Fuel Fraud Latest In Army Contracting Woes

CBS News Exposes Kickback Scheme, As Epidemic Of Wartime Military Contract Fraud Grows

(CBS/AP)  "The Army's difficulty in adjusting to the singular problems of Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan is in large part due to the fact that there are no generals assigned to contracting responsibilities," according to the report.

By comparison, the Air Force takes contracting much more seriously and officers in the field can aspire to positions of greater responsibility. It is not a coincidence that most of the ongoing investigations are targeting Army personnel, the panel said.

Since 2001, provisional offices have sprung up in the Middle East and Afghanistan to buy items such as bottled water, laundry services, barracks, food, transportation, and warehouse services.

But in certain places, such as Camp Arifjan in Kuwait, there were too few qualified people, too little oversight, high staff turnover, and poor record-keeping. In the midst of those shortcomings came a huge flow of dollars for the war, creating an environment ripe for misconduct and inefficiency.

A separate Army task force was assigned to examine a random sampling of the 6,000 contracts worth nearly $2.8 billion issued since 2003 by the Kuwait office in a search for rigged awards and sloppy work. That review is to be completed by the end of the year.

The Army Criminal Investigation Command already has 83 ongoing criminal investigations related to wartime contract fraud. Nearly two dozen military and civilian Army personnel have been charged or indicted and more than $15 million in confirmed bribes has changed hands, according to the command.

To federal acquisition experts, the Army's contracting problems come as no surprise. Following the end of the Cold War, defense budgets were cut sharply and so was the contracting work force.

Members of Congress derisively referred to acquisition personnel as "shoppers and buyers" and questioned why so many were necessary, according to Steve Boshears, chief knowledge officer at the National Contract Management Association in Ashburn, Va.

"Contract management was looked at as an administrative function - too much overhead and too hard to see the value it added," said Boshears, a retired colonel and a former Army contracting officer.

Over nearly a decade, few new contracting personnel were hired, which meant there would be a shortage of replacements when older workers retired. At the same time, contracting was becoming increasingly complex as the government outsourced more to the private sector using often subjective criteria.

Gone were the days where the lowest bid got the contract. Now, those making the decisions are expected to select the offer with the "best value" to the government and to perform detailed analyses of a company's past performance.

After 2001, when the amount of spending for the wars exploded and annual defense budgets exceeded $600 billion, the demands on this undersized, aging work force accelerated and led to the much-publicized breakdowns.

"This didn't happen overnight," Boshears said.

[oldprophet]

I don''t know about you, but I''m sick of no-win pseudo-wars, like The War on Drugs and The War on Terrorism. I''m sick of undeclared wars like The War in Iraq and unnecessary and protracted police actions like the one in Korea. I''m sick of income taxes, which are unconstitutional because they are are a direct tax and are not equally apportioned as the Constitution requires. I''m sick of back door national ID cards like The Real ID Act. I''m sick of warrantless domestic spying by the Department of Homeland Insecurity and the loss of my civil liberties as a result of Draconian, fear-based Laws with oxymoronic names like The Patrot Act. I''m sick of secret offshore prisons like the one in Guantanamo, where our government tortures prisoners, who have no right to redress of grievance, or to writ of habeus corpus. I''m also sick of the Federal Reserve (a secret group of private banks) manipulation of our worthless, fiat currency. Do yourself a favor. Support the 2008 candidacy of Dr. Ron Paul for President of The United States. I believe he''s our only hope to restore peace, prosperity and freedom in this country. Presidential candidates with the personal integrity and the consistent track record of adherance to our Constitution that Ron Paul has demonstrated only come around once in a lifetime, if we''re lucky. The stakes are too high, and the cause of freedom is too important to let anything stand in the way of our participation in this 21st Century political revolution. Go Ron Paul!

[liberalme]

This no not news to most of us--our troops NEVER had adequate supplies, now they want more volunteers??

How about it BUSH & CHENEY you can make up for some of those deferments and mia reports. Hey Condie and Rummie wanna give it a go?
Can''t be all that bad, afterall we''re winning!!

Those bush girls don''t look too busy--they can go too!

[walt1944-2009]

The Great Emperor Bush II is aware of the shortages occuring in the military and is totally for a different approach to the matter.

He remembers someone reading him something (the Emperor relies on people reading things to him because he can''t read), that during the Civil War, the armies on both sides relied on private citizens and families providing for their own people. This meant families would provide the food, uniforms, and arms used by their loved ones who marched off to fight.

The Emperor believes this is a great idea! He would declare war and not have to worry about paying to supply the troops; let the soldier''s friends and loved ones do it! It would also be the responsibility of the soldier to arrange for his own travel to the front lines, get and pay for their own medical needs when injured, pay for their own medals (that is happening already with Purple Hearts!), and dig their own graves when they know they aren''t coming back!

In the meantime, the Emperor will continue to demand billions of dollars from Congress to "support the troops", which means supporting the bottom lines of Blackwater, Halliburton, KBF, and every other war profiteer out there!

SIG HEIL, BUSH!!!

[antoniof123]

What a joke we have become thanks to the greed over principle neocon fascist party.

[missingamerica]

Hah. Like Bush is going to authorize a force increase that would regulate the flow of tax dollars into private hands.

[bm6005]

You know you''re in trouble when your country has mercenary troops in their service. The British did the same during our revolution and lost. Also, you have much more control when the people are in the military as opposed to contractors. Other than that Bush is an IQ 91 MORON!!!!

[usayesterday]

LMFAO!

This is not the "latest" fraud.

This is just the latest FRAUD that has been DISCOVERED!

There are many other frauds yet to be uncovered.

Many more will be uncovered long after Bush leaves office (if he leaves office).

[hypnotoad72]

Contacting, aka outsourcing, seems to be a worse option as each day goes by. :( Want proper government spending? Don''t outsource, which helps the more tedious task of regulating to ensure all this money isn''t lost.

[arthurcl1]

Yes and thanks to Emperor Bush That''s just one of more than 80 criminal cases involving some $15 million in bribes. It is still a growing scandal which Pentagon officials expect will uncover hundreds of fraudulent contracts which will further BANKRUPT this Country.

[javak-2009]

During time of War people who purposely cause harm to American Soldeirs or endanger the outcome of the war can be tried for Treason. Why has no one brought this up? I believe the death penalty can be used for those engaged in treason. When money is more important than American lives then it seems just. Put these folks on notice. America will be better for off without these crooks and justice will have prevailed.

[prinzowhales]

2 Trillion unaccounted for at the Pentagon and growing. It was under the Cheney DoD that plans were layed for the troops cuts and privatization of activities formerly carrie out by military men rather than contractors. He set the stage for the events of today and neglected any kind of oversight of the likes of Halliburton and Blackwater.

Bush, Cheney, the other stinking animals in their administration and the aiders and abettors of this criminal regime should be dumped in Fallujah and forgotten--they are thieving, filthy scum whose names will live in infamy for betraying this nation and the soldiers who serve it.

[prinzowhales]

What do I want for Christmas? Neo-Cons and Contractors hanging from the 14th Street Bridge!

[javak-2009]

Lets see Bush cust thousand of IRS auditors for those making over $200,000 a year. Then does not adequately man the military to include military auditors. No bid contracts. When you out source source war then the United states is not a war just the military. HMMMM. War on two fronts. Russia, China, Korea, Iran pushing us... Maybe they see the truth that the present administration can''t/or wont with thier rose colored glasses. Why not nationalize industry to make war supplies needed to include oil companies. But, wait then that means no huge profits. Are we at war or are we playing war to make certain folks rich.

[jntlw-2009]

Bush Cheney are corporate men. They reflect corporate America today and why I will never invest in the stock market - corrupt from one end to the other. Cheney/Bush is the most corrupt evil disgusting administration this country has ever known and I hope they and their crooked crony friends die a horrible death and soon!

[trillion1]

This started with that idiot Bremer. He disbanded the Iraqi military and police, both who kept their guns,"lost" around $10 billion. Then there were no bid contracts out the wazoo. We will never see a dime of the hundreds of billions stolen returned. For all the money spent in Iraq our troops should be wearing gold plated body armor and having surf and turf every night.

[klifton2-2009]

Welcome to Bush/Cheney country where corruption and corrupt practices are order of the day, where killers, crooks, and treasonable acts are given immunity. No wonder America is the land of opportunity and every crook would give an arm and a leg to be in US.

[feelfree1]

Re: "So far two former employees of Kellogg, Brown and Root have been arrested for their part in a scheme worthy of Tony Soprano."

"The two KBR men, who worked for the U.S. military at Bagram, forged receipts for 80 tanker loads trucked in but never delivered, according to court documents. The Pentagon paid for the undelivered fuel while the drivers sold it on the black market. For their role in the scheme, KBR employees divvyed up an estimated $800,000 in kick backs, reports Martin."

For those who do not know, KBR is a subsidiary of Halliburton- the company that sends millions of dollars in checks to ******** Cheney.

[keithle1]

Just think about all the shenanigans/war profiteering you DON''T hear about.

[toolmangler-2009]

For all the money spent in Iraq our troops should be wearing gold plated body armor and having surf and turf every night.

Posted by trillion1 at 07:32 PM : Nov 01, 2007


A big ''Amen'' to that .

[gkc99]

"You should, your Boy Charlie Rangel(D) keeps proposing it in Congress...! "--Posted by badaxmofo


Yeah and they''re gonna start with you cowardly Repugniscum Neocons--make you put your tiny little balls where your big fat mouth is, "tough guy". You must be a real terror on the video games with a screen name like "badaxmofo". I bet in real life your a little pussie!

[jonstorm-2009]

Has Bush put in a full days work since he was elected back in 2000. This guy must be the laziest President this great country has ever elected. If indeed he really one the first election. Get to work Bush it is your War. Please manage it effectively and do not fall into your prior management style of running businesses into the ground. And this our MBA President. He couldn''t understand a financial statement if his life depended on it. The Board of Director''s needs to replace this idiot. Can you imagine if the Democrat''s didn''t actually challenge any of his policies. None of the correcting action would ever have occured. Whether it be the 9/11 commission or the surge which now appears to be stabilizing the country to some extent. Five years to late but hopefully we can salvage something of this business venture he calls the war on terrorism. Please, he is worse then Ken Lay from Enron, who happened to be his best bud and raped California with manipulation of the energy supply. Of course Bush did nothing to help us out then back in 2002/03 either. What a crook. Nixon would be proud. Hail to the Republican Party.

[toolmangler-2009]

Are we at war or are we playing war to make certain folks rich.

Posted by javak at 07:21 PM : Nov 01, 2007


With respect, war is always for the rich, if it weren''t for Big Business and "Organized religion" there would never be a war. That is the History of the World. Poor people do not make war, they may fight for survival but that is totally different than making war.... Wars are fought so that those that ''have'' can get ''more''...

[mh4cbs1]

FACE THE FACTS!

THIS ENTIRE WAR IS A FRAUD!!

LIES from Beginning to the End!

Tax Cuts for the Filthy Rich!

Middle Class Kids do the fighting and the dying!

Blackwater Civilian-Killers get immunity!

Bush and Cheney were LYING, Saddam Wasn''t

Hundreds of thousands of Dead Iraqis!

The Bush DEATH and DESTRUCTION makes Osama Bin Forgotten look like a wimp!

The rulers who OWN our COUNTRY are WAR PROFITEERS - Stealing the OIL, Building the EMPIRE

JAIL CHENEY JAIL BUSH Murderous Thugs

[neobrian-2009]

badiq
For your information,..KBR,...Kellogg,Brown& Root,..Halliburton are the Biggest Non-union contractors in the whole world,..Get out from under your rock !!!They are stealing billions of OUR money!

[brianp55]

mh4cbs1

You hit the nail on the head.

[hungry1968]

Wars are fought so that those that ''''have'''' can get ''''more''''...

Posted by ToolMangler at 08:05 PM : Nov 01, 2007


Like Bush''s grand-daddy and great grand-daddy. They made the family fortune by selling arms and ammo to both sides in WWII. Just another case of the rich using war to make even more money off of the blood of American soldiers.

I don''t know how the people that vote for this dirt ball sleep at night. Their water beds must be filled with American blood.

[condumism]

Republicon private contractor outsourcing is rampant with taxpayer fraud schemes. Take Los Alamos National Lab for instance. Recently one of the 1,000 employee contractors at LANL was caught committing fraud in their charges for work not performed, and overbilling evrything by 20%. The proprietors of the contract company are all republicon used car salesmen that have no problem cheating the taxpayer at will, the entire time with a smile on their GOPig faces. You know the type, most republicons are this way. They feel it is their right to steal from the US governmett. They are so unethical that they have zero regrets for committing taxpayer fraud. And under Republicon administrations, they get away with it due to ZERO OVERSIGHT from the federal government. All these Republicons are CROOKS!

[stevex47]

Mission Accomplished

[downtowner97]

One scandal a day! Please! You have over 400 days left in the White House, Bush, don''t strain yourself.

[zootallures2]

Fuel...LOL! The whole war is a fraud.

Try:
Missing Buildings In 9/11 New Footage Latest In Army Contracting Woes

[zootallures2]

Who were the morons who staged 9/11? Three Stooges Demolition CGI LLC.

[neobrian-2009]

These 28%ers never will understand,..Their King rules them,..They like being told what to do,.they like the lies,..the are '' Slaves to Their Decider '',..one thing for certain,..The next election Will be a GOPig Roast !

[formrusmcsgt]

"There are currently 160,000 contractors working for the United States in the war zone but only 75 contract managers, and most of them are not trained."

Tell me that this doesn''t demonstrate a "rob the store" mentality on behalf of the administration.

Untrained contract managers overseeing $100 billion in contrats.

This stratches the definition of the word "inept" to beyond comprehension.

[formrusmcsgt]

Posted by OldProphet at 08:43 PM : Nov 01, 2007

What name will you be using tomorrow?

Day before yesterday it was "theferrier". I reported you for spamming.

Yesterday it was "USAProphet". I reported you for spamming.

Today it''s "OldProphet", and I''ve reported you again.

Considering that no one bites on your ron Paul spam, you think you could take a hint.

But I''ll report you every day you spam.

[usayesterday]

But I''''ll report you every day you spam.


Posted by formrusmcsgt at 09:26 PM : Nov 01, 2007
............

Ron Paul for Unemployed Politician 2009!

[hungry1968]

Whatever happened with those pallets of cash that were worth $9 billion and came up missing?

Was there ever an investigation / an outcome to the investigation?

[formrusmcsgt]

Ron Paul for Unemployed Politician 2009!

Posted by USAyesterday at 09:30 PM : Nov 01, 2007

Is this guy eat up with it or what? (Must be Paul''s son-in-law, eh?)

Like we need a John Bircher to follow a warmongering megalomaniac. Geez.....

[formrusmcsgt]

Whatever happened with those pallets of cash that were worth $9 billion and came up missing?

Was there ever an investigation / an outcome to the investigation?

Posted by hungry1968 at 09:33 PM : Nov 01, 2007

Gee. You don''t actually think that because Cheney has Halliburton holdings in his trust that that could have anything to do with no one being prosecuted, or even indicted, do you?

[hungry1968]

Gee. You don''''t actually think that because Cheney has Halliburton holdings in his trust that that could have anything to do with no one being prosecuted, or even indicted, do you?

Posted by formrusmcsgt at 09:42 PM : Nov 01, 2007


I know - I was just wondering if there was ever a lie generated to cover it up, or if it was ignored until it went away.

[walt1944-2009]

The Great Emperor Bush is not concerned with any "supply" problems the military may have. He simply demands that his troops keep fighting (and dying) for the "black gold" beneath the ground in Iraq, even if they have to throw rocks and dried camel dung at the evil "terrrrrorists"!

However, the Great Emperor is concerned about the bottom lines of Blackwater, Halliburton, KBR, and other "contractors" (war profiteers is a more accurate term) which is why the Emperor continually demands money from Congress (all of it borrowed from China) to "support the troops", while denying those same troops any time at home to spend with their families. And, he is confident that he will get every last dime from his blindly stupidly loyal Fascist Republicans and the cowardly spineless Democrats.

GOD HELP THE USSA!!!

SIG HEIL, BUSH!!!

[usayesterday]

Posted by formrusmcsgt at 09:40 PM : Nov 01, 2007
...............

As much as I like what Ron Paul represents... he has no more of a chance to become President as Ross Perot did back in 1992!

Underground popularity wins internet time, not a presidency.

The sad thing is... every forum, every message board, every user group has the same types of postings that we see here on this site every f''ing day, every f''ing news story.

I swear, if there was a news story about a christian conservative caught ******** a monkey at a zoo...

...there would be a posting on how Ron Paul is a supporter of animal rights and supports increased federal funding on public zoos!

[patriotic9]

All these scandals are popping up at the time when bush has completed his two terms (no President can be elected for more then two terms any way) and CHENEY has made a fortune out of this war.

Loss in this war doesn''t mean loss to Bush and Cheney.

Cheney has already transferred Halliburton''s head office and CEO to Dubai, United Arab Emirates ( A country whose Royal Family members were having lunch with OSAMA BEEN-FORGOTTEN when Sir Bill Clinton once planned to execute him).

[lochlan-2009]

"It is still a growing scandal which Pentagon officials expect will uncover hundreds of fraudulent contracts." - Now they are expecting us to believe this is all a shock to them, and that they had no part in this fraud, the largest heist in history. EVERY POLITICIAN IN D.C. KNEW WHAT WAS GOING ON!!! The majority of them were a part of it, including the entire Republican party (the Treasonous Selling Out American Party). The largest heist in history plays on.

[downtowner97]

The biggest failure of the war isn''t even being reported. The "coalition" has never at any point had any control at all of the Kurds. The administration loves to brag of "progress", but there''s a large chunk of the country that has largely ignored our presence, and is threatening Turkey, which is a US ally.

[trillion1]

Money runs our goverment not the voters.

[starleo146]

All these scandals are popping up at the time when bush has completed his two terms (no President can be elected for more then two terms any way) and CHENEY has made a fortune out of this war.

Loss in this war doesn''''t mean loss to Bush and Cheney.

Cheney has already transferred Halliburton''''s head office and CEO to Dubai, United Arab Emirates ( A country whose Royal Family members were having lunch with OSAMA BEEN-FORGOTTEN when Sir Bill Clinton once planned to execute him).

Posted by patriotic9 at 09:55 PM : Nov 01, 2007

Unreal isn''t it. The media can dig into the Clinton''s and try to smear campaign once again but they will not report stuff like this. If we can only get the media to report the news

[usayesterday]

Posted by tuckerndfw at 10:02 PM : Nov 01, 2007
......

It''s really sad tucker.

Your post can simply be categorized under "No *****" because anyone who has a brain, and is educated/knowledgeable about politics and the corruption of politicians realize all that you and so many other people say on this board every f''ing day.

All we can do, I guess, is to just repeat our posts like we do. It''s always the same sheeple who fight the obvious (as you had posted).

We''re banging our head against the wall!

[starleo146]

The biggest failure of the war isn''''t even being reported. The "coalition" has never at any point had any control at all of the Kurds. The administration loves to brag of "progress", but there''''s a large chunk of the country that has largely ignored our presence, and is threatening Turkey, which is a US ally.

Posted by downtowner97 at 10:11 PM : Nov 01,

I think if we could get the media off tabloid news, and start reporting real news that affect this country it would be a great thing. They have been in the tabloid business so long they forgot how I think.

[feelfree1]

This one sure got buried in a hurry:

"Veteran Suicides Highest Yet Recorded"

www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/01/terror/printable3439629.shtml

###

Doesn''t CBS care much about our troops?

[patriotic9]

"It is still a growing scandal which Pentagon officials expect will uncover hundreds of fraudulent contracts."

Those responsible for this corruption should not be punished since

JESUS DIED FOR THEIR SINS.