This is what happens when you privatize services

This one comes to us via Gaius Publius:

Yes, that's "House" up there with the divine Stephen Fry.

They can change their name; they're still evil

And I shall continue to call them "Blackwater". And drunken Blackwater contractors opened fire on a civilian vehicle in Afghanistan this month:

Four U.S. contractors affiliated with the company formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide fired on an approaching civilian vehicle in Kabul this month, wounding at least two Afghan civilians, according to the company and the U.S. military.

The off-duty contractors were involved in a car accident around 9 p.m. on May 5 and then fired on the approaching vehicle, which they believed to be a threat, according to the U.S. military. At least some of the men, who were former military personnel, had been allegedly drinking alcohol that evening, according to a person familiar with the incident. Off-duty contractors aren't supposed to carry weapons or drink alcohol.

The incident occurred at a delicate time for the U.S., which faces rising outrage from Afghan leaders over civilian casualties from U.S. airstrikes. For Xe, which is the name Blackwater chose this year to distance itself from its controversial security work in Iraq, the shooting comes as the Obama administration and Defense Secretary Robert Gates reconsider the role of military contractors, a practice that boomed during the Bush years.

The contractors were trainers hired by Paravant LLC, a subsidiary of Xe. Paravant has terminated contracts with the four men "for failure to comply with the terms of their contract," according to Xe spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell. "Contractual and or legal violations will not be tolerated," she said.

Way to win hearts and minds, fellas.

Why is this company still allowed to operate in Iraq and Afghanistan? Why is our money still going to pay this company? I realize that the Obama Administration has a lot on its plate, but this company is so unrelentingly evil there is no reason to continue using them.

C&L reaches new heights of Blog Coolness

...when the thinking woman's sex symbol, John Cusack, pays a visit to promote his new movie, War, Inc..

I am SO there.

Your tax dollars at work

Yes, I'm going to keep bringing this up: Why are conservatives sniffing around the home of families like the Frosts be make sure they "deserve" help from SCHIP, but don't seem to care about boondoggles like this:

More than a year after the Parsons Corporation, the American contracting giant, promised Congress that it would fix the disastrous plumbing and shoddy construction in barracks the company built at the Baghdad police academy, the ceilings are still stained with excrement, parts of the structures are crumbling and sections of the buildings are unusable because the toilets are filthy and nonfunctioning.

The project, where United States inspectors found giant cracks snaking through newly built walls and human waste dripping from ceilings, became one of the most visible examples of a $45 billion American reconstruction program that is widely seen as a failure.

The project also became an argument for the value of government oversight when, in response to the inspectors’ findings, a Parsons executive told Congress in September 2006 that the company would fix the problems at no cost to the United States. Parsons now says that it did so, directing an Iraqi subcontractor to correct deficiencies at no additional charge.

But Iraqi police recruits, instructors and officers at the Parsons-built barracks and classrooms on Sunday complained bitterly about the buildings’ condition, calling the contractor negligent and asking why the problems had not yet been fixed. The structures were refurbished or built from scratch at an overall cost of $72 million in American taxpayer money.

Recruits in some of the buildings had recently been ordered not to use any of the toilets on the upper floors because the urine and fecal matter consistently leaked onto the lower floors, several American officials at the academy said.

An American officer affiliated with a major new project to fix the problems said he shared the unhappiness of many of the Iraqis.

“What I’ve seen here disgusts me as a taxpayer,” said the officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the project. “When it’s for something good, I don’t mind flipping the dime, but this money just went from my pocket to a contractor.”

$72 billion. That's nearly TWICE the amount that George W. Bush said this country couldn't afford for providing health coverage to American children. We can't afford health coverage for American kids, but we can afford to shovel $72 billion of taxpayer cash into the pockets of a company like Parsons, which New Jersey residents have known for years can't find its own ass to wipe itself.

One would hope that once this bunch of criminals is gone from the scene (assuming they plan to leave, which will become far more doubtful if the Daniel Levin story by some miracle gains any traction) this race to privatize military activities will end. Meanwhile, it would help if boondoggles like this received the same amount of media coverage, hammering home the point if necessary, as cleavages, haircuts, and beefcake photos of presidential candidates.

Shit, piss, and corruption

This is what happens when you allow national security to become hostage to the greed of corporations.

Exhibit A: David H. Brooks, founder of unfortunately-named body armor manufacturer Point Blank Solutions. No, this isn't the nimrod who writes for the New York Times, alas. This guy is worse:

America's most ostentatious war profiteer is no longer a free man. In a long-anticipated move, FBI agents arrested bulletproof vest maker David H. Brooks in his Manhattan apartment at dawn on Thursday. In the tradition of Al Capone, Brooks was nabbed on allegations of financial shenanigans, despite strong suspicions that the defense contractor has much more serious crimes on his hands.

Brooks emerged as the poster boy for shameless war profiteering in November of 2005 when he blew some $10 million in profits from military contracts on a celebrity-studded party for his daughter. Leaked details of the bash drew national attention, including a description of Brooks' pink suede suit and photos of his daughter on stage with the rapper 50 Cent. A New York Times editorial compared Brooks to the ill-fated Marie Antoinette.

And indeed, while Brooks won't face a guillotine for his greed, he could spend up to 70 years in prison if convicted of all charges. The 71-page indictment (PDF) alleges that while Brooks was chief executive of DHB Industries, a leading provider of military body armor, he pocketed more than $185 million from insider trading, fraud and tax evasion. He is also charged with using millions of dollars in DHB funds for personal expenses.

A sampling of the charges authorities say Brooks concealed from shareholders and the IRS:

• $7,900 for a facelift for Brooks' wife
• more than $1 million for expenses related to his 100 trotting and breeding horses
• $101,190 for a belt buckle studded with diamonds, rubies and sapphires
• $101,500 for an armored vehicle for his family's use
• more than $1 million for numerous family vacations, including frequent stays at the Bellagio in Las Vegas and various Caribbean and European villas
• $31,802 to transport one of his daughters and her college friends to Halloween parties in Madison, Wisconsin, using a private jet
• hundreds of thousands of dollars in bonus checks drawn on a DHB bank account handed out by Brooks at a company Christmas party to non-DHB personnel, including his horse trainer
• and of course the predictable $10,000 here, $5,000 there for purchases at Luis Vuitton, Gucci, Gianni Versace, and Prada boutiques around the world

What makes Brooks' greed particularly obscene is that the bullet-proof vests that boosted his fortunes in the first place turned out to be not so bulletproof after all. In May 2005, the U.S. Marines recalled more than 5,000 DHB armored vests after they failed ballistics tests for stopping 9 mm bullets.

There's a special place in hell for guys who not only embezzle money but embezzle money made by providing faulty products to the U.S. military; products that put the lives of American soldiers at risk.

And speaking of putting the lives of American soldiers at risk, Exhibit B is our good friend Blackwater:

Federal agents are investigating allegations that the Blackwater USA security firm illegally exported dozens of firearms sound suppressors — commonly known as silencers — to Iraq and other countries for use by company operatives, sources close to the investigation tell NBC News.

Investigators from various federal agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the State Department and the Commerce Department, are digging into the allegations that the company exported the silencers without getting necessary export approval, according to law enforcement sources, who spoke to NBC News on condition of anonymity. The sources said the investigation is part of a broader examination of potential firearms and export violations.

Coincidentally, the company’s main responsibility in Iraq is protecting officials of the State Department, the agency that regulates exports of arms. The firm had more than $500 million in federal contracts in 2006.

Every time I see numbers like this I think of Michelle Malkin stalking the Frost family of Bethesda, Maryland looking for evidence that their children don't deserve help with their health care. And I wonder what the fuck kind of country we live in where we're sniffing around the parents of two brain-damaged children and we don't give a rat's ass about the mind-boggling sums of our taxpayer cash being shoveled into the pockets of the most corrupt companies in the country.

What's good for Halliburton and Blackwater and KBR and other big corporations is good for the troops

Or perhaps not:

A study completed in late June by the Pentagon's Inspector General concludes that the Department of Defense (DoD) has risked the lives of U.S. troops in Iraq due to malfeasance in awarding and monitoring contracts for badly-needed armored vehicles.

The study, which was requested by Democratic Congresswoman Louise Slaughter of New York, found that since 2000 the DoD has awarded "sole-source" contracts valued at $2.2 billion to just two companies, Force Protection, Inc.(FPI) and Armor Holdings, Inc (AHI).

Inspector General auditors found that the Marine Corps Systems Command (MCSC) made these two companies the sole providers of armored vehicles and armor kits for troops, despite knowing that other suppliers may have produced the equipment so desperately needed in Iraq substantially faster. Both manufacturers fell far behind delivery schedules, while AHI also produced inadequate and faulty equipment.

"We determined the MCSC justification for awarding the sole-source contracts was questionable because MCSC officials knew that viable competition was available and were aware of significant concerns with FPI’s delivery capability," said the report about the MCSC's rationale for looking at no suppliers other than FPI. "In addition, Marine Corps officials did not pursue competition as contracts continued to be awarded, which raises concerns about the recurring justification for urgency."

"The Marine Corps Systems Command continued to award contracts for armored vehicles to Force Protection, Inc., even though Force Protection, Inc., did not perform as a responsible contractor and repeatedly failed to meet contractual delivery schedules for getting vehicles to the theater," the report continued.

I wonder if Americans have woken up yet and realize that the private sector does NOT alwayd do everything better than the public sector.