Ex-U.S. Official in Iraq Says CPA Was 'Wild West'

[leftchick]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050214/pl_nm/iraq_contracting_dc_1


Ex-Coalition Provisional Authority official Franklin Willis cited examples of this "chaos" at a hearing of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee and said he believed most abuse and waste could have been avoided.


Willis showed a picture of himself and other U.S. officials holding up plastic-wrapped 'bricks' of $100 bills worth $2 million to pay security contractor Custer Battles, which the Defense Department has since suspended due to billing issues.


"The Custer Battles case, which while anecdotal, reflects a general pattern of waste and inefficiencies which could have been avoided," said Willis of contracting abuses in Iraq.


"In sum, inexperienced officials, fear of decision-making, lack of communications, minimal security, no banks and lots of money to spread around. This chaos I have referred to as a 'Wild West'," Willis, who was a senior aviation official for the CPA, told the hearing.

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A lawyer representing two "whistle-blowers" in the Custer Battles case, Alan Grayson, said his clients wanted to provide testimony at the hearing but had been too afraid to attend because of death threats, and because they feared retaliation from the Bush administration.


"In our case the Bush administration has not lifted a finger to recover tens of millions of dollars that our whistle-blowers allege was stolen from the government."