MSNBC link disappeared? "McCain fundraiser accused of ‘war profiteering’"

[YDogg]

It was on their main page. The link:
http://deepbackground.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/10/16/1557549.aspx

404.

[sharp_stick]

1. That link is functional again

It's on their deepbackground page.

[YDogg]

2. thanks! it was out of service for 3-4 minutes and I wondered whether it had been deep-sixed.

[AlCzervik]

3. wapo also has it also

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=7482234&mesg_id=7482234

[Iwasthere]

4. Here it is. In case it goes away again

McCain fundraiser accused of "war profiteering"
Posted on Thursday, October 16, 2008 1:21 PM ET
Filed Under: Politics, Government waste
By Aram Roston, NBC News Producer


A company that ships oil into Iraq for use by American forces there "appears to have engaged in a reprehensible form of war profiteering," according to a letter by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Cal., Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The company, International Oil Trading Limited, is run by Florida-based businessman Harry Sargeant, a top fundraiser for the presidential campaign of Senator John McCain.

Waxman's committee launched an investigation earlier his year following a May 2008 report by NBC News that first reported on the oil contracts.

Sargeant, the McCain fundraiser, is the president of IOTC, which won massive Pentagon contracts to provide U.S. troops in Iraq with fuel. NBC first reported on the contracts in May. This summer, Sargeant came under the spotlight again after the Washington Post reported that he was at the center of campaign-contribution "bundling" involving tens of thousands of dollars in political contributions from "unlikely" donors. In August the McCain campaign said it was returning about $50,000 linked to Sargeant's fundraising.

Today, Waxman released a letter he sent to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, calling for action on the huge oil contracts. "Over the last four years," Waxman wrote, "IOTC has been paid over $1.4 billion by U.S. taxpayers to deliver fuel through Jordan into Iraq and has earned a profit of over $210 million."

Waxman said that those profits were significant. "The IOTC contracts stand out for the extent of the company’s apparent profiteering. Of the $210 million in profits received by the company, at least one third--$70 million--appears to have benefited a single individual: Mr. Sargeant. If the IOTC contracts had been awarded to the lowest bidders, the taxpayers could have saved over $180 million."

As NBC News reported, Sargeant was sued by his former business parter, a brother-in-law of the king of Jordan. According to the Waxman letter: "As a March 2004 'Preaward Survey' reported, IOTC’s 'major strength is the backing of the Royal Family.' In effect, this backing gave IOTC a monopoly on the delivery of fuel through Jordan."

A lawyer for Sargeant and IOTC has not returned a call seeking comment.

[Supersedeas]

5. still wonder why MSNBC dropped it -- pressure from Pfluffernutter and Nicky Wallace