Those who blow whistle on contractor fraud in Iraq face penalties (torture by US forces)

[Barrett808]

Source: Associated Press

Those who blow whistle on contractor fraud in Iraq face penalties
DEBORAH HASTINGS, AP National Writer
August 24, 2007 12:24 PM

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.''

Read more: http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=NATIONAL&ID=565074540867487317

[Dj13Francis]

1. Of course they'll torture you for that!

Throwing a monkey wrench into the war money-machine is way to end up dead very quickly. These people don't care how many people get killed, or what they have to do to ensure the money keeps coming. This whole invasion is all about the almighty dollar.

[dickbearton]

12. More Bush treason and war crimes.

[catrose]

2. K&R eom

[jgraz]

3. Jesus, it's fucking Stalinist Russia

What the hell is happening to us?

[Solly Mack]

4. ...

''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.

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

''After I voiced my concerns about what I believed to be accounting fraud, Halliburton placed me under guard and kept me in seclusion,'' she told the committee. ''My property was searched, and I was specifically told that I was not allowed to speak to any member of the U.S. military. I remained under guard until I was flown out of the country.''

When enough time has gone by and people start to refer to the Bush years as the time of America's insanity, I might just smack those people.

Because such a statement suggest that the country didn't know better - that somehow the country was caught up in some sort of shared madness....and that is a lie.

[MadMaddie]

5. And this is where the similarity between Nazi Germany comes

in doesn't it?

The Good Germans pretended they didn't know about the attrocities......The Rethuglicans pretend that the torture isn't bad...they won't admit it's happening to Americans....

This is bad....

[Solly Mack]

6. Yep - it sure is

:(

[bbgrunt]

7. outrage beyond outrage.

[shraby]

8. Where are the congressional hearings???

If anything should trigger them, this should.

[Jim Sagle]

19. Maybe Congress has been told they'll get the same if they do investigate.

[lovuian]

9. its money money the military complex loves War chaos

cause then guns soar

[Chimichurri]

10. It gets worse and worse. When will anyone be held accountable?

This is outrageous!

[dickbearton]

13. K&R.

[Amonester]

18. K&R (That's the Question.) n/t

[TheMadMonk]

30. This is nothing new.

(Bit of a rewrite to something I said in reply to 'our' Nancy's latest Rant.)

Just business as usual in the US includes avoiding embarrassment at almost any cost. Virtually every major player in today's administration disqualified themselves for the posts they now hold (or held subsequently) years or decades ago. And yet?

Who let these people skate all those years ago to avoid an American black eye? Who enabled them to bribe and cheat their way into the positions they are now using to wreck the country to their own (and their own kind's) advantage?

Who, when in power, winds back only a portion of their opposition's abuses, choosing to hang onto some because they "aren't too bad when used properly"? And stands idly by and watches the great majority of their own hard won initiatives are killed just as they begin to show fruit, when they are on the outs?

The situation today has been building since the days of Nixon, if not earlier, and there have been numerous opportunities to put a stop to matters, but time and time again the ball has been fumbled or even handed back to the opposition.

There has always been a reason: Political expediency; Not enough numbers; Too embarrassing to America; on and on and on and always America and the world suffer for it.


I suppose one of the disadvantages of a high IQ is that it is very easy to forget that half the population IS of below average intelligence. No matter how many warnings and rational explanations, a certain proportion of people WILL shy at shadows or reach for a mirage, rather than face/accept reality. A simple lie begins with a huge advantage, it appeals to that in us which demands simple answers. The truth is almost invariably complex, messy and often, not very palatable.

[alfredo]

11. That's so depressing.

[gulfcoastliberal]

14. They were probably lucky to get away alive.

This is not a democratic or open society.

[AikidoSoul]

15. Would not be surprised if some were eliminated

This is a very good article. I've distributed it widely. K & R

[populistdriven]

28. Pat Tillman

[shance]

16. Who actually knows what our men and women are having to endure over there.

I'm glad at least to see more stories coming forward.

[Raksha]

17. So "Iraq reconstruction" is being run by the Mafia.

How is this any different? It's a state-sanctioned organized crime ring, and even the courts are too intimidated to do anything about it.

[scarletwoman]

21. Our whole government is being run by the Mafia, Iraq is just one of their rackets. (nt)

[Raksha]

36. I know... n/t

[Blue Fire]

20. Well, the*A has already given Iraq demokracy......

now they're just teachin' 'em the finer points of Amerikan-style Kapitalism!

[cyberpj]

22. K& R - Will not hold my breath until seeing this in Corporate Media ... nt.

[Amonester]

24. Kick

Make it go "main stream" (need more recoms & spreading around everywhere, IMHO.)

(Plus "constant" & "timely" Kicking Up To The Top Of DU's Greatest Page.)
:kick:

[AikidoSoul]

37. Dallas Morning News had it on the front page

according to a friend.

I forwarded it to a lot of people, including all Dem officials listed for Arizona, Alabama and Alaska.

I didn't get further than "A"

This is the story that could change everything because the disgust level really churns up. Even Repugniks want to puke

[L0oniX]

23. Here in the USA we lie about everything ...do not tell the truth or we will punish you!

[cheddar99]

25. Par for the course.

I wish I didn't know the things that I know. Ignorance is bliss.

[barbtries]

26. suggestion for new DU forum:

the Daily Outrage

[Time for change]

27. God that's awful

Ok, what's Congress going to do about this?

[bluestateboomer]

29. Very Sad and Angry to Recommend This.

Each day we seem to imitate the Nazis more and more. We've really screwed up this country.
:argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh:

[Sam Ervin jret]

31. Not just the Nazis ... big tobacco...recent history! Business tactics, war tactics ..

This is what happens when war becomes a business and business becomes life or death. We do not have to go back as far as the Nazi party to see disgusting, inhuman behavior. We sometimes like to think that we left it all behind us and it has only just re-emerged, but I am afraid it has been with us all along in different cloaks. This most recent incarnation is most despicable to us, yes. It is unfortunately not unique in its character only in its ability to GET ATTENTION. Let us not use too much hyperbole which serves only to make this disgusting abuse seem the exception rather than the rule that it has become.

[anitar1]

32. After watching all the water go under the bridge for the last

7 years, I am wondering how many will ever believe in government again. I do not and will never have faith in it again. Trust has died.

[Lochloosa]

33. I lost my trust in '73

[BlooInBloo]

34. Lemme get this straight - the US military is imprisoning and mistreating Americans for Haliburton???

I'm no fan of American mercenaries, but I've got a bit problem with this.

[WTF cubed]

35. That is so fucking damning...

Why doesn't America wake up and put an end to this shit?

[Raksha]

38. K & R n/t

[SalmonChantedEvening]

39. In Bush's AmeriKKKa, THIS is the price you pay for decency and truth

:mad:

[kenfrequed]

40. Comeon MSM carry it

I know you jackals want to do the right thing for once!!!!

This is important. And it is very very obvious. Most of us have known of the corruption and cronyism there for some time. Please for the love of all that is true and noble carry the darned story!

I think I am going to write a few general managers about this!!!!!