I learned of the following from a local newscast.
http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/base/news-53/... Soldier from Michigan killed in Iraq
4/25/2008, 4:16 p.m. EDT
The Associated Press
GAYLORD, Mich. (AP) — A U.S. Army soldier from Gaylord has died in a vehicle crash in Iraq.
The Pentagon says 22-year-old Private First Class John Thomas Bishop and another soldier were killed Wednesday in the city of Golden Hills.
Bishop's father tells the Traverse City Record-Eagle
his son was in a heavy armored vehicle that rolled over into a canal after the side of the road gave way. He was trapped inside the vehicle.
more...
And here's what KO is reporting tonight:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/7488545Investigators: Millions in Iraq contracts never finished
AP foreign, Sunday April 27 2008
By HOPE YEN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Millions of dollars of lucrative Iraq reconstruction contracts were never finished because of excessive delays, poor performance or other factors, including failed projects that are being falsely described by the U.S. government as complete, federal investigators say.
The audit released Sunday by Stuart Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, provides the latest snapshot of an uneven reconstruction effort that has cost U.S. taxpayers more than $100 billion. It also comes as several lawmakers have said they want the Iraqis to pick up more of the cost of reconstruction.
The special IG's review of 47,321 reconstruction projects worth billions of dollars found that at least 855 contracts were terminated by U.S. officials before their completion, primarily because of unforeseen factors such as violence and excessive costs. About 112 of those agreements were ended specifically because of the contractors' actual or anticipated poor performance.
In addition, the audit said many reconstruction projects were being described as complete or otherwise successful when they were not. In one case, the U.S. Agency for International Development contracted with Bechtel Corp. in 2004 to construct a $50 million children's hospital in Basra, only to ``essentially terminate'' the project in 2006 because of monthslong delays.
more...
Could these deaths be a Bechtel incomplete project?