NYT: Brothers, Bad Blood and the Blackwater Tangle

[99th_Monkey]

Source: New York Times

By SCOTT SHANE
Published: November 17, 2007

BALTIMORE, Nov. 16 — They were smart, scrappy brothers who rose from modest circumstances in Baltimore to become lacrosse stars at Princeton, succeed in business and land big government jobs. Now the Krongard brothers — who have carried childhood nicknames, Buzzy and Cookie, through long careers — are tied up in the tangled story of Blackwater, the security contractor accused in the deaths of at least 17 Iraqis while guarding a State Department convoy in Baghdad.

But the concern about a conflict resulted Friday in the resignation of Alvin B. Krongard — Buzzy — from the Blackwater advisory board he had just joined. The company said he hoped to defuse accusations that his ties to the company were causing Howard J. Krongard — Cookie — the State Department inspector general, to go easy on Blackwater.

Alvin Krongard, 71, who left a $4 million-a-year job in investment banking to serve in top posts at the Central Intelligence Agency from 1998 to 2004, played what he describes as a routine role as an "intermediary" in helping Blackwater get its first big security contract from the agency for guards in Afghanistan in 2002.

Meanwhile, Howard Krongard, 66, a former general counsel at the accounting firm of Deloitte & Touche who took the State Department job in 2005, was grilled this week by House Democrats. They accused Mr. Krongard (who does not use his nickname professionally, as his brother does) of alienating his staff and improperly interfering in investigations, including a Justice Department inquiry into allegations of weapons smuggling by Blackwater employees.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/17/us/17brothers.html?_r...

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Blackwater's tentacles reach not only into the CIA (no big surprise there) but also deep into the very Office of Inspector General, which is the agency that is supposedly "investigating" Blackwater's horrific misdeeds.

[merwin]

1. Buzzy, Cookie, Scooter, Turd Blossom...

WTF is up with these Neocons and their insane nicknames.

[kineneb]

6. goes along with Muffy and Buffy

must be a "preppy" Ivy League-type thing

all I got was "hey, you"...but I went to a state college.

[99th_Monkey]

12. Probably their Bohemian Grove psuedonyms n/t

[calimary]

14. Reminds me of the Saddam sons, Ouday and Qusay - or "Ookie and Kookie"

as some called them. So these are the Ookie and Kookie of republi-CON politics.

And as you said - WTF gives with these assholes and their pathetic stupid-ass nicknames? Is this their idea of further "youthful indiscretions" or something?

[IndianaGreen]

2. A similar thing happened at the DOD IG

political interference killed an investigation of Dov Zakheim (sic), a neocon who headed the Comptroller, that involved the diversion of funds earmarked for Afghanistan reconstruction for Iraq war (which was not authorized by Congress at the time).

[lib2DaBone]

3. Same "Buzzy" Krongard from Sept 11th ?

Is this the same "Buzzy" Krongard that placed the big stock trade on Sept 11th ? http://www.hereinreality.com/insidertrading.html

[rodeodance]

4. SOMEONE had posted a yes to this question previously

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. !!!

[many a good man]

8. Buzzy was end of the trail for 911 put options

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[99th_Monkey]

9. Wow! Now I did NOT know that. Thanks for the link... Damn. n/t

[rodeodance]

5. it seems Waxman thinks Cookie lied to him at the hearing. he is in deep poo

[donkeyotay]

10. Another indication that something is more than rotten in the alphabet soup

of agencies supposedly protecting our freedom. This story reminds me of Wade and Wilkes and bribes and prostitutes and our representatives hard at work. In the aftermath of 9-11, while you and I were still in shock, Dukester (add to Cookie, Buzzy, Scooter, Satan, et al) was ramping up his bribes. And don't forget Abramoff, who everyone seems to forget since he's in prison and supposedly talking, but I wonder what he did before he became the disgraced lobbyist no one knows, but the DoJ sure twisted into a donut, so I can't help but wonder how deep they actually dug. Well, at least the president isn't involved...

[99th_Monkey]

13. It boggles the mind, and Buzzy's where 911 put-options trail led. *sigh*

as noted above in this string.. but NO we CAN'T impeach the rotten-to-the-core crowd in the WH, it "might look bad".. gimme a freakin break.

how many ways can America be sold out? they keep finding new ones and setting their own records.

[MisterP]

15. let's not forget Kerik's Ground Zero apartment, reserved for firefighters, wherein he had an affair

a veritable trifecta!

[KoKo]

11. These brothers are kind of old to be getting into this kind of stuff....wonder who

felt that a 71 and 66 year old who played lacrosse at Princton in their youth would be good Bush Fixers.

Usually the Bushies like their Yalies to help them out. Or, those folks from the Texas Universities.