Army Overseer Tells of Ouster Over KBR Stir

Army Overseer Tells of Ouster Over KBR Stir

www.nytimes.com

WASHINGTON — The Army official who managed the Pentagon’s largest contract in Iraq says he was ousted from his job when he refused to approve paying more than $1 billion in questionable charges to KBR, the Houston-based company that has provided food, housing and other services to American troops.

The official, Charles M. Smith, was the senior civilian overseeing the multibillion-dollar contract with KBR during the first two years of the war. Speaking out for the first time, Mr. Smith said that he was forced from his job in 2004 after informing KBR officials that the Army would impose escalating financial penalties if they failed to improve their chaotic Iraqi operations.

Army auditors had determined that KBR lacked credible data or records for more than $1 billion in spending, so Mr. Smith refused to sign off on the payments to the company. “They had a gigantic amount of costs they couldn’t justify,” he said in an interview. “Ultimately, the money that was going to KBR was money being taken away from the troops, and I wasn’t going to do that.”

But he was suddenly replaced, he said, and his successors — after taking the unusual step of hiring an outside contractor to consider KBR’s claims — approved most of the payments he had tried to block.

(visit the link for the full news article)



Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
BBC uncovers lost Iraq billions

The stories of corruption just keep coming - this time ANOTHER official is ousted after questioning excessive payments by the ex-Halliburton subsidiary KBR.

Of course this couldn't possible have anything to with cheney's ex? role in Halliburton, and the fact that he still owns $5 million of stock options, despite saying he had sold them all.

Time and again Bush&co turn a blind eye to corruption, whilst their pals in the corporate world get richer off the back of the american taxpayer.

Some will say "It's only a billion" but this is the latest in a long line of people who have come forwards to speak out against the corruption which is rife in war run by corporations.

The link to a related thread takes you to the BBC documentary about the MISSING $23 BILLION - which is still only a drop in the ocean of the amount of money that has been stolen from the taxpayers.

www.nytimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

The word cronyism comes to mind. Quite frequently, actually. Let's see if we can connect a few dots: Cheney + Halliburton + KBR + long-drawn-out-unjustified-war = ungodly war profiteering.

Nah, it's probably just my imagination...

reply to post by maria_stardust


And then the honest people who try to do something about it find themselves out of a job and maybe blacklisted, because they tried to follow the rules.

These people don't care who they destroy as long as the money keeps rolling in.

Originally posted by budski
These people don't care who they destroy as long as the money keeps rolling in.

I guess it's not just my imagination.

It's all about the money, afterall!

No it's not just your imagination

The BBC documentary in the related thread link provides a truly stunning picture of the level of corruption and hypocrisy involved.

And remember we have no reason to whine and complain..

Us Americans Love our economy being raped and our name dragged thru the mud..

As long as American Idol and Britney Spears is on TV all is good..

And no I don't care what you people think.. actions speak louder than words.

::EDIT::

Wanted to add....


reply to post by budski


There is another one called war made easy ATS was running it a while its a good eye opener...

::END EDIT::

::EDIT AGAIN::

I had the movie wrong... Its called Iraq For Sale...

::End EDIT AGAIN::

[edit on 6/17/2008 by ThichHeaded]

[edit on 6/17/2008 by ThichHeaded]

I'm just numb to it now. The amounts are beyond comprehension for someone who could live well for the rest of my life on what's probably fallen behind these people's couches.

Let's see.. for the majority of Americans (working class) it would take a little over 6000 years to earn a billion dollars ...longer than recorded history.

And they don't seem to even care about this. It'll just move on with the news cycle and nothing will ever be done about it.