State rewards Blackwater after finding fraudulent practices.
By on Dec 21st, 2007 at 4:25 pm
State rewards Blackwater after finding fraudulent practices.
A January 2005 reporton Blackwater’s Iraq contract by the State Department’s inspector general found “problems with how Blackwater tallied its labor costs, its overhead-expense costs, and its indirect costs. It also found that Blackwater cited its profit from the contract as a cost it incurred, and billed the government for it — resulting in what the report called ‘a pyramiding of profit.’” According to TPM’s Spencer Ackerman, who obtained the report through a FOIA request, the State Department “re-signed a deal with the company” months after finding the fraudulent accounting. More here.
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In line with Bush’s Pay It Forward Administration.
December 21st, 2007 at 4:31 pmThey are a Friend of Bush and Friends of Bush are never held to the same standards as everyone else.
I’m curious. Has anyone talked to Republican friends about Blackwater? If so, what is their opinion. The former Republicans I know are appalled with Blackwater and what they get away with. That’s part of the reason they are “former” Republicans.
December 21st, 2007 at 4:34 pmAnd the beat goes on. This administration and all those attached to it are like the chicken without a head running about the yard as if it was alive.
December 21st, 2007 at 4:34 pmAnd like a bull in the china shop, it creates one illegal mess after another without any regard to the rule of law or that which is morally and ethically right.
Notice no out cry by Americans as the taxpayers
December 21st, 2007 at 4:36 pmopenly being robbed. When 98 per cent of
Americans get the bill all hell will break out.
The Republicans will blame Bill Clinton for this
fraud. As Bush/Cheney continue to stay the
course robbing the US Treasury and Paulson makes
sure Goldman Sachs gets the big profits we will
pay for allowing it to happen. No wonder Bin
Ladin doesn’t have to destroy the US he knew
Americans will sit back and let the corrupt
Administration do it. Notice how Rich the Middle
East and China are getting as Americans watch
American Idol and Dancing with the Stars. The
laugh is on the United States and we will pay big
time. Blackwater and other fake contractors are
laughing all the way to the bank. Yes and
Americans just keep on giving any time Bush ask.
Oh yes who do we fault the Democrats never the
real crooks (Republicans).
Surely, someone was given a medal, too?
And cookies… ther were cookies, and vanilla ice cream for all, I assume?
December 21st, 2007 at 4:37 pm????? I didn’t think it could get much dumber, but apparently I was wrong. Isn’t that kind of like giving you house key and back account numbers to the guys that just robbed you.
December 21st, 2007 at 4:45 pmWhen the next Democratic President takes office in 2009, I hope Blackwater will lose its contract and be put back as part of the human race, accountable for their actions just like we are.
December 21st, 2007 at 4:45 pmThe whole concept of a private army, answerable only to BushCo, and at their whim, is one step closer to the American form of fascism that comes wrapped in the flag and carries a cross.
December 21st, 2007 at 4:48 pmI hope everybody has a retirement fund. We are gonna be broke in a very few years. Bush was a uniter: he just united all of our treasury to his friends.
December 21st, 2007 at 4:52 pmWhen the next Democratic President takes office in 2009, I hope Blackwater will lose its contract and be put back as part of the human race, accountable for their actions just like we are.
Comment by Merlin
The scary part of that will be all those former Blackwater mercenaries on the streets of America.
December 21st, 2007 at 4:53 pmWhat other kinds of practices would a fraudulent company practice?
December 21st, 2007 at 4:54 pm(how much fraud would a fraudchuck chuck, if a fraudchuck could chuck fraud?)
December 21st, 2007 at 4:55 pm(how much fraud would a fraudchuck chuck, if a fraudchuck could chuck fraud?)
Comment by tombaker
That made sense to me. Should I be worried?
December 21st, 2007 at 4:59 pmno – i should be relieved.
December 21st, 2007 at 5:07 pmAnd I apologize, to all the earnest and serious folks, for funning around. I really don’t want to trivialize the gravity of what’s going on, and the dead-serious cost of it all, but I can only get heavy about it for so long, without contributing something to ease the tension. How will we manage the future, if we’ve all driven ourselves to neurosis during “the bad times”?
December 21st, 2007 at 5:10 pmAmerica is FUBAR. Failing upwards is now standard.
December 21st, 2007 at 5:10 pmI would have been shocked had Blackwater NOT received more of our hard
earned tax paying dollars.
This news is 100% completely expected and part of the status quo.
December 21st, 2007 at 5:11 pmAnd how much of that has gone or is pledged to go to Conservative coffers?
December 21st, 2007 at 5:14 pmbut I can only get heavy about it for so long, without contributing something to ease the tension. How will we manage the future, if we’ve all driven ourselves to neurosis during “the bad times�
Comment by tombaker
As much as I hate to admit it, that is what my wife says to me all the time. But in no way does that diminish my disgust for the things which are occurring. A person just cannot stay mad all the time – it is not healthy.
December 21st, 2007 at 5:15 pmGood friends of Bush- corrupt to the bone. No surprise at all. Bush/Cheney administration- a gov’t for the few at the expense of the many.
December 21st, 2007 at 5:21 pmComment by tombaker — December 21, 2007 @ 5:10 pm
Humor, even “black humor”, is good for the soul. I always welcome a reason to laugh at our tormentors.
December 21st, 2007 at 5:31 pmMerlin is right – Backwater, as a corporation, can make contracts with whomever it pleases, and enjoy biased protections that render us their potential victims. What happens when a Trump-type character decides he’d like to have a heavily armed escort everywhere he goes, and they decide that it’s ok to taser your kid or shoot your dog, or you.
Private armies on the loose are something the Founders had a legitimate and firsthand aversion to. Our military has long upheld the tradition that mercs are the lowest of the low, and for good reason. We don’t need to foster the emergence of a new class of feudal plutocrats, any more than we need to be caught intheir crossfire. A new President, with a new SecDef, should make it a top priority to do away with companies like Backwater immediately.
December 21st, 2007 at 5:32 pmWhat a coincidence. I falsified documents at my company and we were fined 100’s of thousands of dollars and then I had to work overtime to correct the mistakes and then….get this…I falsified my timesheets…..needless to say I got a great bonus this year and I’m up for a promotion.
December 21st, 2007 at 5:32 pm#15 Comment by tombaker — December 21, 2007 @ 5:10 pm
And I apologize, to all the earnest and serious folks, for funning around.
A sense of humor in times of crisis and overwhelming situations is a very healthy reaction. It keeps one sane and in context with reality. There is no need to apologize, Tom.
And, of course, this is what real comedy is about. Laughter at sometimes crazy situations that affect us, yet we have no control over.
December 21st, 2007 at 5:32 pmI’m curious. Has anyone talked to Republican friends about Blackwater?
December 21st, 2007 at 5:34 pmComment by bilbobaggins
I would imagine Republicans are desperately avoiding Blackwater, spinning the wedge issues,… God, gays, immigration, abortion to distract the horrors of what has become as a result of their party being in charge. All my relatives are republicans… political discussion is now not allowed. And I am going to guess 25% of them do not know what Blackwater is.
this is ot but important:
Nataline Sarkisyan passes away. Shame on Cigna!
read about it here,
http://crooksandliars.com/
thank you.
December 21st, 2007 at 5:34 pmSurely, someone was given a medal, too?
And cookies… there were cookies, and vanilla ice cream for all, I assume?
Comment by The Republic of Stupidity —
December 21st, 2007 at 5:36 pmLOL
#10Comment by bilbobaggins — December 21, 2007 @ 4:53 pm
The scary part of that will be all those former Blackwater mercenaries on the streets of America.
Yeah, better to fight them over there than have them flying planes into our skyscrapers here.
December 21st, 2007 at 5:37 pmWhen the war comes home, nobody is going to like it.
December 21st, 2007 at 5:56 pm26 joe cantwell
I am also hearing this on the MSM… more news like this, more will get on board for a health care system completely eliminating this immoral money grabbing insurance industry.
Bottom line:
December 21st, 2007 at 6:03 pm
That’a a great accounting trick! I’ll ask our CFO if we can’t do that here where I work. I’ll be a hero! Add millions to our bottom line! I’ll get a huge bonus for my great idea!
What? Can’t spend any of that in jail? Damn…
December 21st, 2007 at 6:08 pmRewarded for stealing from the American People, this is just so…mmmm, Republican of them, after all they got theirs, you got screwed.
I do sooooo hate the repukian slime that is destroying this country.
Bush/Cheney/Blackwater
Hague Trials ‘09
Buck Fush
December 21st, 2007 at 6:14 pmBlackwater are the guys bush hired in highschool to beat up the guys who picked on him.
December 21st, 2007 at 6:17 pmThat’s how things work in Bush’s criminal world: you get a merit raise or bonus when you break the law. Simple as that. Lie or commit criminal actions and you get promoted! It’s “Bush’s Law” and apparent throughout his tainted, necrotic administration.
December 21st, 2007 at 6:21 pm#34 Comment by Veritas — December 21, 2007 @ 6:21 pm
That’s how things work in Bush’s criminal world: you get a merit raise or bonus when you break the law. Simple as that. Lie or commit criminal actions and you get promoted! It’s “Bush’s Law†and apparent throughout his tainted, necrotic administration.
And medals of freedom. You left out the medals! And the pardons. Those are great incentives! Its great to live in BushCos place that is soft and warm and never sees the sun.
December 21st, 2007 at 6:48 pm“What a coincidence. I falsified documents at my company and we were fined 100’s of thousands of dollars and then I had to work overtime to correct the mistakes and then….get this…I falsified my timesheets…..needless to say I got a great bonus this year and I’m up for a promotion.
Comment by dlet — December 21, 2007 @ 5:32 pm”
Are you bragging about this? Do you know the definition of amoral? I didn’t think so. When you learn the difference between right and wrong, come see me. This is what is wrong with this country and with the Bushies. No comprehension of what they shouldn’t do. Ever read the Constititution? I didn’t think so. Bet you took an oath to GWB to get as rich as possible on the backs of whoever is in your way. Go home.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:12 pmSince bloody when can a corporation claim that its profits are a “cost of doing business” and thus demand profit on profit? Even Halliburton Corporation, late of Dubai, has never gone this far into absurdity…
Back in the old days of World War II, war profiteering was considered as very bad form, so even called it unpatriotic or possibly treasonous… But in the 21st century in fascist America, corporate greed rules the roost and naysayers are dismissed with the wave of Dana Perino’s fine pale hands…
December 21st, 2007 at 10:22 pmwheres Kilo on this thread to remind us of how much accoutability blackwater has?… if you are using loose definitions of words, like morons like bigfoot are, I guess blackwater does have lots of “accoutability” because they have lots of taxpayer funded “accounts”
December 21st, 2007 at 11:38 pmHow come accountability is a WH stated necessity of schools – but a negative influence on the WH ?
December 22nd, 2007 at 1:24 amBlackwater, KBR, Halliburton as American as Al Capone and Ted Bundy.
December 22nd, 2007 at 9:24 amNever before has a President and Vice President deserved to be impeached more than these.
Yet our Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, is working behind the scenes with House Democrats, not to build a consensus for impeachment, but to do just the opposite: to keep others from succeeding in their effort to hold this president accountable by means of impeachment.
With the FISA bill still looming in the Senate, and a new war funding bill passed with no structure in place to Bring our Troops Home, we have to show the leaders of the House and Senate that this is still our country.
Please read the petition to replace Pelosi with a Democratic Representative who will bring impeachment proceedings to the floor. A Question of Privilege under House Rules IX can declare the Speaker seat vacant.
It can be done, it must be done. We have waited long enough.
http://www.petitiononline.com/everyman/petition.html
December 22nd, 2007 at 11:26 amPlease note the absolute absence of trolls on this thread. Republicans know that something is rotten in the party. The trolls would always rise up with comments as to how this occurred with past Democratic administrations and how Bill Clinton was worse.
Fewer voices are heard making these claims. The objective evidence is indeed that the current administration has been one of the most corrupt administrations since the Teapot Dome Scandal. The Republican Congress seems to racking up points as well. There seems to be a peculiar affinity for sexual perversion in the Republican Party as well as a total inability for the foremost leaders to remain faithful to their spouse. Democrats have their problems but nothing on the morals count anywhere near the Republicans. If you look at Blue state vs Red state objective measures of “values” in this area, we see that the Red states always lead in divorces, teen pregnancy, out of wedlock birth rates. Yet the Republicans are the party of family values as narrowly defined by opposition to abortion and gays.
The comments I now hear from my Republican friends is essentially that politics are corrupt but that it would be worse with a Democrat as president or with large majorities.
December 22nd, 2007 at 12:57 pmAm I understanding this correctly? Blackwater made a profit, wrote the profit off as an expense and then billed the government for that expense?
My little bookkeeping brain can’t wrap myself around that idea. (And I’m a Certified Bookkeeper.)
December 22nd, 2007 at 1:20 pm