Top Democrat (Henry Waxman) questions Blackwater deals in Iraq

[sabra]

http://www.wwaytv3.com/Global/story.asp?S=5789248&nav=menu70_2

Top Democrat questions Blackwater deals in Iraq

RALEIGH, N.C. California Representative Henry Waxman wants answers from the military about why North Carolina-based Blackwater was paid so much for work in Iraq at taxpayers' expense.

Representative Henry Waxman wrote to outgoing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that it's unclear how much taxpayers paid because the Army has not answered questions first raised two years ago.

Waxman also argues that Blackwater's services were prohibited because the Army never authorized the company or any other Halliburton subcontractors to guard convoys or carry weapons.

Waxman, the incoming chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, asked if and how the Army intends to recover taxpayer funds paid to Halliburton and Blackwater for services prohibited under the Halliburton contract.

[blm]

1. YES! Anti-corruption, open government Democrats ready to work!

I love Congressman Waxman - just LOVE him.

[Owl]

12. Same here!

Go Henry!

[BadGimp]

2. GO HENRY!!

[Homer Wells]

3. This would be so Ironic

Clinton was hounded to death by his affiliation with Whitewater, and Bush now appears to have his Blackwater!

:popcorn: :spray:

[Massachusetts]

8. Excellent!

[calimary]

14. Well, well, well. Ironic indeed. Good catch!

That's our Henry! I, too, LOVE Henry "The Righteous" Waxman. I am SO proud - he's my Congressman!

Let the subpoenas begin.

:headbang:

[Frustratedlady]

4. Yoohoo! It looks like we are going to get an early Christmas gift...

I hope all the Congresspersons take a few hours to look through the stacks of requests for information that were never answered by this administration and resubmit them for the new Congress to persue. Why do I see lots of smoke coming out of the White House chimneys over the holidays? That shredded paper can get pretty heavy.

Go, Henry!

[gratuitous]

5. Waxman cranks up the subpoena machine

And Bush cranks up the pardon machine. Who will win???

[BrotherBuzz]

18. We win

Pardon, or no pardon, the bums will still get subpoenaed; the truth is exposed, the crooks tossed on the dung heap, and the GOP suffers a potentially lethal hit.

[aquart]

6. And if they still don't answer?

Is there actually a penalty for contempt of Congress?

[Riddler]

7. These next few months are going to be so much fun watching a bulldog like Waxman

bite the fleeing heels of the corrupt republicans as they try to run and hide!

[aquart]

9. I'm pretty much living for that.

[bluestateguy]

10. HIs hearings will be a thing of beauty

Dan Burton changed the rules to make it such that subpeonas could be issued unilateraly by the Chairman alone. Thanks for setting the precedent Dan.

[RamboLiberal]

11. That's one outfit I'd like to see put out of business

Having a private army allied to the RW cause does not make me feel comfortable. I'd like to see all U.S. Government business with this bunch of mercenaries pulled.

[Toots]

27. But I think that business was done from "The Western Whitehouse"

So it is okay....right???

[PurityOfEssence]

13. Killin's 'spensive

'Specially in the private sector...

[babylonsister]

15. K&R! Waxman's going to be a very, very busy man. I await

his conclusions with joy; I hope the truth will finally be known.

[OKIsItJustMe]

16. Original Documents Here

http://www.democrats.reform.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1142

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Iraq Reconstruction

New Documents Reveal Unauthorized Halliburton Security Subcontracts in Iraq

Contrary to the testimony of top Pentagon officials, new documents obtained by Reps. Waxman and Van Hollen disclose that Halliburton subcontractors in Iraq had security subcontracts with Blackwater that Army officials say were prohibited under Halliburton's contract.

• Army Secretary Letter (pdf)
• Blackwater Contract with Regency (pdf)
• Letter to Secretary Rumsfeld (pdf)

[PassingFair]

17. DIG IT!

Blackwater is owned by Dick DeVos's
(the unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate in Michigan)
brother-in-law.

Eric(k?) Prince is Betsy DeVos's brother.
Founder and owner of Blackwater Security.
A fact which didn't really sink in with
voters here, but SOME knew.....

:puke:

[vssmith]

25. I have to admit that I had never heard that

And Betsy is such a sweet caring person too.

[PassingFair]

28. A real PEACH is Betsy. Here's the bio on Erik

http://www.nndb.com/people/926/000117575/

snip>Erik Prince is a billionaire right-wing fundamentalist Christian from a powerful Michigan Republican family. A major Republican campaign contributor, he interned in the White House of President George H.W. Bush and campaigned for Pat Buchanan in 1992. He founded the mercenary firm Blackwater USA in 1997 with Gary Jackson, another former Navy SEAL.

Father: Edgar (d. 1995, billionaire, started Family Research Council with Gary Bauer)
Mother: Elsa
Sister: Betsy DeVos (former chair, Michigan Republican Party)
Wife: Joan (four children, d. 2003, cancer)

[vssmith]

31. Thanks for the info

I see Prince is from Holland--part of the Dutch mafia over there I presume. And he went to that bastion of conservative education--Hillsdale.

[PassingFair]

33. If you're interested, check out the article I linked down-thread...

They've got Cofer Black working for them, too.

These guys stand to lose if they ISG recommendations
are accepted. Wonder how much of a fight Cheney
will put up for Halliburton and these types of
companies?

[mopinko]

19. that's what i'm talking about!

waxman '08

[sonias]

20. Thank you Henry Waxman for doing your job

Now go get'em Representative Waxman! Do it for the people of America!

Sonia

[Pastiche423]

21. All of your hard work and diligence

will be fruitful soon, Representative Waxman.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

[cadmium]

22. Good: This is a SERIOUS SERIOUS issue.

Blackwater and their ilk are formidable militias. I dont want them coming back to the USA with big weapons and no work. I don't want my tax money going to pay for them anymore either. I would like to see them diversified out of the defense business somehow-- or shut down altogether. It is potentially very dangerous.

[Vidar]

23. Good for Waxman. I wonder why we don't hear from Conyers anymore?

[tabasco]

24. The superheroes can't all be fighting evil at once!

Conyers is recharging his energy cells for the next showdown with the criminals.

[Art_from_Ark]

26. Kind of like a Batman-Green Hornet tag team, eh?

[PassingFair]

29. Here's a GREAT article on the play-a's at Blackwater:

http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=108028&ran=144012

snip>ERIK PRINCE, 37, Blackwater’s founder and chairman, has deep roots in conservative Republican politics in Michigan.

His father, Edgar Prince, turned a small die-cast shop in Holland, Mich., into a major auto parts supplier with a specialty product: a windshield visor with a lighted mirror. After his death in 1995, the company was sold for $1.4 billion. Edgar Prince was a confidant and financial backer of Gary Bauer, a conservative activist and onetime presidential candidate.

Erik Prince’s sister Betsy, a former chairwoman of the Michigan Republican Party, is married to Dick DeVos, billionaire son of the founder of marketing giant Amway and this year’s likely Republican candidate for governor of Michigan.

snip>GARY JACKSON, 49, Blackwater’s president, has been with the company almost from the beginning. Like Prince, he is a former SEAL, having retired as a warrant officer after 23 years in the Navy.

He is the senior executive at Blackwater’s 7,000-acre headquarters and training compound in Moyock.

snip>COFER BLACK, 56, joined Blackwater in February 2005 as vice chairman after three decades in the Central Intelligence Agency and the State Department.

He was the CIA’s director of counterterrorism when al-Qaida hijackers struck the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.


LOVE to see these spooks and "Christian Soldiers" brought down.

Go Mr. Waxman, GO!!!!

[goforit]

30. Mr. Waxman..... Keep the train rolling and never stop!

Love you buddy!

[DoYouEverWonder]

32. I guess Waxman has decided

which scandal to go after first.

Looks like a great place to start.