» Combat Support Ass. (CSA) Ms Sparky

Blackwater, covert crime and the 100k belt buckle in the news

August 1, 2010 — Forseti

No Afghan trip for 2 ex-Blackwater defendants
NORFOLK - July 31, 2010 – A federal judge said Friday he will allow a videotaped deposition of an Afghan doctor in the murder case against two former Blackwater security guards. Siding with the government, he ruled against sending the defendants to Afghanistan for the testimony.

The former Blackwater workers, Christopher Drotleff of Virginia Beach and Justin Cannon of Corpus Christi, Texas, are charged with killing two Afghan citizens and wounding a third after a traffic accident in Kabul in May 2009.

The government contends the two left an Army base without permission and had been drinking that day. Drotleff and Cannon say they fired in self-defense when the Afghans charged at them in a vehicle. (Click HERE for article)

Court rules man has paid restitution
Lynne Hendricks – July 31, 2010 – AMESBURY — A U.S. District Court judge ruled this week that Amesbury resident Paul Arguin, 47, has satisfied his restitution to the U.S. government and should not be liable for the full $3.2 million he was sentenced to pay after pleading guilty to charges of fraud while a consultant for the Air Force.

The former longtime School Committee member has turned over approximately $700,000 to $800,000 in restitution to date, according to the indictment. According to a judge considering Arguin’s request to deem the debt satisfied, that amount is sufficient to compensate the government, given it received a $15 million settlement from Arguin’s employer Dynamic Research Corporations in a related civil suit.

Arguin served a five-year jail sentence for improperly profiting from a U.S. Air Force contract by setting up corporations to sell and resell computer storage devices to the government and directing the business to corporations he and his boss had interests in, according to the indictment.

Arguin and his boss, Victor J. Garber, 63, formerly of North Andover were indicted in 2000, charged with 49 counts of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government, wire fraud and aiding and abetting in violation of U.S. law, among other charges. It was asserted the two used their positions as technology consultants to the Air Force employed by defense contractor DRC to divert government procurement funds for personal use. (Click HERE for article)

(Read the rest of the story here…)

102K DoD contractors in Iraq over half are Third Country Nationals

April 30, 2010 — Ms Sparky

Nepalese, Bangladeshi, Indian and Sri Lankan people demonstrating in front of the warehouses they are living in. They came to Iraq to make a living but ended up stranded and penniless

If you have been reading “Ms Sparky” very long you know how I feel about the massive hiring of third country nationals (TCN’s) from SE Asia. This practice encourages human trafficking that appears to go unchecked. Many of these TCN’s were recruited under false pretenses and thought they had paid recruiters for jobs in Dubai or Jordan only to find out they we coming to Iraq just before they landed in Baghdad. Passports are taken, if they are even being paid as agreed to it is pennies in comparison to Americans, their living conditions are overcrowded and unsanitary, the food lacks in proper nutrition. Many of these TCN’s are left stranded in Iraq when the contractor skips. Once in country these people are often further exploited financially and sexually. This practice of using US taxpayer dollars to sanction this human trafficking has to stop. If the DoD claims they don’t know these abuses are going on they are bold face liars!

With the US economy in the toilet and US citizens out of work, these war zone jobs should be offered to US citizens first. Those who will spend the money in the US, in their home States, in their communities. Talk about and economic boost. And the old excuse that it’s too expensive to hire Americans is bull sh*t! The DoD could care less about the money they spend. To them the end justifies the means.

Here is a great article by David Isenberg at the Huffington Post on the most recent SIGER report on contractor numbers in Iraq. The TCN numbers are staggering.

SIGIR’s Latest on PMC

David Isenberg – Huffington Post – April 30, 2010
Author, Shadow Force: Private Security Contractors in Iraq (Praeger Security International)

The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction has just released its latest Quarterly Report.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Posted in Agility/PWC/GCC, Combat Support Ass. (CSA), GOV. CONTRACTORS, Iraq Human Trafficking, LOGCAP III - KBR, LOGCAP IV - KBR, LOGCAP-Dyncorp, LOGCAP-Fluor, RIO-KBR, Security Contractors. Tags: DoD Contractors, Human Trafficking, SIGIR. 4 Comments »

Defense contractors and their sex crimes go unreported and unpunished

April 21, 2010 — Ms Sparky

David Isenberg: PMC and Sex Crimes

David Isenberg – Huffington Post
Author, Shadow Force: Private Security Contractors in Iraq (Praeger Security International)
Posted: April 21, 2010 12:07 PM

On April 16 the Department of Defense Inspector General released a report that nobody has been talking about. Allow me to be the first. Perhaps we should subtitle it the crime that dare not speak its name, as it deals with a topic that most private military contractors (PMC) generally don’t talk about publicly.

The title of the report is “Efforts to Prevent Sexual Assault/Harassment Involving DOD Contractors During Contingency Operations.” .

My first thought is how is it that some contractors can’t seem to keep it in their pants? This is an issue that seems to keep happening over the years; from the days when DynCorp contractors were involved in a sex trafficking scandal in Bosnia when employees and supervisors engaged in sex with 12 to 15 year old children, and sold them to each other as slaves to the gang-rape of Jamie Leigh Jones a former KBR employee who claimed that seven KBR employees drugged and gang-raped her on July 28, 2005 at Camp Hope, Baghdad, Iraq.

For those who like to dismiss such things as isolated occurrences just head on over to the “Rape, Hazing, Discrimination & Harassment” section of Ms. Sparky’s blog and you will be promptly disabused of such a notion. (Read the rest of the story here…)

Combat Support Associates (CSA) employees seek class action in Kuwait (update)

January 23, 2010 — Ms Sparky

Updated: 3/2/2010 – When this person Orlando Turner contacted me I did my best to check him out. He seemed “balanced” and the information he gave checked out. I thought his class action claims against CSA were valid and I still do, because there are just too many people complaining about abuses and fraud. After he went to Kuwait to talk to an attorney I didn’t hear back from him. Nothing! Evidently there were other domestic issues going on that I was unaware of, thank God! From what I understand, Mr. Turner evidently went to Kuwait and threatened to blow up the Philippine Embassy among other things. Commenter “Zero Tolerance” left links to various news article about this in the comments.

I apologize. I have to say, I’m not so easily fooled, but I sure didn’t see that one coming! If anyone else wants to pick up the Class Action ball and you don’t have any plans to commit any acts of terrorism let me know.

Ms Sparky

I have not heard from this person since he went to Kuwait to meet with this attorney. I have sent several emails and have been told he has not responded to others emails. I am removing the contact form until I hear something. If anyone else is pursuing legal action against CSA let me know. I check this guy out as a former CSA employee who indeed was pursuing a Class Class Action. I just don’t know what happened to him after he went to Kuwait.

Any current or former Combat Support Associates (CSA) employees in Kuwait interested in information regarding a potential class action suit against them please fill out the contact form below. This form does not go to “Ms Sparky”. It will go to the people organizing the suit.

(Contact form temporarily removed)

Posted in Combat Support Ass. (CSA), GOV. CONTRACTORS, LAWSUITS. Tags: Combat Support Ass. (CSA), LAWSUITS. 161 Comments »

Defense contractors must now air dirty deeds in public

January 17, 2010 — Ms Sparky

Defense contractors such as KBR can no longer hide behind the closed doors of secret binding arbitration for serious issues such as discrimination, harassment, rape and assault. No longer with KBR and others be able to violate Title VII Laws and then just sweep them under the rug behind closed doors. Those abusive criminal managers who have been in place for years are finally going to cost them some money and Heather Browne, KBR’s Communications Director is going to be working overtime. Well done, Jamie Leigh Jones and thank you Al Franken for taking these issue seriously. Hopefully this is just the first in a series of laws to protect defense contractor employees.

For those who respond to every dispute or disagreement here on MsSparky.com with “You signed a contract”. You can’t sign away law! (Read the rest of the story here…)