How far must one look when an avalanche of evidence stares us in the face? Sorry, the Bush Administration is completely incapable of investigating itself. Either Congress grows gonads in a hurry or their is no recourse for these violations of the law.

Lewis says the best example of these cozy relationships is the defense policy board, a group of high-powered civilians who advise the secretary of defense on major policy issues - like whether or not to invade Iraq. Its 30 members are a Who’s Who of former senior government and military officials.

There’s nothing wrong with that, but as the Center For Public Integrity recently discovered, nine of them have ties to corporations and private companies that have won more than $76 billion in defense contracts. And that’s just in the last two years.

If that is not bad enough; then what the government does is demote people that speak out against no-bid contracts.

Army Contract Official Critical of Halliburton Pact Is Demoted August 29, 2005

Known as a stickler for the rules on competition, Ms. Greenhouse initially received stellar performance ratings, Mr. Kohn said. But her reviews became negative at roughly the time she began objecting to decisions she saw as improperly favoring Kellogg Brown & Root, he said. Often she hand-wrote her concerns on the contract documents, a practice that corps leaders called unprofessional and confusing.

Ms. Greenhouse fought the demotion through official channels, and publicly described her clashes with Corps of Engineers leaders over a five-year, $7 billion oil-repair contract awarded to Kellogg Brown & Root. She had argued that if urgency required a no-bid contract, its duration should be brief.

Ms. Greenhouse had also fought the granting of a waiver to Kellogg Brown & Root in December 2003, approving the high prices it had paid for fuel imports for Iraq, and had objected to extending its five-year contract for logistical support in the Balkans for 11 months and $165 million without competitive bidding. In late June, ignoring warnings from her superiors, Ms. Greenhouse appeared before a Congressional panel, calling the Kellogg Brown & Root oil contract “the most blatant and improper contract abuse I have witnessed during the course of my professional career.” She also said the defense secretary’s office had improperly interfered in the awarding of the contract.

But on July 14, the Army secretary approved Ms. Greenhouse’s demotion, effective Aug. 27. With his request to proceed, General Strock had provided an unsigned nine-page memorandum, reviewing Ms. Greenhouse’s recent performance ratings and responding to her allegations of impropriety.

If anyone has any morals they are demoted and taken out of the process. The rapid growth in no-bid contracts has made full and open competition the exception, not the rule. As of August of 2007, we had awarded 207 billion in no-bid contracts, up 60 billion from the year before. Neither the DOD or GAO can be trusted; they need a true independent review board and investigators. Most have found ways to circumvent the system, to make it look legal. Halliburton is a great example.

Unless it is a smoke and mirror operation, investigate and find no problems before January 2009. Then if new investigations are proposed the remaining repugs will have those findings to hold on to while screaming foul at the Dems. Hopefully we’ll obtain a 2/3 majority in both the House and Senate, then it won’t matter how loud they yell.

GAO ~ Yes there was impropriety, and it was illegal, please forward results to AG’s office for shitcanning.

I only hope that the GAO will continue its investigation largely independent of the Department of Defense…because if not, I have the sinking suspicion that the DoD will try to find some way of impeding or sabotaging it. Expecting an organization to police itself properly and investigate itself thoroughly is not particularly realistic, never mind smart.

Yes, I’m sure that the DoD investigating itself is going to yield results. This blatantly illegal propaganda program requires independent investigation.

http://progressiveworldreview.com

I think an Independant Cousel is due here.