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GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS

Some Profiteer While Others Give Their Lives and Health

BY JOHN MITERKO, CHAIR,
VVA GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS COMMITTEE,
WITH VVA GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS STAFF

Human parasites who profiteer during a time of war through price-gouging, bid-rigging, embezzlement, kickbacks, fraud, and outright theft deserve prison time, not slap-on-the-wrist fines.

This was the theme of a brief and pointed hearing on Capitol Hill on March 20 conducted by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Arlen Specter (R-Penn.), ranking member of the committee. They were joined by a trio of colleagues from both sides of the political spectrum, Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.), and Ben Cardin (D-Md.).

They heard testimony from Stuart W. Bowen, Jr., special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, known as SIGIR; Thomas F. Gimble, acting inspector general for the Department of Defense; and a very upbeat Barry Sabin, deputy assistant attorney general in the Criminal Division, Department of Justice.

Leahy opened the hearing by quoting Abraham Lincoln, who called profiteers “worse than traitors.” In his essay, “War Is a Racket,” Marine Brigadier General Smedley Darlington Butler, twice a recipient of the Medal of Honor, railed against those who would profit unduly while soldiers and Marines were getting killed and maimed.

“Today, an Administration seemingly not thinking twice about shipping plane-loads of greenbacks to Iraq with no controls in place, a situation ripe for, and rife with, greedheads, has succeeded in undercutting, in hindering the war effort.”

Billions of dollars have just disappeared, Leahy said, citing the unprecedented use of private contractors. Citing the more than $12 billion that is simply unaccounted for, Leahy conveyed his displeasure to the panelists.

Senator Specter was just as outraged at “contractors who are taking advantage while brave young men and women are giving their lives and losing their limbs. He, like his colleague, named names: Halliburton, Kellogg Brown & Root, and Eagle Global Logistics.

The relatively small fines “are a license to steal,” Specter charged. “They are no incentive not to violate the law.”

“A few million in fines for multi-millions in overruns is no deterrent,” echoed Leahy.
The panelists, of course, attempted to defend the efforts of the Administration to crack down on fraud and abuse. Bowen attempted to shift blame from the shoulders of American contractors to corruption in the Iraqi government “in virtually every ministry.” He cited 2,000 investigations conducted by his office of Iraqi officials involving $8 billion in missing funds. [ Read the complete article ]