Iraq Whistleblowers Vilified, Demoted

Those Who Speak Out Against Corruption In Iraq Reconstruction Say U.S. Gov't Treats Them Like Criminals

(AP)  One after another, the men and women who have stepped forward to report corruption in the massive effort to rebuild Iraq have been vilified, fired and demoted.

Or worse.

For daring to report illegal arms sales, Navy veteran Donald Vance says he was imprisoned by the American military in a security compound outside Baghdad and subjected to harsh interrogation methods.

There were times, huddled on the floor in solitary confinement with that head-banging music blaring dawn to dusk and interrogators yelling the same questions over and over, that Vance began to wish he had just kept his mouth shut.

He had thought he was doing a good and noble thing when he started telling the FBI about the guns and the land mines and the rocket-launchers — all of them being sold for cash, no receipts necessary, he said. He told a federal agent the buyers were Iraqi insurgents, American soldiers, State Department workers, and Iraqi embassy and ministry employees.

The seller, he claimed, was the Iraqi-owned company he worked for, Shield Group Security Co.

"It was a Wal-Mart for guns," he says. "It was all illegal and everyone knew it."

So Vance says he blew the whistle, supplying photos and documents and other intelligence to an FBI agent in his hometown of Chicago because he didn't know whom to trust in Iraq.

For his trouble, he says, he got 97 days in Camp Cropper, an American military prison outside Baghdad that once held Saddam Hussein, and he was classified a security detainee.

Also held was colleague Nathan Ertel, who helped Vance gather evidence documenting the sales, according to a federal lawsuit both have filed in Chicago, alleging they were illegally imprisoned and subjected to physical and mental interrogation tactics "reserved for terrorists and so-called enemy combatants."

Corruption has long plagued Iraq reconstruction. Hundreds of projects may never be finished, including repairs to the country's oil pipelines and electricity system. Congress gave more than $30 billion to rebuild Iraq, and at least $8.8 billion of it has disappeared, according to a government reconstruction audit.

Despite this staggering mess, there are no noble outcomes for those who have blown the whistle, according to a review of such cases by The Associated Press.

"If you do it, you will be destroyed," said William Weaver, professor of political science at the University of Texas-El Paso and senior advisor to the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition.

"Reconstruction is so rife with corruption. Sometimes people ask me, `Should I do this?' And my answer is no. If they're married, they'll lose their family. They will lose their jobs. They will lose everything," Weaver said.

They have been fired or demoted, shunned by colleagues, and denied government support in whistleblower lawsuits filed against contracting firms.

"The only way we can find out what is going on is for someone to come forward and let us know," said Beth Daley of the Project on Government Oversight, an independent, nonprofit group that investigates corruption. "But when they do, the weight of the government comes down on them. The message is, 'Don't blow the whistle or we'll make your life hell.'

"It's heartbreaking," Daley said. "There is an even greater need for whistleblowers now. But they are made into public martyrs. It's a disgrace. Their lives get ruined."

Bunnatine "Bunny" Greenhouse knows this only too well. As the highest-ranking civilian contracting officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, she testified before a congressional committee in 2005 that she found widespread fraud in multibillion-dollar rebuilding contracts awarded to former Halliburton subsidiary KBR.

Soon after, Greenhouse was demoted. She now sits in a tiny cubicle in a different department with very little to do and no decision-making authority, at the end of an otherwise exemplary 20-year career.

People she has known for years no longer speak to her.

"It's just amazing how we say we want to remove fraud from our government, then we gag people who are just trying to stand up and do the right thing," she says.

In her demotion, her supervisors said she was performing poorly. "They just wanted to get rid of me," she says softly. The Army Corps of Engineers denies her claims.

"You just don't have happy endings," said Weaver. "She was a wonderful example of a federal employee. They just completely creamed her. In the end, no one followed up, no one cared."

But Greenhouse regrets nothing. "I have the courage to say what needs to be said. I paid the price," she says.

Then there is Robert Isakson, who filed a whistleblower suit against contractor Custer Battles in 2004, alleging the company — with which he was briefly associated — bilked the U.S. government out of tens of millions of dollars by filing fake invoices and padding other bills for reconstruction work.

He and his co-plaintiff, William Baldwin, a former employee fired by the firm, doggedly pursued the suit for two years, gathering evidence on their own and flying overseas to obtain more information from witnesses. Eventually, a federal jury agreed with them and awarded a $10 million judgment against the now-defunct firm, which had denied all wrongdoing.

It was the first civil verdict for Iraq reconstruction fraud.

But in 2006, U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III overturned the jury award. He said Isakson and Baldwin failed to prove that the Coalition Provisional Authority, the U.S.-backed occupier of Iraq for 14 months, was part of the U.S. government.

Not a single Iraq whistleblower suit has gone to trial since.

"It's a sad, heartbreaking comment on the system," said Isakson, a former FBI agent who owns an international contracting company based in Alabama. "I tried to help the government, and the government didn't seem to care."

[gkc99]

The legacy of the Bushit administration--a corrupt giveway of taxpayer funds to insiders, with those who try to stop the corruption crushed by the crime bosses--er, the Dept. of Defense.

Wanna bet a lot of that corrupt money doesn''t make its way back into the hands of the Bushit administration officials and their backers?

And another reason why people should be extremely suspicious about statements concerning what "the troops" think; brainwashed by the Army, any that do see anything out of line will be sent of a private patrol of Fallujah at night if they speak up.

Has there ever been a more corrupt adminstration than the Bushit / chickenshit admin?

[cdfoxtrot]

This is the way of the neo-cons. The end justifies the means. I guess it''s true we get the leaders we deserve.

[rushlimpdrug]

". . The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. . . "

Add to that "fear, bush, and the bush thugs".
Too bad more Americans don''t stand up to these bully thugs.

How much longer till this nightmare ends?

[radiob-2009]

A special investigation is needed here to either justify the statements made by the whistle blowers or refute them. If the whistle blowers statements are correct then a wider investigation needs to be undertaken.

[l8c6]

If this country were a moral country, those folks interrogating americans for exposing corruption would be imprisoned along with those who commanded them for the rest of their dying days.

I have lost all trust and faith in those who lead this country. I frankly think there is an illusive multinational base of power that has long sense lost a respect for our boundaries as a nation and whose goal is to destroy any faith and trust citizens may have in this government and replace it.

[worried99]

This is where the news media has failed the American public. They should work to expose all the corruption and blatant theft of taxpayer''s money where ever it is found. They used to be working for the people but now it seems they are just in the entertainment business. I guess gross waste of taxpayer''s money does not sell as much copy as Paris Hilton''s latest escapade. I''m glad there are still some people left in this country that want to do the right thing. Unfortunately, they''re the minority and getting fewer.

[seven-pesos]

southerners hope to elect another faith professing, conservative republican.

the south hopes to win the all time loser''s award.

jefferson davis lost his war...
johnson lost his war...
bush will lose his war...

if the south can lose just one more war,

they will beat the french for most wars lost, ever!

ha,ha,ha.

those idiot southern republican christian creeps ought to stay in church and out of politics

the south can''t be depended upon to do the right thing for america.

[agnim]

"Congress gave more than $30 billion to rebuild Iraq, and at least $8.8 billion of it has disappeared, according to a government reconstruction audit."

LOL

Talk about corruption. $9,000,000,000 worth

That''s now so-called ''aid'' works.

1, First the white people LIE & INFLATE any amount being offered as so-called ''aid''.

2. Then MOST OF IT STOLEN BY THE DONORS AGENTS.

3. And then leaders of developing countries are used as scapegoats to bear blame.

GREED makes Liars and Thieves of evil people

But the worse part of this devilish transaction

IS THE SELLING AMERICAN ARMS TO THE ENEMIES, SO THAT THEY CAN TURN AROUND AND KILL AMERICANS.

This is the kind of things that happen in UNPROVOKED wars started by warmongers, and which are meant to pursue personal ends and waste American lives.

[seven-pesos]

in the south you cannot be a non-believer and be elected to public office.

the church will not allow it.

and we all know who controls politics in the south.

evangelist snakes and christian creeps...

nothing good comes out of the south.

[agnim]

"How much more does it take to get the Democrats to act?
Posted by leftyintexas at 04:03 PM : Aug 25, 2007"

LOL
You''d be surprised; as was the case prior to 911, Americans are in a stupor.

[roger_inkart]

We can only imagine how much safer and secure this nation would be if we had taken the money and effort wasted in Iraq and used it in THIS country.

What the Bush administration has done to the nation is an unspeakble crime. Shame on the Democrats for not protecting us from these villians and maniacs.

[likeitis5050]

Whistle blower protection means nothing if the legislative and judicial systems are up to their eyeballs in corruption themselves...which is the case. I wonder what percentage of the laws already in place are not being followed because of corruption in these two systems. You can write laws till the cows come home, but having no one with the b...alls or values to enforce them... they mean nothing, but politicians are always ready to introduce NEW laws to insure the already in place laws are followed. Why?

What a shame these people and thousands more throughout various situations of outing fraud and corruption in our businesses and governmental agencies have had to pay such a high price for staying true to their values. And the fraud and corruption grows. What a joke.

[seven-pesos]

all the christians thought jimmy swaggart was a man of gawd...

until he got caught in a hohouse with a sk@nky ho.

then all the christians thought ted haggard was a man of gawd... until he got caught doing meth with his homosexual lover...

republican senator vitter was always proclaiming his christian faith... ''til his name showed up on a ho'' house guest list.

my gawd... what''s a christian to think?

ha,ha,ha.

ho''s, drugs and redemption...

christians get off on that *****, huh, christians?

war, hate, evil christian snakes...

nothing good comes out of the south!

[timantane]

seven-pesos

What is your agenda.....Northern Atheism?

Or are you still just an i d i o t?

[seven-pesos]

the republican party loves the south...

southerners are so easy to fool.

a little flag waving here, a little bible thumping there.

those ignorant southerners fall right in line, boy!

rednecks and reborns...

bush''s kind of people.

war, hate, arrogance, christian creeps, republican snakes...

nothing good comes out of the south!

[olgreyghost]

Hey Seven-Pesos:

If, as you say, the South is so bad, why did the Yankee dictator Lincoln attack us to make us stay when we wanted to leave? He needed someone to pay the bills the North ran up?

Bush is from a Yankee family, went to a Yankee school, and his political hero who he tries to emulate is the war-monger Lincoln.

There''s always something good in the South and the North. There is rarely anything good in politics and organized religion and even worse when they mix...

[j-whitman]

Seven,,,,, Abe Lincoln created the whistle blower laws to protect the government from private contractors

[olgreyghost]

Yes, Yankee private contractors that were ripping off the Union Army...

[pastdue1]

We so sorely need some honest, brave people in our government. We so sorely need someone with power who is as brave as these whistleblowers. The American people are becoming angrier and angrier with those who have the power to bring this all to light and still do nothing. We are becoming more and more ashamed that we do not know what to do about and how to fix our broken government. The American people do not care whether these brave people are Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Liberals, or Conservatives ~ we just want someone out there to represent us, so we can be proud again of being an American.

[pastdue1]

Wouldn''t the media gain our respect if they would make a campaign of making heroes of these whistleblowers. Forget the presidential campaign for awhile. Let''s see some attention for some real heroes. Forget Bush''s photo-ops and his daily little speeches - give us some news about some real heroes.
But alas, Halliburton is too big a power for any little newscaster to take on. Probably owns the news media anyway.

[stanimal7]

This is disgusting. Why is this not front page news in every paper? This has nothing to do with partisan politics, this is vile corruption and abuse of power by the corporations doing business in Iraq, with our government''s implicit approval. Anyone, Republican or Democrat should be outraged. We need this investigated, and the companies responsible should be bankrupted with fines, and their chief executives imprisoned for treason. If it turns out anyone in the government was involved, they should be forced out of office and put on trial, also for treason. It''s time we the people took our country back.

[j-whitman]

OlGreyGhost,,, Yep, & both sides sold out thier own for cash, contractors profit & railroad stock.... Deja Vu

[lloydbest1]

This recent "incident"; The Abu Gharib scandal; the lack of oversight in Iraq-Nam''s infrastructure rebuild; the secret and not so secret prisons; the increasingly rigorous supression of dissent against the Administration''s policies and practises; The dismissal of social, infrastructural, environmental and educational needs at home; the false flag of 9-11 that started all this in the first place would lead one to believe the Bush administration is hopelessly incompetent and completely out of control.
It is nothing of the sort. Theirs is a carefully orchestrated plan to sow hatred, create fear, fragment society and destabilize civilization to the fullest extent possible. I''m not being facetious. The amount of money to be made and power to be garnered from exacerbating world wide chaos is limitless for those who can take advantage of it. The Bush/Cheney/Rove/Gates (now Hayden)/Gonzalez axis is in a perfect position to do so. Divide and rule is a tactic as old as dirt
Gawd, what a crowd!! But you know folks, what goes around also comes around. The American public, usually tolerant of executive idiocy is losing its patience. We (including many conservatives) are getting angry (getting?!) As it becomes more obvious the Democrats are not willing to put the hammer down is then it is up to become activists. Most of us are well enough educated to know what our country SHOULD be all about. Let''s help make it happen....

[j-whitman]

OlGreyGhost,,,, Hell,, both sides even turned on their own for political gain ----- Not much has changed because we simply rewote the facts as this administration trys today.

[ghostcommand]

Again--Fascism+Totalitarianism, Corruption, Incompetence, Manipulation, Domination, and Control. Read "The 12 Year Reich" by Richard Grunberger, and the 14 points of Fascism by Dr. Laurence Britt in the Free Inquiry magazine titleed"Fascism Anyone". Also"LTI-LINGUA TERTII IMPERI by Victor Klemperer. Lastly, Contractors in Iraq are paid $800,000,000 per week.

[undermyboot]

Of course the Justice Dept. buries these suits. The only "Justice" is political payback in $ billions for the Bush war profiteers. This story will be buried, because there is no "liberal biased" news media. It''s a fabrication and excuse to hide stories like these. CBS will quietly drop this. Fake News will make a story out of how the military has to fight "false allegations". American taxpayers will continue to pay for a war that only kills young Americans and makes us less and less safe. Bush''s big corporate buddies will continue to bilk the taxpayer and receive their no-bid contracts. The worst part is the Bushies in the population who, like monkeys, continue to support this group of criminals and war profiteers as their own lives and futures are flushed down the t*ilet by the same people they support. This country is royally f*cked.

[undermyboot]

Notice that CBS buries this story on the most dead news day- Saturday. Their masters in the Administration must have demanded that they downplay the story. LMFAO

[pastdue1]

The AMERICAN people need to become a force ~ not a Democrat, not a Republican, not a Liberal, and not a conservative force, but an American People force to force change in the way our government is run. We will never become a force as long as we are pitted against each other. That has been the tactic that has gotten us into this unholy mess . We have to make a concerted effort to let EVERYONE in Washington know that we no longer want the USA to be run as anyone''s personal business. We have to make a combined effort to let EVERYONE in Washington and mainstream media and even not so mainstream media know that we no longer want to be ashamed of what our country has become.

[kaelinda]

Many residents in America are no longer proud to be Americans. But that''s okay... many residents are not citizens. Corruption in the highest offices in the land sounds more like a developing country than a fully industrialized one. And what can the citizens do? Well, they can vote... but there''s almost no distinction between the parties any more. Let''s all vote for the independents!

[seven-pesos]

you won''t find america''s enemies in the middle east...

you''ll find them in the southern states of america.

war making, bible thumping, flag waving, phony christian, republican snake southerners...

bush''s kind of people.

war, hate, arrogance, division, evangelist creeps...

nothing good comes out of the south!

[tylenol6]

It is time to arrest the Bush Administration

for all of their corruption and lying to the

american people. When will all of this end????

The idiot clowns in congress are completely

WORTHLESS.

[seven-pesos]

watch out, folks!

if those southerners get their way

they''''ll elect another creep just like bush.

that''''s the way of the south.

christian creeps, republican snakes...

nothing good comes out of the south.

[klifton2-2009]

It is conceivable that America is the most corrupted country in the world managed by corrupt politicians from the ground up to the rogues and rascals and war profiteers in the WH. Every day tells a story of someone in high places that can be bought.

[missingamerica]

What do people expect as more and more military and other governmental functions are outsourced, when our government is corrupt at the very top?

Corruption is indeed the only thing that you can depend on to "trickle down".

[serack96]

"Notice that CBS buries this story on the most dead news day- Saturday. Their masters in the Administration must have demanded that they downplay the story. LMFAO
Posted by UnderMyBoot at 05:54 PM : Aug 25, 2007"

This is an AP article that is shared by all members of the Associated press. I believe it was first published by Forbes yesterday and CBS has just copied it here.

A large portion of the printed (or internet) news you see anywhere is shared throughout a large base, Looking at the beginning of the article will tell you it''s origin.

[gkc99]

It is clear that "Curious" George W. Bushit and Darth Chickenshithawk cannot tolerate even a single honest person in the Executive branch, no matter how lowly a position they hold. First, they purge the military men who dare to say that the Tiny Texass Tyrant''s lies don''t hold water, then they start working their way down the line to make sure that no honest person could possible hold a job that the Repugnicscum cowards can control. The supine, gutless Repugniscum Congress stands still for six years as the infection spreads.

Clearly, a thorough cleansing is in order. Purge every Bushshyte from this government, and the scars will still take decades to heal. We have been royally screwedover by this pack of vermin.

[Snerdguy]

I used to work for the Department of Defense. This problem did not start with the Bush administration although it has worsened greatly since Bush became President. People die every day because of corruption in our government and billions of taxpayer dollars are wasted. Congress knows this, but puts on a dog and pony show for the voters.

If you disagree with our government, you are labeled a terrorist. Something has got to give and it won''t be pretty.

[dowjones20k]

Interesting positions here ...

Some thoughts ...

These folks should become the boss of their respective departments .. another sad display of American greed and stupidity .. Our entire society has been brainwashed into the "Paris" mentality. .... why do we keep re-elcting the same ol garbage to represent us, the PEOPLE?

TERM LIMITS FOR ALL !! and once they leave office, they can''t beocme a lobbyist for at least 10 years ....


Get these Crooks out !!

And Seven Peso''s please dont get politicians mixed up with elections ... the south has produced some of the most important AMERICANS this country has seen there has always been corruption in politics ....

[seven-pesos]

southern snakes are gonna get theirs for supporting that azz, bush.

yeah, america got a good look at those evil christian southerners the last few years...

and americans don''t like what they see!

the south has a dark, evil past.

bush and his republican snakes are just the latest sordid creeps to come out of the south.

war, hate, arrogance...

nothing good comes out of the south!

[kevboom]

Washington Post, August 22nd, 2007, "A recent congressional report estimated that federal spending on contracts awarded without ''full and open'' competition has tripled, to $207 billion, since 2000, with a $60 billion increase last year alone."

And the truth begins to emerge about Bush''s ''war on terror.'' The real terrorist is in the white house, holding taxpayers hostage while billions are wasted on his friends in high places. What a shameful government, yet millions still drive around with this traitor''s initials on their bumpers.

[seven-pesos]

best of the south...southern heros!

1) john wilkes boothe
2) pat robertson
3) george bush, jr.
4) jimmy (**********) swaggart
5) tom delay
6) jefferson davis
7) grand wizard of the k.k.k.
8) george wallace
9) tom foley
0) jerrry falwell

all southern, all christian, all republican, all snakes...

bush loving, slave state, republican snakes, christian freak south.

ha,ha,ha.

war, hate, reborns, rednecks...

that''s the south for you, folks!

[seyelda]

Americans elect these clowns, jerks, and corrupt politicians. What does that say about Americans?
My conclution is that they are uneducated and/or not sufficiently intertested to result in an informed voter. Go along with mom and pop or the status quo. The same way they learned their religious beliefs. Unchallanged. Total lack of independent thought.

[seven-pesos]

the south murdered abraham lincoln...

the south murdered john kennedy...

to make up for this, the south gives us george bush, jr.

hooray for the south.

rednecks, white christian trash, republican snakes...

oh, well...that''s the south for you, folks!

A real American president wouldn''t tolerate this corruption - our little fascist dictator demands it.

[jankebenz]

trash, garbage

filthy lanquage

lies,bigotry,falsehoods

slander, disention

hatred , malice

nothing good comes out of seven-pesos

[olasek]

seyelda - you are showing off your ignorance by writing that Jefferson Davis was a republican. Pretty much all southern pro-slavery whites at that time were Democrats. I suggest you go back to high school for some badly needed lessons on the US history.

[olasek]

seyelda - you are showing off your ignorance by writing that Jefferson Davis was a republican. Pretty much all southern pro-slavery whites at that time were Democrats. I suggest you go back to high school for some badly needed lessons on the US history.

[seven-pesos]

want to build a veritable utopian state?

let the northern and western blue states combine with liberal canada.

let the southern red states combine with mexico.

man, if we could be rid of the republican christian south

america would really be a super country then!

ha,ha,ha.

war, hate, republikan snakes, christian creeps...

nothing good comes out of the south.

[olasek]

Sorry, my comments were directed at seven-pesos (not seyelda), he is the one showing ignorance on US history.

[seven-pesos]

history shows what happens when southerners get the power in america.

the south has a dark and sordid past.

bush is just the latest snake to come out of that most militaristic and extremist region of america.

the south never does good for america.

always war, hate, phony christian creeps and crooked republican snakes.

ha,ha,ha.

that''s the south for you, folks!