAO report, "electrical service in the country as a whole has not shown a marked improvement over the immediate postwar levels of May 2003 and has worsened in some governorates."
Bechtel is not entirely to blame, as some of the delay is obviously due to the difficulties of getting employees and materials safely to project sites. [Editor's note: Not to mention the tens of thousands of new electrical appliances shipped into an import-starved post-sanction Iraq, the potential impact of which was not included in the original electrical capacity generating goals.]
BKSH & associates
Chairman Charlie Black is an old Bush family friend and prominent Republican lobbyist whose firm is affiliated with Burson Marsteller, the global public relations giant. Black was a key player in the Bush/Cheney 2000 campaign and together with his wife raised $100,000 for this year's reelection campaign.
BKSH clients with contracts in Iraq include Fluor International (whose ex-chair Phillip Carroll was tapped to head Iraq's oil ministry after the war, and whose board includes the wife of James Woolsey, the ex-CIA chief who was sent by Paul Wolfowitz before the war to convince European leaders of Saddam Hussein's ties to al-Qaeda). Fluor has won joint contracts worth up to $1.6 billion.
Another client is Cummins Engine, which has managed to sell its power generators thanks to the country's broken infrastructure.
Most prominent among BKSH's clients, however, is the Iraqi National Congress, whose leader Ahmed Chalabi was called the "George Washington of Iraq" by certain Pentagon neoconservatives before his fall from grace. BKSH's K. Riva Levinson was hired to handle the INC's U.S. public relations strategy in 1999. Hired by US taxpayers, that is: Until July 2003, the company was paid $25,000 per month by the US State Department to support the INC.
CACI and Titan
Although members of the military police face certain prosecution for the horrific treatment of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison, so far the corporate contractors have avoided any charges. Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba reported in an internal Army report that two CACI employees "were either directly or indirectly responsible" for abuses at the prison, including the use of dogs to threaten detainees and forced sexual abuse and other threats of violence. Another internal Army report suggested that Steven Stefanowicz, one of 27 CACI interrogators working for the Army in Iraq, "clearly knew [that] his instructions" to soldiers interrogating Iraqi prisoners "equated to physical abuse."
"Titan's role in Iraq is to serve as translators and interpreters for the US Army," company CEO Gene Ray said, implying that news reports had inaccurately implied the employees' involvement in torture. "The company's contract is for linguists, not interrogators." But according to Joseph A. Neurauter, a GSA suspension and debarment official, CACI's role in designing its own Abu Ghraib contract "continues to be an open issue and a potential conflict of interest."
Nevertheless, the GSA and other agencies conducting their own investigations have yet to find a reason to suspend the company from any new contracts. As a result, in August the Army gave CACI another $15 million no-bid contract to continue providing interrogation services for intelligence gathering in Iraq; In September, the Army awarded Titan a contract worth up to $400 million for additional translators.
Custer Battles
At the end of September, the Defense Department suspended Custer Battles (the name comes from the company's two principle founders—Michael Battles and Scott Custer) and 13 associated individuals and affiliated corporations from all federal contracts for fraudulent billing practices involving the use of sham corporations set up in Lebanon and the Cayman Islands. The CPA caught the company after it left a spreadsheet behind at a meeting with CPA employees. The spreadsheet revealed that the company had marked up certain expenses associated with a currency exchange contract by 162 percent.
Robert Isakson, a company employee, drew attention to the problem by filing a false claims action against the company. Isakson also alleged that Custer's "war profiteering...contributed to the deaths of at least four Custer Battles employees."
In a prepared statement, company attorneys suggested that the government's decision to not participate in Isakson's case is evidence that the charges are baseless, and that "the individuals [involved] filed this claim solely as a last ditch effort to achieve a competitive edge over CB."
The suspension was the first for any company in association with its work in Iraq. The FBI and the Pentagon inspector general's Defense Criminal Investigative Services are both conducting ongoing investigations.
Halliburton
In December Congressman Waxman (D-CA), an-nounced that "a growing list of concern's about Halliburton's performance" on contracts that total $10.8 billion have led to multiple criminal investigations into overcharging and kickbacks. In nine different reports, government auditors have found "widespread, systemic problems with almost every aspect of Halliburton's work in Iraq, from cost estimation and billing systems to cost control and subcontract management." Six former employees have come forward, corroborating the auditors' concerns.
Another "H-bomb" dropped just before the election, when a top contracting official responsible for ensuring that the Army Corps of Engineers follows competitive contracting rules accused top Pentagon officials of improperly favoring Halliburton in an early-contract before the occupation. Bunnatine Greenhouse says that when the Pentagon awarded the company a five-year oil-related contract worth up to $7 billion, it pressured her to withdraw her objections, actions that she said were unprecedented in her experience.
Halliburton spokesperson Beverly Scippa says that while she cannot comment on the allegations until specific charges are filed, any suggestion that the company's involvement made it difficult for other companies to fairly compete are "absolutely untrue," pointing to a earlier GAO report that found that Halliburton/KBR was "the only contractor DOD had determined was in a position to provide the services within the required time frame given prewar planning requirements."
But others, including Waxman, believe that Greenhouse's version of events corroborates existing evidence that the contracting process was biased toward Vice President Dick Cheney's old company. Pentagon officials referred the matter to the Pentagon's inspector general, a move that critics say effectively buried the issue.
(For more information about Halliburton, visit www.HalliburtonWatch.org)
Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin remains the king among war profiteers, raking in $21.9 billion in Pentagon contracts in 2003 alone. With satellites and planes, missiles and IT systems, the company has profited from just about every phase of the war except for the reconstruction. The company's stock has tripled since 2000 to just over $60.
Lockheed is also helping Donald Rumsfeld develop a new tech-heavy integrated global warfare system that the company promises will transform the nature of war. In fact, the large defense conglomerate's sophistication in areas as diverse as space systems, aeronautics, and IT will allow it to play a leading role in the development of new weapons systems for decades to come, including a planned highly-secure military Internet, a spaced-based missile defense system, and next-generation warplanes such as the F-22 (currently in production) and the Joint Strike Fighter F-35.
When it comes to defense policy, Lockheed's network of influence is virtually unmatched. E.C. Aldridge Jr., the former undersecretary of defense for acquisitions and procurement, gave final approval to begin building the F-35 in 2001, a decision potentially worth $200 billion to the company. Although he soon left the Pentagon to join Lockheed's board, Aldridge continues to straddle the public-private divide: Rumsfeld appointed him to a blue-ribbon panel to study advanced weapons systems.
Former Lockheed lobbyists and employees include the current secretary of the Navy, Gordon England, secretary of transportation Norm Mineta (a former Lockheed vice president) and Stephen J. Hadley, Bush's proposed successor to Condoleeza Rice as his next national security advisor.
Lockheed is not only represented on various Pentagon advisory boards, but is also tied to various influential think tanks. For example, Lockheed VP Bruce Jackson (who helped draft the Republican foreign policy platform in 2000) is a key player at the neo-conservative planning bastion known as the Project for a New American Century.
Loral Satellite
In the buildup to the war the Pentagon bought up access to numerous commercial satellites to bolster its own orbiting space fleet. US armed forces needed the extra spaced-based capacity to be able to transmit huge amounts of data to planes (including unmanned Predator drones flown remotely by pilots who may be halfway around the world), and guided missiles and troops on the ground.
Industry experts say the war on terror literally saved some satellite operators from bankruptcy. The Pentagon "is hoovering up all the available capacity" to supplement its three orbiting satellite fleets, Richard DalBello, president of the Satellite Industry Association explained to the Washington Post in 2003. The industry's other customers—broadcast networks competing for satellite time—were left to scramble for the remaining bandwidth.
Loral Space & Communications Chairman Bernard L. Schwartz is very tight with the neoconservative hawks in the Bush administration's foreign policy ranks, and is the principal funder of Blueprint, the newsletter of the Democratic Leadership Council.
In the end, the profits from the war in Iraq didn't end up being as huge for the industry as expected, and certainly weren't enough to compensate for a sharp downturn in the commercial market. But more help may be on its way. The Pentagon announced in November that it would create a new global Intranet for the military that would take two decades and hundreds of billions of dollars to build. Satellites, of course, will play a key part in that integrated global weapons system.
Qualcomm
Two CPA officials resigned this year after claiming they were pressured by John Shaw, the deputy undersecretary of defense for technology security to change an Iraqi police radio contract to favor Qualcomm's patented cellular technology, a move that critics say was intended to lock the technology in as the standard for the entire country.
Iraq's cellular market is potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenues for the company, and potentially much more should it establish a standard for the region. Shaw's efforts to override contracting officials delayed an emergency radio contract, depriving Iraqi police officers, firefighters, ambulance drivers and border guards of a joint communications system for months.
Shaw says he was urged to push Qualcomm's technology by Rep. Darrell E. Issa, a Republican whose San Diego County constituency includes numerous Qualcomm employees. Issa, who received $5,000 in campaign contributions from Qualcomm employees from 2003 to 2004, sits on the House Small Business Committee, and previously tried to help the company by sponsoring a bill that would have required the military to use its CDMA (code division multiple access) technology.
"Hundreds of thousands of American jobs depend on the success of US-developed wireless technologies like CDMA," Issa claimed in a letter to Donald Rumsfeld. But the Pentagon doesn't seem to be buying the argument. The DoD's inspector general has asked the FBI to investigate Shaw's activities.
(For an excellent, in-depth investigation of Qualcomm see Michael Scherer, "Crossing the Lines," Mother Jones, Sept./Oct. 2004)
The Top Ten War Profiteers of 2004
By the Center for Corporate Policy
At the start of the Iraq war, Andrew Natsios of USAID proclaimed that the reconstruction of Iraq would look like a modern-day Marshall plan. The grand designs of the Bush administration, however, have made a handful of companies serious money.
This list was compiled by the Center for Corporate Policy, a non-profit, non-partisan public interest organization working to curb corporate abuses and make corporations publicly accountable. More information is available at www.corporatepolicy.org.
Aegis
In June, the Pentagon's Program Management Office in Iraq awarded a $293 million contract to coordinate security operations among thousands of private military contractors (PMCs) to Aegis, a UK firm whose founder was once investigated for illegal arms smuggling. An inquiry by the British parliament into Sandline, Aegis head Tim Spicer's former firm, determined that the company had shipped guns to Sierra Leone in 1998 in violation of a UN arms embargo. Sandline's position was that it had approval from the British government, although British ministers were cleared by the inquiry. Spicer resigned from Sandline in 2000 and incorporated Aegis in 2002.
A protest brought by rival PMC bidder Dyncorp after its bid was deemed unacceptable by the Army, was dismissed by the General Accounting Office, which concluded that Dyncorp "lacked standing to challenge the integrity of the awardee (Aegis)." Critics say that's just the problem. US and international law have failed to address the role of PMCs in Iraq, resulting in a near-total lack of accountability that epitomizes what's wrong with the corporate takeover of Iraq. PMCs fall outside the Military Code of Justice and possibly cannot be prosecuted by Iraq's own laws, due to CPA order #17, which says foreign contractors, including private security firms, are granted full immunity from Iraq's laws, even if they injure or kill an innocent party.
Bearing Point
Critics find it ironic that Bearing Point, the former consulting division of KPMG, received a $240 million contract in 2003 to help develop Iraq's "competitive private sector," since it had a hand in the development of the contract itself. According to a March 22 report by USAID's assistant inspector general Bruce Crandlemire, "Bearing Point's extensive involvement in the development of the Iraq economic reform program creates the appearance of unfair competitive advantage in the contract award process."
Bearing Point spent five months helping USAID write the job specifications and even sent some employees to Iraq to begin work before the contract was awarded, while its competitors had only a week to read the specifications and submit their own bids after final revisions were made. "No company who writes the specs for a contract should get the contract," says Keith Ashdown, the vice president of Washington, DC-based Taxpayers for Common Sense.
Neither Crandlemire nor other critics claim BearingPoint broke the law. But the company's ties to the Bush administration (according to the Center for Responsive Politics, BearingPoint employees gave $117,000 to the 2000 and 2004 Bush election campaigns, more than any other Iraq contractor) is an example of "crony contracting" that undermines the legitimacy of those who might claim to be working to establish competitive markets in the "newly liberated" country.
Bechtel
Bechtel was literally tasked with repairing much of Iraq's infrastructure—schools, hospitals, bridges, airports, water treatment plants, power plants, railroad, irrigation, electricity, etc.—a job that was critical to winning hearts and minds after the war. To accomplish this, the company hired over 90 Iraqi subcontractors for at least 100 jobs. Most of these subcontracts involved rote maintenance and repair work, however, and for sophisticated work requiring considerable hands-on knowledge of the country's infrastructure, the company bypassed Iraqi engineers and managers.
The company has yet to meet virtually any of the major deadlines in its original contract. In October, according to USAID, the CPA had restored only 4,400 MW (mega-watts) of electrical generating capacity target, falling short of its goal of 6,000 MW by end of June (USAID's goal was 9,000 MW, a level that existed in the country before the first gulf war). According to a June GAO report, "electrical service in the country as a whole has not shown a marked improvement over the immediate postwar levels of May 2003 and has worsened in some governorates."
Bechtel is not entirely to blame, as some of the delay is obviously due to the difficulties of getting employees and materials safely to project sites. [Editor's note: Not to mention the tens of thousands of new electrical appliances shipped into an import-starved post-sanction Iraq, the potential impact of which was not included in the original electrical capacity generating goals.]
BKSH & associates
Chairman Charlie Black is an old Bush family friend and prominent Republican lobbyist whose firm is affiliated with Burson Marsteller, the global public relations giant. Black was a key player in the Bush/Cheney 2000 campaign and together with his wife raised $100,000 for this year's reelection campaign.
BKSH clients with contracts in Iraq include Fluor International (whose ex-chair Phillip Carroll was tapped to head Iraq's oil ministry after the war, and whose board includes the wife of James Woolsey, the ex-CIA chief who was sent by Paul Wolfowitz before the war to convince European leaders of Saddam Hussein's ties to al-Qaeda). Fluor has won joint contracts worth up to $1.6 billion.
Another client is Cummins Engine, which has managed to sell its power generators thanks to the country's broken infrastructure.
Most prominent among BKSH's clients, however, is the Iraqi National Congress, whose leader Ahmed Chalabi was called the "George Washington of Iraq" by certain Pentagon neoconservatives before his fall from grace. BKSH's K. Riva Levinson was hired to handle the INC's U.S. public relations strategy in 1999. Hired by US taxpayers, that is: Until July 2003, the company was paid $25,000 per month by the US State Department to support the INC.
CACI and Titan
Although members of the military police face certain prosecution for the horrific treatment of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison, so far the corporate contractors have avoided any charges. Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba reported in an internal Army report that two CACI employees "were either directly or indirectly responsible" for abuses at the prison, including the use of dogs to threaten detainees and forced sexual abuse and other threats of violence. Another internal Army report suggested that Steven Stefanowicz, one of 27 CACI interrogators working for the Army in Iraq, "clearly knew [that] his instructions" to soldiers interrogating Iraqi prisoners "equated to physical abuse."
"Titan's role in Iraq is to serve as translators and interpreters for the US Army," company CEO Gene Ray said, implying that news reports had inaccurately implied the employees' involvement in torture. "The company's contract is for linguists, not interrogators." But according to Joseph A. Neurauter, a GSA suspension and debarment official, CACI's role in designing its own Abu Ghraib contract "continues to be an open issue and a potential conflict of interest."
Nevertheless, the GSA and other agencies conducting their own investigations have yet to find a reason to suspend the company from any new contracts. As a result, in August the Army gave CACI another $15 million no-bid contract to continue providing interrogation services for intelligence gathering in Iraq; In September, the Army awarded Titan a contract worth up to $400 million for additional translators.
Custer Battles
At the end of September, the Defense Department suspended Custer Battles (the name comes from the company's two principle founders—Michael Battles and Scott Custer) and 13 associated individuals and affiliated corporations from all federal contracts for fraudulent billing practices involving the use of sham corporations set up in Lebanon and the Cayman Islands. The CPA caught the company after it left a spreadsheet behind at a meeting with CPA employees. The spreadsheet revealed that the company had marked up certain expenses associated with a currency exchange contract by 162 percent.
Robert Isakson, a company employee, drew attention to the problem by filing a false claims action against the company. Isakson also alleged that Custer's "war profiteering...contributed to the deaths of at least four Custer Battles employees."
In a prepared statement, company attorneys suggested that the government's decision to not participate in Isakson's case is evidence that the charges are baseless, and that "the individuals [involved] filed this claim solely as a last ditch effort to achieve a competitive edge over CB."
The suspension was the first for any company in association with its work in Iraq. The FBI and the Pentagon inspector general's Defense Criminal Investigative Services are both conducting ongoing investigations.
Halliburton
In December Congressman Waxman (D-CA), an-nounced that "a growing list of concern's about Halliburton's performance" on contracts that total $10.8 billion have led to multiple criminal investigations into overcharging and kickbacks. In nine different reports, government auditors have found "widespread, systemic problems with almost every aspect of Halliburton's work in Iraq, from cost estimation and billing systems to cost control and subcontract management." Six former employees have come forward, corroborating the auditors' concerns.
Another "H-bomb" dropped just before the election, when a top contracting official responsible for ensuring that the Army Corps of Engineers follows competitive contracting rules accused top Pentagon officials of improperly favoring Halliburton in an early-contract before the occupation. Bunnatine Greenhouse says that when the Pentagon awarded the company a five-year oil-related contract worth up to $7 billion, it pressured her to withdraw her objections, actions that she said were unprecedented in her experience.
Halliburton spokesperson Beverly Scippa says that while she cannot comment on the allegations until specific charges are filed, any suggestion that the company's involvement made it difficult for other companies to fairly compete are "absolutely untrue," pointing to a earlier GAO report that found that Halliburton/KBR was "the only contractor DOD had determined was in a position to provide the services within the required time frame given prewar planning requirements."
But others, including Waxman, believe that Greenhouse's version of events corroborates existing evidence that the contracting process was biased toward Vice President Dick Cheney's old company. Pentagon officials referred the matter to the Pentagon's inspector general, a move that critics say effectively buried the issue.
(For more information about Halliburton, visit www.HalliburtonWatch.org)
Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin remains the king among war profiteers, raking in $21.9 billion in Pentagon contracts in 2003 alone. With satellites and planes, missiles and IT systems, the company has profited from just about every phase of the war except for the reconstruction. The company's stock has tripled since 2000 to just over $60.
Lockheed is also helping Donald Rumsfeld develop a new tech-heavy integrated global warfare system that the company promises will transform the nature of war. In fact, the large defense conglomerate's sophistication in areas as diverse as space systems, aeronautics, and IT will allow it to play a leading role in the development of new weapons systems for decades to come, including a planned highly-secure military Internet, a spaced-based missile defense system, and next-generation warplanes such as the F-22 (currently in production) and the Joint Strike Fighter F-35.
When it comes to defense policy, Lockheed's network of influence is virtually unmatched. E.C. Aldridge Jr., the former undersecretary of defense for acquisitions and procurement, gave final approval to begin building the F-35 in 2001, a decision potentially worth $200 billion to the company. Although he soon left the Pentagon to join Lockheed's board, Aldridge continues to straddle the public-private divide: Rumsfeld appointed him to a blue-ribbon panel to study advanced weapons systems.
Former Lockheed lobbyists and employees include the current secretary of the Navy, Gordon England, secretary of transportation Norm Mineta (a former Lockheed vice president) and Stephen J. Hadley, Bush's proposed successor to Condoleeza Rice as his next national security advisor.
Lockheed is not only represented on various Pentagon advisory boards, but is also tied to various influential think tanks. For example, Lockheed VP Bruce Jackson (who helped draft the Republican foreign policy platform in 2000) is a key player at the neo-conservative planning bastion known as the Project for a New American Century.
Loral Satellite
In the buildup to the war the Pentagon bought up access to numerous commercial satellites to bolster its own orbiting space fleet. US armed forces needed the extra spaced-based capacity to be able to transmit huge amounts of data to planes (including unmanned Predator drones flown remotely by pilots who may be halfway around the world), and guided missiles and troops on the ground.
Industry experts say the war on terror literally saved some satellite operators from bankruptcy. The Pentagon "is hoovering up all the available capacity" to supplement its three orbiting satellite fleets, Richard DalBello, president of the Satellite Industry Association explained to the Washington Post in 2003. The industry's other customers—broadcast networks competing for satellite time—were left to scramble for the remaining bandwidth.
Loral Space & Communications Chairman Bernard L. Schwartz is very tight with the neoconservative hawks in the Bush administration's foreign policy ranks, and is the principal funder of Blueprint, the newsletter of the Democratic Leadership Council.
In the end, the profits from the war in Iraq didn't end up being as huge for the industry as expected, and certainly weren't enough to compensate for a sharp downturn in the commercial market. But more help may be on its way. The Pentagon announced in November that it would create a new global Intranet for the military that would take two decades and hundreds of billions of dollars to build. Satellites, of course, will play a key part in that integrated global weapons system.
Qualcomm
Two CPA officials resigned this year after claiming they were pressured by John Shaw, the deputy undersecretary of defense for technology security to change an Iraqi police radio contract to favor Qualcomm's patented cellular technology, a move that critics say was intended to lock the technology in as the standard for the entire country.
Iraq's cellular market is potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenues for the company, and potentially much more should it establish a standard for the region. Shaw's efforts to override contracting officials delayed an emergency radio contract, depriving Iraqi police officers, firefighters, ambulance drivers and border guards of a joint communications system for months.
Shaw says he was urged to push Qualcomm's technology by Rep. Darrell E. Issa, a Republican whose San Diego County constituency includes numerous Qualcomm employees. Issa, who received $5,000 in campaign contributions from Qualcomm employees from 2003 to 2004, sits on the House Small Business Committee, and previously tried to help the company by sponsoring a bill that would have required the military to use its CDMA (code division multiple access) technology.
"Hundreds of thousands of American jobs depend on the success of US-developed wireless technologies like CDMA," Issa claimed in a letter to Donald Rumsfeld. But the Pentagon doesn't seem to be buying the argument. The DoD's inspector general has asked the FBI to investigate Shaw's activities.
(For an excellent, in-depth investigation of Qualcomm see Michael Scherer, "Crossing the Lines," Mother Jones, Sept./Oct. 2004)
Coalition Provisional Authority - Wild West Iraq
International Relations and Security Network ISN - Security Watch
At a Senate hearing on Monday, Democratic senators accused the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), which ran Iraq from June 2003 to June 2004, of having wasted millions of dollars. Former CPA official Franklin Willis testified to widespread abuse and waste of money at the authority, and presented photographs of himself and other US officials holding bundles of US$100 bank notes - totaling US$2 million - wrapped in plastic. He said the bundles of cash had been used to pay a security contractor. “A combination of inexperienced officials, fear of decision-making, lack of communications, minimal security, no banks, and lots of money to spend" led to Wild West-style chaos, Willis said. Allegations of overcharging and fraud were also made at the hearing. At the end of January, an inspector-general's report concluded that the CPA had transferred nearly US$9 billion to the interim Iraqi government without any accounting controls.
At a Senate hearing on Monday, Democratic senators accused the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), which ran Iraq from June 2003 to June 2004, of having wasted millions of dollars. Former CPA official Franklin Willis testified to widespread abuse and waste of money at the authority, and presented photographs of himself and other US officials holding bundles of US$100 bank notes - totaling US$2 million - wrapped in plastic. He said the bundles of cash had been used to pay a security contractor. “A combination of inexperienced officials, fear of decision-making, lack of communications, minimal security, no banks, and lots of money to spend" led to Wild West-style chaos, Willis said. Allegations of overcharging and fraud were also made at the hearing. At the end of January, an inspector-general's report concluded that the CPA had transferred nearly US$9 billion to the interim Iraqi government without any accounting controls.
"Custer" and "Battles" Terrorize Iraq
U.S. contractors in Iraq allege abuses
Four men say they witnessed shooting of unarmed civilians :: from www.uruknet.info :: news from occupied Iraq
This is not the firm’s first brush with controversy. Custer Battles is a relatively new company in the booming field of so-called "private military companies" in Iraq providing veteran soldiers from around the world for various security jobs. Named for founders Michael Battles and Scott Custer, who are military veterans, the company quickly nabbed lucrative contracts in Iraq, where U.S. authorities needed firms who were willing to accept high-risk assignments.
"Michael Battles" and "Scott Custer"? Is this for real?
Four men say they witnessed shooting of unarmed civilians :: from www.uruknet.info :: news from occupied Iraq
This is not the firm’s first brush with controversy. Custer Battles is a relatively new company in the booming field of so-called "private military companies" in Iraq providing veteran soldiers from around the world for various security jobs. Named for founders Michael Battles and Scott Custer, who are military veterans, the company quickly nabbed lucrative contracts in Iraq, where U.S. authorities needed firms who were willing to accept high-risk assignments.
"Michael Battles" and "Scott Custer"? Is this for real?
Corrupt Iraqi Occupation
Iraq Occupation Ran On Policy of Corruption, Witnesses Say
Witnesses testifying at a special Congressional hearing yesterday told Democratic lawmakers about severe and rampant mishandling of American and Iraqi funds managed by the former US-run occupation government, as well as censorship and manipulation of Iraqi media in the service of pro-American propaganda.
One former senior advisor to the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), the organization established to administer the US occupation of Iraq during the first year following the March 2003 invasion, testified that massive amounts of freshly minted American cash were distributed regularly to Iraqi ministries and American companies.
On at least one known occasion, cash was handed to a private US mercenary firm, ostensibly to be spent on its operations in Iraq, though the cash was not properly accounted for once it was paid. Former CPA employee Frank Willis said that company, Custer Battles, was handed $2 million in shrink-wrapped $100 bills in his presence, and he displayed a photograph taken just moments before the handing over to prove it.
A lawyer attended the hearings to represent two former associates of Custer Battles who declined at the last minute to testify in person for fear of retribution from both the mercenary firm and the Bush administration. Alan Grayson said his clients have filed a sealed claim against Custer Battles alleging, in part, that the company accepted $15 million from the CPA to provide security for Iraq’s civilian airline, which was in fact grounded for the duration of the contract and in no need of the company’s services.
The hearing was called by Senator Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota), chairperson of the Democratic Policy Committee, in lieu of oversight activities that should have been held by Congressional committees with actual jurisdiction over US policy toward Iraq, in Dorgan’s view.
Senator Harry Reid (D-Nevada) and Representative Henry Waxman (D-California) joined Dorgan on the committee, which heard testimony from four witnesses, including two who worked in Iraq and personally witnessed what they termed the misuse of Iraqi and American monies intended for reconstruction-related projects. The committee members said the hearing was inspired by a recent report by the inspector general for Iraqi reconstruction, which found nearly $9 billion in mismanaged or missing funds that were supposedly under CPA control.
Theft By Any Other Name
Grayson read from an internal memo compiled by a Custer Battles field manager, which drew damning conclusions about Custer Battles’ top executives, apparently regarding the company’s fulfillment of a $21 million contract to guard the exchange of Iraq’s Saddam Hussein-era currency for US-minted bills in late 2003 and early 2004. Based on information provided by one of Grayson’s clients, the memo stated:
Indicated in this report are enormous areas of discrepancies and irregularities that lend themselves to criminal fraud. A broader issue of criminal intent has become evident. The documents are prima facia evidence of a course of conduct consistent with criminal activity and intent. The concerns and issues raised by [whistleblower Pete Baldwin], in his response to my email, significantly reinforces my concern that criminal activity transpired here on the money exchange project.
The memo goes on to cite "a clear and definite pattern of deception and misrepresentation" and recommends, "Further discussions and decisions concerning the [money exchange] project should be coordinated through the corporate criminal defense attorney."
In his testimony, Grayson mistakenly referred to the author of that memorandum as Custer Battles’ "corporate integrity officer." But according to a New York Times article published last October, it was only after that memo was written that the man who penned it, Peter Miskovich, found himself promoted from a field manager to the position of corporate integrity officer. At that point, Miskovich recanted the findings reported in his memo and revised attribution of blame to individual lower-level employees, insisting that neither Scott Custer nor Mike Battles, the company’s founders, "was involved in the questionable conduct." Prior to his change in title, Miskovich oversaw the money exchange project, reported the Times.
Assistant US Attorney Richard Sponseller, according to Grayson, has suggested that any fraud committed against the CPA should not be equated with theft from the United States, since the CPA was an international organization. But when President George Bush signed the CPA’s original funding mandate, it clearly referred to the organization as "an entity of the United States."
Custer Battles has reached the same conclusion about its own lack of culpability, but for different reasons. The company’s lawyers told CorpWatch, a website that monitors the activity of war profiteers, that the claim against them should be dismissed because the money allegedly stolen was rightfully that of Iraqis, not Americans.
Grayson told the committee that the Bush administration has so far declined to respond to the claim he filed on behalf of the two men previously affiliated with Custer Battles.
Grayson pointed out that for a full year after the federal government had conclusive evidence that Custer Battles was committing crimes against the United States, the CPA continued to award hefty contracts to the firm. Finally, on September 30, 2004, the US Air Force placed Custer Battles on a government blacklist under a code that excludes contracting with organizations involved in "fraud, antitrust violations, embezzlement, theft, forgery, bribery, false statements or any other offenses indicating a lack of business integrity."
In an October 2004 press release, Custer Battles denied all claims of misconduct and speculated that the two ex-associates, identified as former employee Pete Baldwin and contractor Bob Isakson, filed their claim as "a last ditch effort to achieve a competitive edge over [Custer Battles]." Isakson runs a disaster relief firm that Custer Battles said competes with it for contracts.
A ‘Public Diplomacy Operation’
Journalist Mark North, who covered the invasion for National Public Radio and was employed by the CPA to train Iraqi journalists to report for the US-founded Iraq Media Network (IMN), told the hearing that CPA officials regularly directed and censored the activities of the TV news station. He said "a laundry list of CPA activities" was handed down to dictate subject matter with which to replace stories Iraqi journalists preferred to report, such as those pertaining to the problems of post-war life in the embattled country.
"The original plan for IMN seems to have been jettisoned by CPA officials who were more interested in managing news for Iraqis and Americans," North told the committee. He said the CPA made the Iraqi media operation into "another Voice of America," referring to the US government-run propaganda outlet that broadcasts to millions of people in foreign countries. He said CPA officials told him IMN was to be "a public diplomacy operation" for the occupation authorities.
North testified that on occasion, CPA officials specifically ordered stories critical of the occupation and its effects to be cut and insisted that IMN run stories about positive work undertaken by occupation forces.
News content was not the only problem North reported. A labor conflict also arose during his four-month involvement at IMN. "For the first two months, the local staff of about 200 journalists and technicians were not paid their salaries," North said. "Finally, they went on strike. CPA would not negotiate. Striking staffers were told to go back to work, or the US Army would remove them from the studios."
North also told the committee that of the ten American journalists and engineers hired to train Iraqis, all quit within six months. Additionally, the Iraqi hired as news director "was forced to resign," North testified. Ahmed Al-Rikaby had dismissed five employees North described as "troublemakers and Baathists," but the American corporation that oversaw IMN hired them back and reprimanded Al-Rikaby. IMN was established by a Pentagon contractor called Scientific Applications International Corp, which specializes in military gear and programs.
Furthermore, while private American contractors were lavishly wasting CPA funds on five-star hotels in Kuwait and unnecessary supplies in Baghdad, the Iraq Media Network lacked even basic equipment. According to North, a request for just $200 with which to print a journalism training manual in Arabic was never fulfilled. North said he had to use his only day off to teach a journalism course.
While the committee members and witnesses repeatedly affirmed their support for the US mission in Iraq and did not suggest the activities in questions were necessarily systemic, each witness testified that the corrupt activities were carried out as a matter of policy, and no one suggested questionable transactions were contrary to CPA regulations.
Senator Reid speculated that the problems raised by witnesses at the hearing represented "just the tip of the iceberg."
The White House had no comment on Monday, but a Pentagon spokesperson told the LA Times that the occupation authority tried its best to run on the level. "The CPA was operating under extraordinary conditions from its inception to mission completement," Army Lt. Col. Joseph Yoswa said. "Throughout, the CPA strived earnestly for sound management, transparency and oversight."
© 2005 The NewStandard
Witnesses testifying at a special Congressional hearing yesterday told Democratic lawmakers about severe and rampant mishandling of American and Iraqi funds managed by the former US-run occupation government, as well as censorship and manipulation of Iraqi media in the service of pro-American propaganda.
One former senior advisor to the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), the organization established to administer the US occupation of Iraq during the first year following the March 2003 invasion, testified that massive amounts of freshly minted American cash were distributed regularly to Iraqi ministries and American companies.
On at least one known occasion, cash was handed to a private US mercenary firm, ostensibly to be spent on its operations in Iraq, though the cash was not properly accounted for once it was paid. Former CPA employee Frank Willis said that company, Custer Battles, was handed $2 million in shrink-wrapped $100 bills in his presence, and he displayed a photograph taken just moments before the handing over to prove it.
A lawyer attended the hearings to represent two former associates of Custer Battles who declined at the last minute to testify in person for fear of retribution from both the mercenary firm and the Bush administration. Alan Grayson said his clients have filed a sealed claim against Custer Battles alleging, in part, that the company accepted $15 million from the CPA to provide security for Iraq’s civilian airline, which was in fact grounded for the duration of the contract and in no need of the company’s services.
The hearing was called by Senator Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota), chairperson of the Democratic Policy Committee, in lieu of oversight activities that should have been held by Congressional committees with actual jurisdiction over US policy toward Iraq, in Dorgan’s view.
Senator Harry Reid (D-Nevada) and Representative Henry Waxman (D-California) joined Dorgan on the committee, which heard testimony from four witnesses, including two who worked in Iraq and personally witnessed what they termed the misuse of Iraqi and American monies intended for reconstruction-related projects. The committee members said the hearing was inspired by a recent report by the inspector general for Iraqi reconstruction, which found nearly $9 billion in mismanaged or missing funds that were supposedly under CPA control.
Theft By Any Other Name
Grayson read from an internal memo compiled by a Custer Battles field manager, which drew damning conclusions about Custer Battles’ top executives, apparently regarding the company’s fulfillment of a $21 million contract to guard the exchange of Iraq’s Saddam Hussein-era currency for US-minted bills in late 2003 and early 2004. Based on information provided by one of Grayson’s clients, the memo stated:
Indicated in this report are enormous areas of discrepancies and irregularities that lend themselves to criminal fraud. A broader issue of criminal intent has become evident. The documents are prima facia evidence of a course of conduct consistent with criminal activity and intent. The concerns and issues raised by [whistleblower Pete Baldwin], in his response to my email, significantly reinforces my concern that criminal activity transpired here on the money exchange project.
The memo goes on to cite "a clear and definite pattern of deception and misrepresentation" and recommends, "Further discussions and decisions concerning the [money exchange] project should be coordinated through the corporate criminal defense attorney."
In his testimony, Grayson mistakenly referred to the author of that memorandum as Custer Battles’ "corporate integrity officer." But according to a New York Times article published last October, it was only after that memo was written that the man who penned it, Peter Miskovich, found himself promoted from a field manager to the position of corporate integrity officer. At that point, Miskovich recanted the findings reported in his memo and revised attribution of blame to individual lower-level employees, insisting that neither Scott Custer nor Mike Battles, the company’s founders, "was involved in the questionable conduct." Prior to his change in title, Miskovich oversaw the money exchange project, reported the Times.
Assistant US Attorney Richard Sponseller, according to Grayson, has suggested that any fraud committed against the CPA should not be equated with theft from the United States, since the CPA was an international organization. But when President George Bush signed the CPA’s original funding mandate, it clearly referred to the organization as "an entity of the United States."
Custer Battles has reached the same conclusion about its own lack of culpability, but for different reasons. The company’s lawyers told CorpWatch, a website that monitors the activity of war profiteers, that the claim against them should be dismissed because the money allegedly stolen was rightfully that of Iraqis, not Americans.
Grayson told the committee that the Bush administration has so far declined to respond to the claim he filed on behalf of the two men previously affiliated with Custer Battles.
Grayson pointed out that for a full year after the federal government had conclusive evidence that Custer Battles was committing crimes against the United States, the CPA continued to award hefty contracts to the firm. Finally, on September 30, 2004, the US Air Force placed Custer Battles on a government blacklist under a code that excludes contracting with organizations involved in "fraud, antitrust violations, embezzlement, theft, forgery, bribery, false statements or any other offenses indicating a lack of business integrity."
In an October 2004 press release, Custer Battles denied all claims of misconduct and speculated that the two ex-associates, identified as former employee Pete Baldwin and contractor Bob Isakson, filed their claim as "a last ditch effort to achieve a competitive edge over [Custer Battles]." Isakson runs a disaster relief firm that Custer Battles said competes with it for contracts.
A ‘Public Diplomacy Operation’
Journalist Mark North, who covered the invasion for National Public Radio and was employed by the CPA to train Iraqi journalists to report for the US-founded Iraq Media Network (IMN), told the hearing that CPA officials regularly directed and censored the activities of the TV news station. He said "a laundry list of CPA activities" was handed down to dictate subject matter with which to replace stories Iraqi journalists preferred to report, such as those pertaining to the problems of post-war life in the embattled country.
"The original plan for IMN seems to have been jettisoned by CPA officials who were more interested in managing news for Iraqis and Americans," North told the committee. He said the CPA made the Iraqi media operation into "another Voice of America," referring to the US government-run propaganda outlet that broadcasts to millions of people in foreign countries. He said CPA officials told him IMN was to be "a public diplomacy operation" for the occupation authorities.
North testified that on occasion, CPA officials specifically ordered stories critical of the occupation and its effects to be cut and insisted that IMN run stories about positive work undertaken by occupation forces.
News content was not the only problem North reported. A labor conflict also arose during his four-month involvement at IMN. "For the first two months, the local staff of about 200 journalists and technicians were not paid their salaries," North said. "Finally, they went on strike. CPA would not negotiate. Striking staffers were told to go back to work, or the US Army would remove them from the studios."
North also told the committee that of the ten American journalists and engineers hired to train Iraqis, all quit within six months. Additionally, the Iraqi hired as news director "was forced to resign," North testified. Ahmed Al-Rikaby had dismissed five employees North described as "troublemakers and Baathists," but the American corporation that oversaw IMN hired them back and reprimanded Al-Rikaby. IMN was established by a Pentagon contractor called Scientific Applications International Corp, which specializes in military gear and programs.
Furthermore, while private American contractors were lavishly wasting CPA funds on five-star hotels in Kuwait and unnecessary supplies in Baghdad, the Iraq Media Network lacked even basic equipment. According to North, a request for just $200 with which to print a journalism training manual in Arabic was never fulfilled. North said he had to use his only day off to teach a journalism course.
While the committee members and witnesses repeatedly affirmed their support for the US mission in Iraq and did not suggest the activities in questions were necessarily systemic, each witness testified that the corrupt activities were carried out as a matter of policy, and no one suggested questionable transactions were contrary to CPA regulations.
Senator Reid speculated that the problems raised by witnesses at the hearing represented "just the tip of the iceberg."
The White House had no comment on Monday, but a Pentagon spokesperson told the LA Times that the occupation authority tried its best to run on the level. "The CPA was operating under extraordinary conditions from its inception to mission completement," Army Lt. Col. Joseph Yoswa said. "Throughout, the CPA strived earnestly for sound management, transparency and oversight."
© 2005 The NewStandard
2005-02-15
"Custer Battles" Bilks Taxpayers for Millions
Iraq Occupation Ran On Policy of Corruption, Witnesses Say :: from www.uruknet.info :: news from occupied Iraq
Feb 15 - Witnesses testifying at a special Congressional hearing yesterday told Democratic lawmakers about severe and rampant mishandling of American and Iraqi funds managed by the former US-run occupation government, as well as censorship and manipulation of Iraqi media in the service of pro-American propaganda.
One former senior advisor to the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), the organization established to administer the US occupation of Iraq during the first year following the March 2003 invasion, testified that massive amounts of freshly minted American cash were distributed regularly to Iraqi ministries and American companies.
On at least one known occasion, cash was handed to a private US mercenary firm, ostensibly to be spent on its operations in Iraq, though the cash was not properly accounted for once it was paid. Former CPA employee Frank Willis said that company, Custer Battles, was handed $2 million in shrink-wrapped $100 bills in his presence, and he displayed a photograph taken just moments before the handing over to prove it.
A lawyer attended the hearings to represent two former associates of Custer Battles who declined at the last minute to testify in person for fear of retribution from both the mercenary firm and the Bush administration. Alan Grayson said his clients have filed a sealed claim against Custer Battles alleging, in part, that the company accepted $15 million from the CPA to provide security for Iraq’s civilian airline, which was in fact grounded for the duration of the contract and in no need of the company’s services.
The hearing was called by Senator Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota), chairperson of the Democratic Policy Committee, in lieu of oversight activities that should have been held by Congressional committees with actual jurisdiction over US policy toward Iraq, in Dorgan’s view.
Senator Harry Reid (D-Nevada) and Representative Henry Waxman (D-California) joined Dorgan on the committee, which heard testimony from four witnesses, including two who worked in Iraq and personally witnessed what they termed the misuse of Iraqi and American monies intended for reconstruction-related projects. The committee members said the hearing was inspired by a recent report by the inspector general for Iraqi reconstruction, which found nearly $9 billion in mismanaged or missing funds that were supposedly under CPA control.
Theft By Any Other Name
Grayson read from an internal memo compiled by a Custer Battles field manager, which drew damning conclusions about Custer Battles’ top executives, apparently regarding the company’s fulfillment of a $21 million contract to guard the exchange of Iraq’s Saddam Hussein-era currency for US-minted bills in late 2003 and early 2004. Based on information provided by one of Grayson’s clients, the memo stated:
Indicated in this report are enormous areas of discrepancies and irregularities that lend themselves to criminal fraud. A broader issue of criminal intent has become evident. The documents are prima facia evidence of a course of conduct consistent with criminal activity and intent. The concerns and issues raised by [whistleblower Pete Baldwin], in his response to my email, significantly reinforces my concern that criminal activity transpired here on the money exchange project.
The memo goes on to cite "a clear and definite pattern of deception and misrepresentation" and recommends, "Further discussions and decisions concerning the [money exchange] project should be coordinated through the corporate criminal defense attorney."
In his testimony, Grayson mistakenly referred to the author of that memorandum as Custer Battles’ "corporate integrity officer." But according to a New York Times article published last October, it was only after that memo was written that the man who penned it, Peter Miskovich, found himself promoted from a field manager to the position of corporate integrity officer. At that point, Miskovich recanted the findings reported in his memo and revised attribution of blame to individual lower-level employees, insisting that neither Scott Custer nor Mike Battles, the company’s founders, "was involved in the questionable conduct." Prior to his change in title, Miskovich oversaw the money exchange project, reported the Times.
Assistant US Attorney Richard Sponseller, according to Grayson, has suggested that any fraud committed against the CPA should not be equated with theft from the United States, since the CPA was an international organization. But when President George Bush signed the CPA’s original funding mandate, it clearly referred to the organization as "an entity of the United States."
Custer Battles has reached the same conclusion about its own lack of culpability, but for different reasons. The company’s lawyers told CorpWatch, a website that monitors the activity of war profiteers, that the claim against them should be dismissed because the money allegedly stolen was rightfully that of Iraqis, not Americans.
Grayson told the committee that the Bush administration has so far declined to respond to the claim he filed on behalf of the two men previously affiliated with Custer Battles.
Grayson pointed out that for a full year after the federal government had conclusive evidence that Custer Battles was committing crimes against the United States, the CPA continued to award hefty contracts to the firm. Finally, on September 30, 2004, the US Air Force placed Custer Battles on a government blacklist under a code that excludes contracting with organizations involved in "fraud, antitrust violations, embezzlement, theft, forgery, bribery, false statements or any other offenses indicating a lack of business integrity."
In an October 2004 press release, Custer Battles denied all claims of misconduct and speculated that the two ex-associates, identified as former employee Pete Baldwin and contractor Bob Isakson, filed their claim as "a last ditch effort to achieve a competitive edge over [Custer Battles]." Isakson runs a disaster relief firm that Custer Battles said competes with it for contracts.
A ‘Public Diplomacy Operation’
Journalist Mark North, who covered the invasion for National Public Radio and was employed by the CPA to train Iraqi journalists to report for the US-founded Iraq Media Network (IMN), told the hearing that CPA officials regularly directed and censored the activities of the TV news station. He said "a laundry list of CPA activities" was handed down to dictate subject matter with which to replace stories Iraqi journalists preferred to report, such as those pertaining to the problems of post-war life in the embattled country.
"The original plan for IMN seems to have been jettisoned by CPA officials who were more interested in managing news for Iraqis and Americans," North told the committee. He said the CPA made the Iraqi media operation into "another Voice of America," referring to the US government-run propaganda outlet that broadcasts to millions of people in foreign countries. He said CPA officials told him IMN was to be "a public diplomacy operation" for the occupation authorities.
North testified that on occasion, CPA officials specifically ordered stories critical of the occupation and its effects to be cut and insisted that IMN run stories about positive work undertaken by occupation forces.
News content was not the only problem North reported. A labor conflict also arose during his four-month involvement at IMN. "For the first two months, the local staff of about 200 journalists and technicians were not paid their salaries," North said. "Finally, they went on strike. CPA would not negotiate. Striking staffers were told to go back to work, or the US Army would remove them from the studios."
North also told the committee that of the ten American journalists and engineers hired to train Iraqis, all quit within six months. Additionally, the Iraqi hired as news director "was forced to resign," North testified. Ahmed Al-Rikaby had dismissed five employees North described as "troublemakers and Baathists," but the American corporation that oversaw IMN hired them back and reprimanded Al-Rikaby. IMN was established by a Pentagon contractor called Scientific Applications International Corp, which specializes in military gear and programs.
Furthermore, while private American contractors were lavishly wasting CPA funds on five-star hotels in Kuwait and unnecessary supplies in Baghdad, the Iraq Media Network lacked even basic equipment. According to North, a request for just $200 with which to print a journalism training manual in Arabic was never fulfilled. North said he had to use his only day off to teach a journalism course.
While the committee members and witnesses repeatedly affirmed their support for the US mission in Iraq and did not suggest the activities in questions were necessarily systemic, each witness testified that the corrupt activities were carried out as a matter of policy, and no one suggested questionable transactions were contrary to CPA regulations.
Senator Reid speculated that the problems raised by witnesses at the hearing represented "just the tip of the iceberg."
The White House had no comment on Monday, but a Pentagon spokesperson told the LA Times that the occupation authority tried its best to run on the level. "The CPA was operating under extraordinary conditions from its inception to mission completement," Army Lt. Col. Joseph Yoswa said. "Throughout, the CPA strived earnestly for sound management, transparency and oversight."
© 2005 The NewStandard.
Feb 15 - Witnesses testifying at a special Congressional hearing yesterday told Democratic lawmakers about severe and rampant mishandling of American and Iraqi funds managed by the former US-run occupation government, as well as censorship and manipulation of Iraqi media in the service of pro-American propaganda.
One former senior advisor to the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), the organization established to administer the US occupation of Iraq during the first year following the March 2003 invasion, testified that massive amounts of freshly minted American cash were distributed regularly to Iraqi ministries and American companies.
On at least one known occasion, cash was handed to a private US mercenary firm, ostensibly to be spent on its operations in Iraq, though the cash was not properly accounted for once it was paid. Former CPA employee Frank Willis said that company, Custer Battles, was handed $2 million in shrink-wrapped $100 bills in his presence, and he displayed a photograph taken just moments before the handing over to prove it.
A lawyer attended the hearings to represent two former associates of Custer Battles who declined at the last minute to testify in person for fear of retribution from both the mercenary firm and the Bush administration. Alan Grayson said his clients have filed a sealed claim against Custer Battles alleging, in part, that the company accepted $15 million from the CPA to provide security for Iraq’s civilian airline, which was in fact grounded for the duration of the contract and in no need of the company’s services.
The hearing was called by Senator Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota), chairperson of the Democratic Policy Committee, in lieu of oversight activities that should have been held by Congressional committees with actual jurisdiction over US policy toward Iraq, in Dorgan’s view.
Senator Harry Reid (D-Nevada) and Representative Henry Waxman (D-California) joined Dorgan on the committee, which heard testimony from four witnesses, including two who worked in Iraq and personally witnessed what they termed the misuse of Iraqi and American monies intended for reconstruction-related projects. The committee members said the hearing was inspired by a recent report by the inspector general for Iraqi reconstruction, which found nearly $9 billion in mismanaged or missing funds that were supposedly under CPA control.
Theft By Any Other Name
Grayson read from an internal memo compiled by a Custer Battles field manager, which drew damning conclusions about Custer Battles’ top executives, apparently regarding the company’s fulfillment of a $21 million contract to guard the exchange of Iraq’s Saddam Hussein-era currency for US-minted bills in late 2003 and early 2004. Based on information provided by one of Grayson’s clients, the memo stated:
Indicated in this report are enormous areas of discrepancies and irregularities that lend themselves to criminal fraud. A broader issue of criminal intent has become evident. The documents are prima facia evidence of a course of conduct consistent with criminal activity and intent. The concerns and issues raised by [whistleblower Pete Baldwin], in his response to my email, significantly reinforces my concern that criminal activity transpired here on the money exchange project.
The memo goes on to cite "a clear and definite pattern of deception and misrepresentation" and recommends, "Further discussions and decisions concerning the [money exchange] project should be coordinated through the corporate criminal defense attorney."
In his testimony, Grayson mistakenly referred to the author of that memorandum as Custer Battles’ "corporate integrity officer." But according to a New York Times article published last October, it was only after that memo was written that the man who penned it, Peter Miskovich, found himself promoted from a field manager to the position of corporate integrity officer. At that point, Miskovich recanted the findings reported in his memo and revised attribution of blame to individual lower-level employees, insisting that neither Scott Custer nor Mike Battles, the company’s founders, "was involved in the questionable conduct." Prior to his change in title, Miskovich oversaw the money exchange project, reported the Times.
Assistant US Attorney Richard Sponseller, according to Grayson, has suggested that any fraud committed against the CPA should not be equated with theft from the United States, since the CPA was an international organization. But when President George Bush signed the CPA’s original funding mandate, it clearly referred to the organization as "an entity of the United States."
Custer Battles has reached the same conclusion about its own lack of culpability, but for different reasons. The company’s lawyers told CorpWatch, a website that monitors the activity of war profiteers, that the claim against them should be dismissed because the money allegedly stolen was rightfully that of Iraqis, not Americans.
Grayson told the committee that the Bush administration has so far declined to respond to the claim he filed on behalf of the two men previously affiliated with Custer Battles.
Grayson pointed out that for a full year after the federal government had conclusive evidence that Custer Battles was committing crimes against the United States, the CPA continued to award hefty contracts to the firm. Finally, on September 30, 2004, the US Air Force placed Custer Battles on a government blacklist under a code that excludes contracting with organizations involved in "fraud, antitrust violations, embezzlement, theft, forgery, bribery, false statements or any other offenses indicating a lack of business integrity."
In an October 2004 press release, Custer Battles denied all claims of misconduct and speculated that the two ex-associates, identified as former employee Pete Baldwin and contractor Bob Isakson, filed their claim as "a last ditch effort to achieve a competitive edge over [Custer Battles]." Isakson runs a disaster relief firm that Custer Battles said competes with it for contracts.
A ‘Public Diplomacy Operation’
Journalist Mark North, who covered the invasion for National Public Radio and was employed by the CPA to train Iraqi journalists to report for the US-founded Iraq Media Network (IMN), told the hearing that CPA officials regularly directed and censored the activities of the TV news station. He said "a laundry list of CPA activities" was handed down to dictate subject matter with which to replace stories Iraqi journalists preferred to report, such as those pertaining to the problems of post-war life in the embattled country.
"The original plan for IMN seems to have been jettisoned by CPA officials who were more interested in managing news for Iraqis and Americans," North told the committee. He said the CPA made the Iraqi media operation into "another Voice of America," referring to the US government-run propaganda outlet that broadcasts to millions of people in foreign countries. He said CPA officials told him IMN was to be "a public diplomacy operation" for the occupation authorities.
North testified that on occasion, CPA officials specifically ordered stories critical of the occupation and its effects to be cut and insisted that IMN run stories about positive work undertaken by occupation forces.
News content was not the only problem North reported. A labor conflict also arose during his four-month involvement at IMN. "For the first two months, the local staff of about 200 journalists and technicians were not paid their salaries," North said. "Finally, they went on strike. CPA would not negotiate. Striking staffers were told to go back to work, or the US Army would remove them from the studios."
North also told the committee that of the ten American journalists and engineers hired to train Iraqis, all quit within six months. Additionally, the Iraqi hired as news director "was forced to resign," North testified. Ahmed Al-Rikaby had dismissed five employees North described as "troublemakers and Baathists," but the American corporation that oversaw IMN hired them back and reprimanded Al-Rikaby. IMN was established by a Pentagon contractor called Scientific Applications International Corp, which specializes in military gear and programs.
Furthermore, while private American contractors were lavishly wasting CPA funds on five-star hotels in Kuwait and unnecessary supplies in Baghdad, the Iraq Media Network lacked even basic equipment. According to North, a request for just $200 with which to print a journalism training manual in Arabic was never fulfilled. North said he had to use his only day off to teach a journalism course.
While the committee members and witnesses repeatedly affirmed their support for the US mission in Iraq and did not suggest the activities in questions were necessarily systemic, each witness testified that the corrupt activities were carried out as a matter of policy, and no one suggested questionable transactions were contrary to CPA regulations.
Senator Reid speculated that the problems raised by witnesses at the hearing represented "just the tip of the iceberg."
The White House had no comment on Monday, but a Pentagon spokesperson told the LA Times that the occupation authority tried its best to run on the level. "The CPA was operating under extraordinary conditions from its inception to mission completement," Army Lt. Col. Joseph Yoswa said. "Throughout, the CPA strived earnestly for sound management, transparency and oversight."
© 2005 The NewStandard.
US Contractors Execute Iraqi Children
US contractors allege Iraq abuse | WORLD | NEWS | tvnz.co.nz
Four security guards have claimed that their former employer, hired by the US government, has arbitrarily killed Iraqi civilians, an American news report said.
"These aren't insurgents that we're brutalising," retired US Army Ranger captain Bill Craun told NBC News.
"It was local civilians on their way to work. It's wrong."
Craun and three others said their former employer, Custer Battles, allowed heavily armed guards to roam Iraq brutalising civilians, while they were supposed to be guarding supply convoys from rebels.
Custer Battles was one subject of a congressional hearing on Tuesday into allegations of corruption in Iraq.
A lawyer representing former employees told the Democratic senators the firm had received millions of dollars for work not done because of the owners' connections with the Republican Party.
The four former employees told NBC that their convoys fired on Iraqi pedestrians and crushed children with a truck.
The US Army was looking into the allegations, NBC said.
The men claimed that on November 8, a Kurd guard travelling with them fired into a passenger car to move traffic out of the way.
He "sighted down his AK-47 and started firing," former army corporal Ernest Colling told NBC.
The bullet "went through the window. As far as I could see, it hit a passenger. And they didn't even know we were there."
Colling said that later that day, an Iraqi teenager walking on the roadside was shot.
"The rear gunner in my vehicle shot him," Colling told NBC.
"Unarmed, walking kids."
And a large Ford pickup truck crushed a smaller car with Iraqis inside.
"The front of the truck came down," Craun said.
"I could see two children sitting in the back seat of that car with their eyes looking up at the axle as it came down and pulverised the back."
Will Hough, a retired US Marine said it was unlikely that anyone survived.
"Probably not. Not from what I saw," Hough told NBC.
Colling and Craun told NBC that they quit immediately.
Retired sergeant Jim Errante said he quit after witnessing similar abuses on other occasions.
"I didn't want to be a witness to any of these, what could be classified as a war crime," Errante told NBC.
The network said company officials denied the allegations, calling the four men "disgruntled" former employees.
The company's manager in Iraq, Paul Christopher, who told NBC
"There has absolutely never been a case of anyone being hurt or killed to my knowledge, except for people who were actively engaged in shooting at us first".
Four security guards have claimed that their former employer, hired by the US government, has arbitrarily killed Iraqi civilians, an American news report said.
"These aren't insurgents that we're brutalising," retired US Army Ranger captain Bill Craun told NBC News.
"It was local civilians on their way to work. It's wrong."
Craun and three others said their former employer, Custer Battles, allowed heavily armed guards to roam Iraq brutalising civilians, while they were supposed to be guarding supply convoys from rebels.
Custer Battles was one subject of a congressional hearing on Tuesday into allegations of corruption in Iraq.
A lawyer representing former employees told the Democratic senators the firm had received millions of dollars for work not done because of the owners' connections with the Republican Party.
The four former employees told NBC that their convoys fired on Iraqi pedestrians and crushed children with a truck.
The US Army was looking into the allegations, NBC said.
The men claimed that on November 8, a Kurd guard travelling with them fired into a passenger car to move traffic out of the way.
He "sighted down his AK-47 and started firing," former army corporal Ernest Colling told NBC.
The bullet "went through the window. As far as I could see, it hit a passenger. And they didn't even know we were there."
Colling said that later that day, an Iraqi teenager walking on the roadside was shot.
"The rear gunner in my vehicle shot him," Colling told NBC.
"Unarmed, walking kids."
And a large Ford pickup truck crushed a smaller car with Iraqis inside.
"The front of the truck came down," Craun said.
"I could see two children sitting in the back seat of that car with their eyes looking up at the axle as it came down and pulverised the back."
Will Hough, a retired US Marine said it was unlikely that anyone survived.
"Probably not. Not from what I saw," Hough told NBC.
Colling and Craun told NBC that they quit immediately.
Retired sergeant Jim Errante said he quit after witnessing similar abuses on other occasions.
"I didn't want to be a witness to any of these, what could be classified as a war crime," Errante told NBC.
The network said company officials denied the allegations, calling the four men "disgruntled" former employees.
The company's manager in Iraq, Paul Christopher, who told NBC
"There has absolutely never been a case of anyone being hurt or killed to my knowledge, except for people who were actively engaged in shooting at us first".
2005-02-11
Hubble Spy Satellite Doomed
RedNova News - NASA Decides to Abandon, Not Repair, Deteriorating Hubble Telescope
NASA plans to bury the Hubble Space Telescope rather than fix it, the space agency revealed Monday.
Outgoing NASA chief Sean O'Keefe made the announcement as he unveiled the agency's $16.46 billion budget proposal for 2006.
Hubble, which was launched in 1990, is widely considered the crown jewel of U.S. space science. Astronomers, politicians and members of the public have been lobbying for a mission to extend its life.
But O'Keefe says NASA's priorities are to meet President Bush's call for exploration of the moon and Mars. He also said the space agency had to meet obligations to finish construction of the international space station and launch a space shuttle this year.
NASA will continue financing Hubble operations until its failure, which is expected sometime after 2007. O'Keefe plans to bring the telescope out of orbit and dispose of it in the atmosphere by 2013.
''It is my judgment call,'' O'Keefe says. He cited two reports:
* The Columbia Accident Investigation Board's safety requirements for shuttle flights rule out Hubble repairs by astronauts. The board was formed after seven astronauts were killed in the disintegration of the space shuttle Columbia in 2003.
* A National Research Council panel maintained last year that a robot repair mission in 2007 was technologically too risky.
After a public outcry last year when O'Keefe disclosed plans to let Hubble die, the director backed off. He publicly supported a robotic repair mission, which will get a NASA review next month.
But by removing money from this budget for a robotic rescue, the window of opportunity to revive such an effort before Hubble's batteries or stabilizing gyroscopes fail becomes much narrower.
''The lack of money for a robotic Hubble mission is both an opening move in what the White House certainly knows will be a heated interaction with Congress and a 'logical' response to the NRC report,'' says John Logsdon of George Washington (D.C.) University.
The House Science Committee plans a hearing on NASA's budget and Hubble this month.
''Hubble's best days are ahead of it, not behind it,'' says Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md. ''I will fight in the Senate this year to fund a servicing mission to Hubble by 2008.''
A second science mission, the 2015 Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter, is not financed yet. NASA's Craig Steidle says the nuclear reactor needed for the mission was too advanced a technology to pull off by 2015.
''My first reaction to the budget is quite positive,'' says Lennard Fisk, who heads the Research Council's Space Studies Board. He notes that the budget includes financing for a Mars orbiter, a Pluto mission and a infrared telescope for 2011.
NASA plans to bury the Hubble Space Telescope rather than fix it, the space agency revealed Monday.
Outgoing NASA chief Sean O'Keefe made the announcement as he unveiled the agency's $16.46 billion budget proposal for 2006.
Hubble, which was launched in 1990, is widely considered the crown jewel of U.S. space science. Astronomers, politicians and members of the public have been lobbying for a mission to extend its life.
But O'Keefe says NASA's priorities are to meet President Bush's call for exploration of the moon and Mars. He also said the space agency had to meet obligations to finish construction of the international space station and launch a space shuttle this year.
NASA will continue financing Hubble operations until its failure, which is expected sometime after 2007. O'Keefe plans to bring the telescope out of orbit and dispose of it in the atmosphere by 2013.
''It is my judgment call,'' O'Keefe says. He cited two reports:
* The Columbia Accident Investigation Board's safety requirements for shuttle flights rule out Hubble repairs by astronauts. The board was formed after seven astronauts were killed in the disintegration of the space shuttle Columbia in 2003.
* A National Research Council panel maintained last year that a robot repair mission in 2007 was technologically too risky.
After a public outcry last year when O'Keefe disclosed plans to let Hubble die, the director backed off. He publicly supported a robotic repair mission, which will get a NASA review next month.
But by removing money from this budget for a robotic rescue, the window of opportunity to revive such an effort before Hubble's batteries or stabilizing gyroscopes fail becomes much narrower.
''The lack of money for a robotic Hubble mission is both an opening move in what the White House certainly knows will be a heated interaction with Congress and a 'logical' response to the NRC report,'' says John Logsdon of George Washington (D.C.) University.
The House Science Committee plans a hearing on NASA's budget and Hubble this month.
''Hubble's best days are ahead of it, not behind it,'' says Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md. ''I will fight in the Senate this year to fund a servicing mission to Hubble by 2008.''
A second science mission, the 2015 Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter, is not financed yet. NASA's Craig Steidle says the nuclear reactor needed for the mission was too advanced a technology to pull off by 2015.
''My first reaction to the budget is quite positive,'' says Lennard Fisk, who heads the Research Council's Space Studies Board. He notes that the budget includes financing for a Mars orbiter, a Pluto mission and a infrared telescope for 2011.
2005-02-09
Laser Weapons at Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman Establishes Directed Energy Systems Unit
Northrop Grumman has established a new business area - Directed Energy Systems - to help transition high-energy laser systems from the laboratory to warfighters, the most advanced of which will be able to engage mortars, rockets, artillery and other threats to protect U.S. and allied military and civilian populations and assets.
Established at the company's Space Technology sector, DES positions the company to better take advantage of upcoming opportunities in directed energy applications.
In 2004, the Airborne Laser (ABL) program achieved 'first light' of the Northrop Grumman-built, megawatt-class laser, and the Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL) testbed proved its versatility by repeatedly shooting down mortars and large-caliber rockets in-flight.
"Because of the recent successes in proving the technology and engineering behind high-energy lasers, we believe the time has come to put these speed-of-light defensive capabilities into the hands of our warfighters," said Alexis Livanos, president of Northrop Grumman Space Technology.
"Northrop Grumman's high-energy laser and active protection expertise will help our nation create operational systems for both today and the future. We have world-class technology and an unparalleled team of experts in this field.
"By leveraging those assets with the breadth of Northrop Grumman's related capabilities in platforms, systems integration and other directed-energy technologies, we provide a tremendous asset to our government customers in addressing our nation's battlefield and area defense needs," Livanos added.
Art Stephenson, a 28-year company veteran and former director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, has been named vice president of the DES unit.
Stephenson, 62, is responsible for Northrop Grumman's work on chemical lasers, solid-state lasers and rocket-based engagement systems. Chemical laser programs include the ABL and the THEL testbed.
Solid-state lasers include the Joint High Power Solid-State Laser and the Strategic Illuminator Laser. Rocket-based engagement systems include the Active Protection System - a radar-commanded, point-and-shoot system that can detect, track, intercept and defeat threats at a distance sufficient enough to ensure combat vehicles' survival on the battlefield.
The new business area includes affiliates Cutting Edge Optronics in St. Charles, Mo., and SYNOPTICS in Charlotte, N.C., both of which produce laser materials and components.
"Our work on chemical lasers as part of the THEL program has produced derivatives that are ready for deployment," Stephenson said.
"These lasers are the pathfinders to the military's use of directed energy to defend against the variety of attacks we're seeing today. While chemical lasers offer a starting point for incorporating directed energy weapons into security and combat operations, our solid-state lasers, though less powerful than chemical lasers today, offer our customers the promise of more flexible, ubiquitous and mobile defense systems for future years," Stephenson added.
He further noted the company continues to make significant strides in its development of solid-state lasers.
"Northrop Grumman is a leading supplier of the solid-state lasers used daily by our military to perform designation and range finding. Higher-power Northrop Grumman solid-state illuminator lasers, such as the Beacon Illuminator Laser for ABL, are being used now. The Strategic Illuminator Laser is only a few years away. As we look forward to weapons systems, those using very high-power lasers could be deployed in six to nine years," Stephenson explained.
Northrop Grumman is developing high-energy laser systems for ground, sea, air and space applications, including the U.S. Army's THEL, which has shot down more than four dozen targets, ranging from Katyusha rockets to artillery shells, large-caliber rockets and mortar threats, as well as the laser for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency's Airborne Laser program.
Northrop Grumman has established a new business area - Directed Energy Systems - to help transition high-energy laser systems from the laboratory to warfighters, the most advanced of which will be able to engage mortars, rockets, artillery and other threats to protect U.S. and allied military and civilian populations and assets.
Established at the company's Space Technology sector, DES positions the company to better take advantage of upcoming opportunities in directed energy applications.
In 2004, the Airborne Laser (ABL) program achieved 'first light' of the Northrop Grumman-built, megawatt-class laser, and the Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL) testbed proved its versatility by repeatedly shooting down mortars and large-caliber rockets in-flight.
"Because of the recent successes in proving the technology and engineering behind high-energy lasers, we believe the time has come to put these speed-of-light defensive capabilities into the hands of our warfighters," said Alexis Livanos, president of Northrop Grumman Space Technology.
"Northrop Grumman's high-energy laser and active protection expertise will help our nation create operational systems for both today and the future. We have world-class technology and an unparalleled team of experts in this field.
"By leveraging those assets with the breadth of Northrop Grumman's related capabilities in platforms, systems integration and other directed-energy technologies, we provide a tremendous asset to our government customers in addressing our nation's battlefield and area defense needs," Livanos added.
Art Stephenson, a 28-year company veteran and former director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, has been named vice president of the DES unit.
Stephenson, 62, is responsible for Northrop Grumman's work on chemical lasers, solid-state lasers and rocket-based engagement systems. Chemical laser programs include the ABL and the THEL testbed.
Solid-state lasers include the Joint High Power Solid-State Laser and the Strategic Illuminator Laser. Rocket-based engagement systems include the Active Protection System - a radar-commanded, point-and-shoot system that can detect, track, intercept and defeat threats at a distance sufficient enough to ensure combat vehicles' survival on the battlefield.
The new business area includes affiliates Cutting Edge Optronics in St. Charles, Mo., and SYNOPTICS in Charlotte, N.C., both of which produce laser materials and components.
"Our work on chemical lasers as part of the THEL program has produced derivatives that are ready for deployment," Stephenson said.
"These lasers are the pathfinders to the military's use of directed energy to defend against the variety of attacks we're seeing today. While chemical lasers offer a starting point for incorporating directed energy weapons into security and combat operations, our solid-state lasers, though less powerful than chemical lasers today, offer our customers the promise of more flexible, ubiquitous and mobile defense systems for future years," Stephenson added.
He further noted the company continues to make significant strides in its development of solid-state lasers.
"Northrop Grumman is a leading supplier of the solid-state lasers used daily by our military to perform designation and range finding. Higher-power Northrop Grumman solid-state illuminator lasers, such as the Beacon Illuminator Laser for ABL, are being used now. The Strategic Illuminator Laser is only a few years away. As we look forward to weapons systems, those using very high-power lasers could be deployed in six to nine years," Stephenson explained.
Northrop Grumman is developing high-energy laser systems for ground, sea, air and space applications, including the U.S. Army's THEL, which has shot down more than four dozen targets, ranging from Katyusha rockets to artillery shells, large-caliber rockets and mortar threats, as well as the laser for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency's Airborne Laser program.
2005-02-06
Induced Seismicity
Tsunami Earthquake Disaster Causes: Facts And Speculations - Robin Good' Sharewood Tidings
Nikolaev NI: On the state of study of induced earthquakes, related with industrial activity. In: An influence of industrial activity on the seismic regime. - Moscow : Nauka, 1977 (in Russian).
Gupta H, Rastogi B: Dams and earthquakes. - New York : Elsevier Scientific Publishing, 1976.
Pasechnik IP: Earthquakes induced by underground nuclear explosions. In: An influence of industrial activity on the seismic regime. - Moscow : Nauka, 1977: 142-152 (in Russian).
Simpson DW: Triggered Earthquakes. Annu. Rev. Earth Planet Sci. 14 (1986): 21-42.
Nicholson C, Wesson RL: Earthquake hazard associated with deep well injection : a report to the US Environmental Protection Agency. US Geological Survey Bulletin 1951 (1990).
Milne WG, Berry MJ: Induced Seismicity in Canada. Engineering Geology 10 (1976): 219-226.
Grasso J-R: Mechanics of Seismic Instabilities Induced by the Recovery of Hydrocarbons. Pure Appl. Geophys. 139, no. 3/4 (1992): 507-534.2.
Bolt B: Earthquakes : a primer. - San Francisco : Freeman, 1978.3.
Guha SK, Patil DN: Large water-reservoir related induced seismicity. In Knoll P (ed): Induced Seismicity. - Rotterdam : Balkema, 1992: 243-266.4.
Evans DM: Man-made earthquakes in Denver. Geotimes 10, no. 9 (May-June 1966): 11-18.8.
Raleigh CB, Healy JH, Bredehoeft JD: An experiment in earthquake control at Rangely, Colorado. Science 191, no. 4233 (March 1976): 1230-1237.9.
Sadovsky MA, Kocharyan GG, Rodionov VN: On the mechanics of block rock massif. Report of the Academy of Sciences of USSR 302, no. 2 (1988): 193-197 (in Russian).
Rodionov VN, Sizov IA, Kocharyan GG: On the modeling of natural objects in geomechanics. In: Discrete properties of geophysical medium. - Moscow : Nauka, 1989: 14-18 (in Russian).
Believe nothing merely because you have been told it or because it is traditional or because you yourself imagined it
Do not believe what your teacher tells you
merely out of respect for the teacher
But whatever, after due examination and analysis,
you find to be conducive to the good,
the benefit of all beings,
that doctrine believe and cling to
and take it as your guide.
Buddha (563?-483? BC),
[Siddhartha Gautama]
Indian mystic, founder of Buddhism
Nikolaev NI: On the state of study of induced earthquakes, related with industrial activity. In: An influence of industrial activity on the seismic regime. - Moscow : Nauka, 1977 (in Russian).
Gupta H, Rastogi B: Dams and earthquakes. - New York : Elsevier Scientific Publishing, 1976.
Pasechnik IP: Earthquakes induced by underground nuclear explosions. In: An influence of industrial activity on the seismic regime. - Moscow : Nauka, 1977: 142-152 (in Russian).
Simpson DW: Triggered Earthquakes. Annu. Rev. Earth Planet Sci. 14 (1986): 21-42.
Nicholson C, Wesson RL: Earthquake hazard associated with deep well injection : a report to the US Environmental Protection Agency. US Geological Survey Bulletin 1951 (1990).
Milne WG, Berry MJ: Induced Seismicity in Canada. Engineering Geology 10 (1976): 219-226.
Grasso J-R: Mechanics of Seismic Instabilities Induced by the Recovery of Hydrocarbons. Pure Appl. Geophys. 139, no. 3/4 (1992): 507-534.2.
Bolt B: Earthquakes : a primer. - San Francisco : Freeman, 1978.3.
Guha SK, Patil DN: Large water-reservoir related induced seismicity. In Knoll P (ed): Induced Seismicity. - Rotterdam : Balkema, 1992: 243-266.4.
Evans DM: Man-made earthquakes in Denver. Geotimes 10, no. 9 (May-June 1966): 11-18.8.
Raleigh CB, Healy JH, Bredehoeft JD: An experiment in earthquake control at Rangely, Colorado. Science 191, no. 4233 (March 1976): 1230-1237.9.
Sadovsky MA, Kocharyan GG, Rodionov VN: On the mechanics of block rock massif. Report of the Academy of Sciences of USSR 302, no. 2 (1988): 193-197 (in Russian).
Rodionov VN, Sizov IA, Kocharyan GG: On the modeling of natural objects in geomechanics. In: Discrete properties of geophysical medium. - Moscow : Nauka, 1989: 14-18 (in Russian).
Believe nothing merely because you have been told it or because it is traditional or because you yourself imagined it
Do not believe what your teacher tells you
merely out of respect for the teacher
But whatever, after due examination and analysis,
you find to be conducive to the good,
the benefit of all beings,
that doctrine believe and cling to
and take it as your guide.
Buddha (563?-483? BC),
[Siddhartha Gautama]
Indian mystic, founder of Buddhism
Motive for Tsunami Attack
BlameBush!: Bush's Lust for Oil Claims 24,000 More Lives
April 12, 2001. After the Indonesian government condemns Bush's Iraq policy, The World Bank (at which George H. W. Bush once had a savings account) cancels a $300 million loan to Indonesia, destroying the tiny nation's fragile economy and condemning millions to a slow death by starvation.
October 30, 2001: In an act reminiscent of the Boston Tea Party, a group of romantic freedom fighters known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) attack and sink an oil tanker off the coast of Sri Lanka. Millions of gallons of petrol are dumped into the sea. Enron CEO Jeff skilling resigns as stocks plummet 89%. Halliburton stock drops 67%. A federal investigation is launched into the financial activities of both companies.
July 24, 2002: Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe meets with U.S. peeResident George W. Bush in Washington to apologize for the loss of the oil, and to seek his support in the eradication of the peaceloving Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
October 22, 2003. Bush visits Indonesia, home of the world's largest Muslim population, under the guise of offering the nation education funding in return for support in his War on Terror. In secret, he strikes a deal with President Megawati to construct a pipeline from his oil rich country to refineries in Sri Lanka. In return, the World Bank would secure a loan for the developing country in the amount of $300 million.
July 17, 2004. Halliburton Indonesia is awarded a three year contract to provide temperature setting technology for oil pipelines.
November 2, 2004: Prime Minister Wickremesinghe of Sri Lanka meets with Bush and consents to the plan, but worries that the peaceloving Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam might try to sabotage the pipeline. Bush assures him that the Tigers will cease to be a problem as soon as Sri Lanka endorses his unholy "War on Terror".
November 5, 2004: The Sri Lankan Prime Minister issues gushing praise of Bush, declaring, "You have given hope to many countries in the world that are saddled with the menace of terrorism."
December 17, 2004: Indonesia, a wholly owned and operated subsidiary of Halliburton, Inc., receives a World Bank loan in the sum of $300 million.
Now all of Dumbya's ducks are in a row. Only one thing stands in his way of gaining complete control of South Asia's oil - the Nicobar Islands. If one draws a straight line from Indonesia to Sri Lanka, they'll find it dissects the southernmost tip of the Nicobar Archipelago, specifically Great Nicobar Island. India claims dominion of the Islands, yet the superior Chinese Navy has exerted influence on the surrounding waters for years. Bush may be an imperialist aggressor bent on world domination, but he won't bully someone who can fight back. So in order for his pipe-dream to be fulfilled, he'd have to either build it around the Nicobars or move the entire island of Sumatra southwest 100 feet.
December 25, 2004. An earthquake measuring 9.0 on the richter scale strikes deep in the Indian ocean, moving the entire island of Sumatra 100 feet southwest and sending 50' tidal waves crashing into Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Thousands of muslims die in Indonesia alone, saving Bush the trouble of bombing them. Thousands more perish as waves hit the poor fishing villages of Tamil, where dwell the peaceloving Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. In the wake of the disaster, thousands of Christian missionaries posing as "relief workers" descend upon South Asia to convert the survivors. Bush and his cronies, in a thinly-veiled effort to hide their involvement in the catastrophe, pledge over $15,000,000 in aid.
April 12, 2001. After the Indonesian government condemns Bush's Iraq policy, The World Bank (at which George H. W. Bush once had a savings account) cancels a $300 million loan to Indonesia, destroying the tiny nation's fragile economy and condemning millions to a slow death by starvation.
October 30, 2001: In an act reminiscent of the Boston Tea Party, a group of romantic freedom fighters known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) attack and sink an oil tanker off the coast of Sri Lanka. Millions of gallons of petrol are dumped into the sea. Enron CEO Jeff skilling resigns as stocks plummet 89%. Halliburton stock drops 67%. A federal investigation is launched into the financial activities of both companies.
July 24, 2002: Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe meets with U.S. peeResident George W. Bush in Washington to apologize for the loss of the oil, and to seek his support in the eradication of the peaceloving Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
October 22, 2003. Bush visits Indonesia, home of the world's largest Muslim population, under the guise of offering the nation education funding in return for support in his War on Terror. In secret, he strikes a deal with President Megawati to construct a pipeline from his oil rich country to refineries in Sri Lanka. In return, the World Bank would secure a loan for the developing country in the amount of $300 million.
July 17, 2004. Halliburton Indonesia is awarded a three year contract to provide temperature setting technology for oil pipelines.
November 2, 2004: Prime Minister Wickremesinghe of Sri Lanka meets with Bush and consents to the plan, but worries that the peaceloving Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam might try to sabotage the pipeline. Bush assures him that the Tigers will cease to be a problem as soon as Sri Lanka endorses his unholy "War on Terror".
November 5, 2004: The Sri Lankan Prime Minister issues gushing praise of Bush, declaring, "You have given hope to many countries in the world that are saddled with the menace of terrorism."
December 17, 2004: Indonesia, a wholly owned and operated subsidiary of Halliburton, Inc., receives a World Bank loan in the sum of $300 million.
Now all of Dumbya's ducks are in a row. Only one thing stands in his way of gaining complete control of South Asia's oil - the Nicobar Islands. If one draws a straight line from Indonesia to Sri Lanka, they'll find it dissects the southernmost tip of the Nicobar Archipelago, specifically Great Nicobar Island. India claims dominion of the Islands, yet the superior Chinese Navy has exerted influence on the surrounding waters for years. Bush may be an imperialist aggressor bent on world domination, but he won't bully someone who can fight back. So in order for his pipe-dream to be fulfilled, he'd have to either build it around the Nicobars or move the entire island of Sumatra southwest 100 feet.
December 25, 2004. An earthquake measuring 9.0 on the richter scale strikes deep in the Indian ocean, moving the entire island of Sumatra 100 feet southwest and sending 50' tidal waves crashing into Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Thousands of muslims die in Indonesia alone, saving Bush the trouble of bombing them. Thousands more perish as waves hit the poor fishing villages of Tamil, where dwell the peaceloving Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. In the wake of the disaster, thousands of Christian missionaries posing as "relief workers" descend upon South Asia to convert the survivors. Bush and his cronies, in a thinly-veiled effort to hide their involvement in the catastrophe, pledge over $15,000,000 in aid.
Seismic Testing or Seismic Weapons?
Underwater Seismic Testing Linked To Whale Beachings - Robin Good's Latest News
A controversial research project using sound waves, or sonar, to search for information about the asteroid that may have wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, began early on Friday, January 21, 2004 off Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, amid protests from environmental activists.
Gail Christeson, a University of Texas marine seismologist working on the project, said she had participated in at least four seismic cruises and "we have never seen any effect on marine life." She said she has seen dolphins swimming next to the boat that "don't seem to be affected at all as far as we can observe by air guns".
This action came just two weeks after the European Parliament...adopted a groundbreaking resolution calling for a moratorium on the use of high-intensity active naval sonars.
It also came days after the Spanish Ministry of Defence announced its intention to ACCOBAMS to prohibit all active sonar exercises off the coast of the Canary Islands, the site of many whale strandings coincident with military training exercises.
Michael Moore said, "One of the quietest zones in the ocean is right up at the surface - they might be trying to get away from the noise."
From November 28, 2004 to January 7, 2005, there have been recorded incidents of around 200 whale beachings on the coasts of the island of Tasmania, 240 km off the south-eastern coast of the Australian continent. This is an unprecedented number and has caused widespread concern."
Senator Brown said in both cases seismic tests, involving so-called sound bombing of ocean floors to test for oil and gas, were carried out in the days before the whales were stranded.
A controversial research project using sound waves, or sonar, to search for information about the asteroid that may have wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, began early on Friday, January 21, 2004 off Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, amid protests from environmental activists.
Gail Christeson, a University of Texas marine seismologist working on the project, said she had participated in at least four seismic cruises and "we have never seen any effect on marine life." She said she has seen dolphins swimming next to the boat that "don't seem to be affected at all as far as we can observe by air guns".
This action came just two weeks after the European Parliament...adopted a groundbreaking resolution calling for a moratorium on the use of high-intensity active naval sonars.
It also came days after the Spanish Ministry of Defence announced its intention to ACCOBAMS to prohibit all active sonar exercises off the coast of the Canary Islands, the site of many whale strandings coincident with military training exercises.
Michael Moore said, "One of the quietest zones in the ocean is right up at the surface - they might be trying to get away from the noise."
From November 28, 2004 to January 7, 2005, there have been recorded incidents of around 200 whale beachings on the coasts of the island of Tasmania, 240 km off the south-eastern coast of the Australian continent. This is an unprecedented number and has caused widespread concern."
Senator Brown said in both cases seismic tests, involving so-called sound bombing of ocean floors to test for oil and gas, were carried out in the days before the whales were stranded.
Rabbi: Tsunami Punishment for Planned Pullout
Aljazeera.Net
Last month's Asian tsunami disaster was a form of divine retribution for the world's support of the planned pullout of settlers from the Gaza Strip, a former chief rabbi of Israel has said.
"The all powerful one was angry with the nations that did not help Israel, which wanted an evacuation, a disengagement [from Gaza] ... and this provoked the earth to shake," Mordechai Eliahu said in a religious publication distributed on Monday in thousands of synagogues throughout Israel.
The top-selling Yediot Ahronoth said the rabbi was guilty of "extreme stupidity" with his comments.
Right-wing rabbis have been among the instigators of the opposition to the plan by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to pull troops and settlers out of the Gaza Strip by the end of the year.
Last month's Asian tsunami disaster was a form of divine retribution for the world's support of the planned pullout of settlers from the Gaza Strip, a former chief rabbi of Israel has said.
"The all powerful one was angry with the nations that did not help Israel, which wanted an evacuation, a disengagement [from Gaza] ... and this provoked the earth to shake," Mordechai Eliahu said in a religious publication distributed on Monday in thousands of synagogues throughout Israel.
The top-selling Yediot Ahronoth said the rabbi was guilty of "extreme stupidity" with his comments.
Right-wing rabbis have been among the instigators of the opposition to the plan by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to pull troops and settlers out of the Gaza Strip by the end of the year.
2005-02-03
Spy Satellite Doomed
Cost A Heavy Factor In Hubble Future
"Some U.S. scientists are reportedly questioning whether a repair mission for the aging Hubble Space Telescope was worth the huge price tag.
The mission, necessary if the Hubble is to to continue working, has been projected to cost $1 billion to $2 billion, the New York Times said.
At a hearing of the House Science Committee to discuss Hubble options, both scientists and legislators praised the orbiting observatory for its many contributions to science since its 1990 launch. But, the cost could be a stumbling point.
'Is it worth saving the Hubble even if that means taking money away from other NASA science programs?' asked Rep, Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y., chairman of the committee.
'We have to make some hard choices about whether a Hubble mission is worth it now, when moving ahead is likely to have an adverse impact on other programs.'
Next year's NASA budget proposal is rumored to exclude any money to save the Hubble."
"Some U.S. scientists are reportedly questioning whether a repair mission for the aging Hubble Space Telescope was worth the huge price tag.
The mission, necessary if the Hubble is to to continue working, has been projected to cost $1 billion to $2 billion, the New York Times said.
At a hearing of the House Science Committee to discuss Hubble options, both scientists and legislators praised the orbiting observatory for its many contributions to science since its 1990 launch. But, the cost could be a stumbling point.
'Is it worth saving the Hubble even if that means taking money away from other NASA science programs?' asked Rep, Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y., chairman of the committee.
'We have to make some hard choices about whether a Hubble mission is worth it now, when moving ahead is likely to have an adverse impact on other programs.'
Next year's NASA budget proposal is rumored to exclude any money to save the Hubble."
2005-02-01
Pimentel warns US on spies in RP; demands extradition of Meiring
.: Mindanews - 26 January 2005 :.
"DAVAO CITY -- Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel has warned the United States against taking advantage of its military presence and intelligence operations in the Philippines to engage in activities that may subvert the country’s sovereignty."
"Pimentel said the Philippine government should demand the extradition of Michael Meiring, an American national who nearly lost his life when a bomb exploded in his hotel room on May 16, 2002, within the week Davao City was plagued with bomb threats."
"DAVAO CITY -- Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel has warned the United States against taking advantage of its military presence and intelligence operations in the Philippines to engage in activities that may subvert the country’s sovereignty."
"Pimentel said the Philippine government should demand the extradition of Michael Meiring, an American national who nearly lost his life when a bomb exploded in his hotel room on May 16, 2002, within the week Davao City was plagued with bomb threats."
Pentagon Spies in Indonesia Use Tsunami for Cover
.: Mindanews - 29 January 2005 :.:
"Senator Enrile. How many warm bodies of this spy group are in the country, Mr. President?
Senator Pimentel. I do not know for sure, but I have heard the figure 70.
Senator Enrile. Seventy?
Senator Pimentel. Seven zero in Mindanao, Mr. President.
Senator Enrile. Seven zero. This is on top of the agents of the Central Intelligence Agency operating in the country?
Apart from CIA
Senator Pimentel. Yes, my understanding is, this is a separate group, as I said, Mr. President, organized by the Pentagon, no less, aside from the CIA.
Senator Enrile. This is a military intelligence effort in the country.
Senator Pimentel. That is my understanding, Mr. President.
Senator Enrile. Are they directing this spying operation strictly to personalities in the country or also personalities in other countries within our neighborhood?
Senator Pimentel. Mr. President, the report that I received is that they are also operating in Indonesia. In other words, another group, aside from the...
Senator Enrile. Aside from the people in Mindanao, there is another contingent operating in Indonesia.
Senator Pimentel. Yes, Mr. President.
Senator Enrile. And what cover are they using for their operation in Indonesia?
Senator Pimentel. I would not know, Mr. President, because....
Senator Enrile. In aid of these tsunami victims?
Senator Pimentel. Probably, that is why one reason why the Indonesians want those who are assisting the tsunami victims in Indonesia, who come from foreign lands, is to get out of Indonesia soon."
"Senator Enrile. How many warm bodies of this spy group are in the country, Mr. President?
Senator Pimentel. I do not know for sure, but I have heard the figure 70.
Senator Enrile. Seventy?
Senator Pimentel. Seven zero in Mindanao, Mr. President.
Senator Enrile. Seven zero. This is on top of the agents of the Central Intelligence Agency operating in the country?
Apart from CIA
Senator Pimentel. Yes, my understanding is, this is a separate group, as I said, Mr. President, organized by the Pentagon, no less, aside from the CIA.
Senator Enrile. This is a military intelligence effort in the country.
Senator Pimentel. That is my understanding, Mr. President.
Senator Enrile. Are they directing this spying operation strictly to personalities in the country or also personalities in other countries within our neighborhood?
Senator Pimentel. Mr. President, the report that I received is that they are also operating in Indonesia. In other words, another group, aside from the...
Senator Enrile. Aside from the people in Mindanao, there is another contingent operating in Indonesia.
Senator Pimentel. Yes, Mr. President.
Senator Enrile. And what cover are they using for their operation in Indonesia?
Senator Pimentel. I would not know, Mr. President, because....
Senator Enrile. In aid of these tsunami victims?
Senator Pimentel. Probably, that is why one reason why the Indonesians want those who are assisting the tsunami victims in Indonesia, who come from foreign lands, is to get out of Indonesia soon."
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