Pentagon Memo Warned on Army Contractors

[DoYouEverWonder]

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-iraq-contractors,0,6511655.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines

May 7, 2004, 3:54 AM EDT

WASHINGTON -- A year before the Iraq invasion, the then-Army secretary warned his Pentagon bosses that there was inadequate control of private military contractors, which are now at the heart of controversies over misspending and prisoner abuse.

<snip>

In a sign of continued problems with the tracking of contracts, Pentagon officials on Thursday acknowledged they have yet to identify which Army entity manages the multimillion-dollar contract for interrogators like the one accused in the Iraq prisoner abuse probe.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld also acknowledged his department hasn't completed rules to govern the 20,000 or so private security guards watching over U.S. officials, installations and private workers in Iraq.

<snip>

"You've got thousands of people running around on taxpayer dollars that the Pentagon can't account for in any way," said Dan Guttman, a lawyer and government contracting expert at Johns Hopkins University. "Contractors are invisible, even at the highest level of the Pentagon."


Now tell me again, the pResident thinks that Rummie has done a good job and that there is no need to ask him to resign? Yet, he didn't have clue on 9-11, he still hasn't found Osama, he was totally wrong about how many troops we would need in Iraq, he hasn't had time to read the report about his people torturing prisoners at Abu Ghraib, and now we find out he doesn't have clue about who in charge of who and where all the money is going with all these private contracts that he loves so much. With leaders like this, who needs enemies?

[shraby]

1. If I ran my household

that bad we'd be living in a tent in the forest within two months.

[MSgt213]

2. These people shouldn't be running birthday parties.

[maddezmom]

3. Thomas White of Enron fame

The author of that memo, retired Army chief Thomas White, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press that the recent events show the Pentagon has a long way to go to fix the problems he identified in March 2002.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Pentagon had no intention of fixing the problems...and still have contractors from CACI working at the prison.

[librechik]

12. Paging Ron Suskind! Go interview This Guy for your next book!

and hurry!

[izzie]

4. The Army does not know what companies has ' guns for hire' in their prison

You have got to be pulling my leg.

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. If I ran my business like this

I would have to fire myself. Otherwise, the IRS would shut me down soon enough.

This whole situation is beyond ridiculous. I feel like we all live in a Felini film.

[Norquist Nemesis]

6. Wasn't Condi the one who was put in charge to coordinate

things in Iraq? Not suprising this went to complete chaos so fast.

[DoYouEverWonder]

7. Yep, she was going to be the unsticker

once again she has also proved to be a miserable failure.

Where's Donald Trump? We need him to come on down to DC and fire some folks.

[soleft]

8. kick

[seemslikeadream]

9. Pentagon Memo Warned on Army Contractors

Pentagon Memo Warned on Army Contractors


MATT KELLEY

Associated Press


WASHINGTON - A year before the Iraq invasion, the then-Army secretary warned his Pentagon bosses that there was inadequate control of private military contractors, which are now at the heart of controversies over misspending and prisoner abuse.

The author of that memo, retired Army chief Thomas White, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press that the recent events show the Pentagon has a long way to go to fix the problems he identified in March 2002.

"Clearly, there was a lot of work that had to be done and still needs to be done," White said Thursday.

In a sign of continued problems with the tracking of contracts, Pentagon officials on Thursday acknowledged they have yet to identify which Army entity manages the multimillion-dollar contract for interrogators like the one accused in the Iraq prisoner abuse probe.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld also acknowledged his department hasn't completed rules to govern the 20,000 or so private security guards watching over U.S. officials, installations and private workers in Iraq.

more
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/world/8610240.htm


Many U.S. workers in Iraq unchecked


Two contract workers have been implicated in the Abu Ghraib prison abuses, and investigators found that one of them, a translator working with interrogators who were trying to obtain sensitive information from Iraqi prisoners, had no security clearance at all.


more
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/energy/2555342


Debate on military contractors heats up


"There is no one minding the store here," Singer said. "We are holding soldiers accountable but not holding contractors accountable."

Although at least one Titan employee has been identified in an Army report as a suspect, neither Titan nor CACI International has been told by the Pentagon of any wrongdoing by their employees in Iraq, officials of both companies said.

Titan and CACI are two out of hundreds of defense contractors that have received billions of dollars by assisting in military operations and the reconstruction of Iraq.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20040507-9999-1n7contract....

[74dodgedart]

10. ahh, the wonders of privatization...

The attempts to privatize the US corrections system has been a flop for the most part..Of course the taxpayer picks up the bill.

[Insider]

11. alternate theory

either

a. this entire admin is surprisingly, strangely, unexplainably incompetent at every aspect of OUR business,

or

b. they are extremely effective, efficient, successful at executing THEIR plan.

you be the judge

[bobthedrummer]

13. These people are criminals hiding behind national security and the

grey and black budgets. It's time to unleash law enforcement professionals that have been stopped (for many years) by the intrusion of "national security" in investigations and cases.

NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW.