Andrew Natsios finally speaks out.
By on Mar 23rd, 2006 at 4:26 pm
Andrew Natsios finally speaks out.
Having left the administration, Natsios now blasts the Iraq contracting process that he helped oversee: “The contractors they chose weren’t the best people. I heard lots of stories. The staff would come in and say a group of retired officers has set up a business and they got this contract, and they didn’t have any qualifications for it.” And Natsios said nothing until now.
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Yeah, apparently some of them even work in propaganda (Mighty Moron & MizzWrong for instance) with no qualifications, no abilities and certainly no brains.
Why are we suprised that the Iraqi ‘crony fascist’ contractors would be any more competent then Mike Brown or Mighty Moron?
These guys think their ineptitude is ‘funny’, whereas what’s really funny is how retarded they look without knowing it! The shortbus express runs through conservative washington, and georgies is the bus driver.
The party that brought you Jeff Gannon, Cunningham, Abramoff and Delay – now bring you Iraq in a swirlie.
March 23rd, 2006 at 4:36 pmBoondoggle
March 23rd, 2006 at 4:52 pmAt the same time critics of the contracting morass in Iraq—which former CPA advisor Franklin Willis once called a “free-fraud zoneâ€â€”have raised serious issues about conflicts of interest in Iraq.
Quite a legacy you got there Mr. Bush…
On yet another front, the Justice Department continues to decline to join a whistle-blower case against a security contractor called Custer Battles, despite a March 9 jury verdict that found the company had defrauded the U.S. government out of millions of dollars in Iraq.
Contracts for cronies, crumbs for everyone else. $12B in cash moved to Iraq from the Fed Reserve bank in NY. Just too tempting, wasn’t it?
March 23rd, 2006 at 4:54 pmThey always wait till they leave *sigh* I guess better late than never.
March 23rd, 2006 at 4:57 pmNatsios is clearly referring to Custer Battles.
Btw, we have never heard another word about the CB president who was caught at Lebanon International Airport trying to leave the country with DUFFLE BAGS full of old Iraqi dinars. What ever happened to him?
Bremer gave CB the dinar contact, when in facts known to Bremer, they had NO experience in moving currency, NO bonding, and NO past itself, since the ‘company’ was formed by two retired military who went to Baghdad specifically to pluck low-hanging fruit from the Corporate Crusade.
March 23rd, 2006 at 5:09 pmHard to take this liar seriously….from Nightline, 4/23/03-
TED KOPPEL
(Off Camera) Well, it’s a, I think you’ll agree, this is a much bigger project than any that’s been talked about. Indeed, I understand that more money is expected to be spent on this than was spent on the entire Marshall Plan for the rebuilding of Europe after World War II.
ANDREW NATSIOS
No, no. This doesn’t even compare remotely with the size of the Marshall Plan.
TED KOPPEL
(Off Camera) The Marshall Plan was $97 billion.
ANDREW NATSIOS
This is 1.7 billion.
TED KOPPEL
(Off Camera) All right, this is the first. I mean, when you talk about 1.7, you’re not suggesting that the rebuilding of Iraq is gonna be done for $1.7 billion?
ANDREW NATSIOS
March 23rd, 2006 at 5:31 pmWell, in terms of the American taxpayers contribution, I do, this is it for the US. The rest of the rebuilding of Iraq will be done by other countries who have already made pledges, Britain, Germany, Norway, Japan, Canada, and Iraqi oil revenues, eventually in several years, when it’s up and running and there’s a new government that’s been democratically elected, will finish the job with their own revenues. They’re going to get in $20 billion a year in oil revenues. But the American part of this will be 1.7 billion. We have no plans for any further-on funding for this.
“We have no plans for any further-on funding for this.”
AN: “Oh, and Ted?”
TK: “Yeah?”
AN: “PULL MY FINGER.”
March 23rd, 2006 at 6:30 pmNatsios was too chickenshit to expose the truth when he had a chance to do so.
March 23rd, 2006 at 6:30 pmPangs of conscience today – or are his TV interview appearances down and he’s looking for a little vacation fund money?
Or is he looking to save his own name as Bush&Co goes down in flames> Too late.
#8 – Absolutely, Marie. He should have resigned, walked out the door, and then told the press immediately exactly why he did it. Cowardice abounds.
March 23rd, 2006 at 6:58 pm“and they got this contract, and they didn’t have any qualifications for it.â€
Cronyism, corruption in the Bush administration? Who would have thought?
March 23rd, 2006 at 7:18 pmAnd that’s not even the best quote. Natsios also says:
“I told Bremer and the CPA that we were following federal law and we were going to implement according to federal statutes so there weren’t any scandals. And there weren’t any with USAID. But we were criticized for following federal law.”
In this administration following the law is frowned upon.
But we already knew that.
March 23rd, 2006 at 7:25 pmSo let explain this to me. So the republican party (and many others) is against the UN in most issues involving money because there is a danger of too many embezzlement, but when Haliburton, Custer Battles, Bremer & all USA companies do the same or far worse is A-OK?
March 24th, 2006 at 5:22 am‘NASTYOS’ has no cred.What a worm.
March 25th, 2006 at 2:39 am