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ANNOUNCEMENT: Matt Margolis & Mark Noonan get a book deal!



November 03, 2006
Open Thread: Vegas Baby, Vegas

Well, it's Friday, which means it's time for another open thread. This evening I'll be on a plane to Las Vegas to stay with Mark for a week to put the finishing touches on our book, Caucus of Corruption. Anyway, you'll be getting updates on our progress throughout the week.

As for today, feel free to use this space to discuss anything you'd like, or revisit and keep the conversation going there!

UPDATE, by Mark Noonan: And we promise that we'll be working hard - no playing around! Not even one side trip to the casinos, or Hooters, or what have you...not even when the Mrs leaves for a weekend in New Jersey...

Posted by Matt at November 3, 2006 08:47 AM



Comments

Investigations led by a Republican lawyer named Stuart W. Bowen Jr. in Iraq have sent American occupation officials to jail on bribery and conspiracy charges, exposed disastrously poor construction work by well-connected companies like Halliburton and Parsons, and discovered that the military did not properly track hundreds of thousands of weapons it shipped to Iraqi security forces.

Mr. Bowen’s office has inspected and audited taxpayer-financed projects like this prison in Nasiriya, Iraq.

And tucked away in a huge military authorization bill that President Bush signed two weeks ago is what some of Mr. Bowen’s supporters believe is his reward for repeatedly embarrassing the administration: a pink slip.

Geez fella's this terminates the office of Inspector General for Iraq recontruction.

Why? Go ahead, spin it.

Hey there boys just for open mike friday, I have to post this too.

enjoy!

1) Halliburton billed taxpayers $1.4 billion in questionable and undocumented charges under its contract to supply troops in Iraq, as documented by the Pentagon’s own auditors.

2) Parsons billed taxpayers over $200 million under a contract to build 142 health clinics, yet completed fewer than 20. According to Iraqi officials, the rest were “imaginary clinics.”

3) Custer Battles stole forklifts from Iraq’s national airline, repainted them, then leased the forklifts back to the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) through a Cayman Islands shell company — charging an extra fee along the way.

4) Halliburton allowed our troops in Iraq to shower, bathe, and sometimes brush their teeth with water that tested positive for e. coli and coliform bacteria. One expert has said that the troops would have been better off using the highly polluted Euphrates River. Halliburton has admitted that it lacked “an organizational structure to ensure that water was being treated in accordance with Army standards and its contractual requirements.”

5) Halliburton served the troops food that had spoiled or passed its expiration date. Halliburton managers ordered employees to remove bullets from food in trucks that had come under attack, then saved the bullets as souvenirs while giving the food to unwitting soldiers and Marines.

6) Halliburton charged taxpayers for services that it never provided and tens of thousands of meals that it never served.

7) Halliburton double-charged taxpayers for $617,000 worth of soda.

8) Halliburton tripled the cost of hand towels, at taxpayer expense, by insisting on having its own embroidered logo on each towel.

9) Halliburton employees burned new trucks on the side of the road because they didn’t have the right wrench to change a tire — and knew that the trucks could be replaced on a profitable “cost-plus” basis, at taxpayer expense.

10) Halliburton employees dumped 50,000 pounds of nails in the desert because they ordered the wrong size, all at taxpayer expense.

11) Halliburton employees threw themselves a lavish Super Bowl Party, but passed the cost on to taxpayers by claiming they had purchased supplies for the troops.

12) Halliburton chose a subcontractor to build an ice factory in the desert even though its bid was 800 percent higher than an equally qualified bidder.

13) Halliburton actively discouraged cooperation with U.S. government auditors, sent one whistleblower into a combat zone to keep him away from auditors, and put another whistleblower under armed guard before kicking her out of the country.

14) Halliburton sent unarmed truck drivers into a known combat zone without warning them of the danger, resulting in the deaths of six truck drivers and two soldiers. Halliburton then offered to nominate the surviving truck drivers for a Defense Department medal — provided they sign a medical records release that doubled as a waiver of any right to seek legal recourse against the company.

15) Halliburton’s no-bid contract to rebuild Iraq’s oil infrastructure was the worst case of contract abuse that the top civilian at the Army Corps of Engineers had ever seen. She was demoted after speaking out.

16) Under its no-bid contract to rebuild Iraq’s oil infrastructure contract, Halliburton overcharged by over 600 percent for the delivery of fuel from Kuwait.

17) Halliburton failed to complete required work under its oil infrastructure work, leaving distribution points unusable.

18) Iraq under the CPA was like the “Wild West,” with few limits and controls over how inexperienced officials spent — and wasted — millions of taxpayer dollars.

19) Cronies at the CPA’s health office lacked experience, ignored the advice of international health professionals, failed to restore Iraq’s health systems, and wasted millions of taxpayer dollars. The political appointee who ran the office had never worked overseas and had no international public health experience.

20) Administration officials promoted construction of a “boondoggle” children’s hospital in Basra, which ended up more than a year behind schedule and at least 100 percent over budget.

Lucy, you have some 'splanin' to do...

Posted by: raker13 [TypeKey Profile Page] at November 3, 2006 12:48 PM

phnx,

That accusation is falling apart - and I think that it probably just motivated we GOPers to work harder for victory...Gibbons is a man of unscotchable reputation and extensive honorable service both to Nevada and the United States of America...so have a slime allegation like that made just a few weeks before the voting was a last, desperate attempt by Dina Titus to salvage her collapsing campaign for governor.

Posted by: Mark Noonan [TypeKey Profile Page] at November 3, 2006 03:37 PM

Raker,

Hey, its you on the left who think that government is a magic wand to cure all ills...so, you explain how the government you so love could have allowed that sort of thing to go on.

Posted by: Mark Noonan [TypeKey Profile Page] at November 3, 2006 03:39 PM

wow, raker is all wound up about learning that in a time of war, corruption can flourish in the chaos. Headline for the lad!!

Opportunists strike where there is opportunity. Every military conflict in history has been a rich breeding ground for corruption. Look at the incredible corruption involving diversion of crtical food and medical supplies by U.N. solidiers in Africa.

Guess this all took raker totally by surprise.

Posted by: Almiranta [TypeKey Profile Page] at November 3, 2006 07:03 PM

Speaking of Vegas, give us an update on the last minute rape allegations against the Republican Congressman there. Seems like the tapes show nothing and the accuser is backing off here original accounts and has changed her story.

More Dem dirty tricks??

Posted by: phnxbmed at November 3, 2006 07:30 PM

Nope. Seen it. Knew it. Talked about it.

Just wonderin' why it just don't matter to you?

Have you seen the missing 9 billion dollars? I knew we had it around here somewhere. Over here? Nope. Howz about over here? Nope. Must be hidin' out with them WMD's!

Posted by: raker13 [TypeKey Profile Page] at November 3, 2006 08:40 PM

*Everybody Watch!* "Obsession" on Fox News this Weekend!

"Documentary Portrays Islamic Extremists’ Call to Arms Against the Free World"

Saturday at 8 p.m./1 a.m. ET, and
Sunday at 4 p.m./10 p.m. ET.

Posted by: Freedom1 [TypeKey Profile Page] at November 3, 2006 09:31 PM

Please report any inappropriate comments to abuse (at) blogsforbush (dot) com. Be sure to include the title of the blog entry, the name of the commenter, and the text of the offending comment.

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