» Huffington Post Ms Sparky

KBR’s Unauthorized Deaths

June 3, 2010 — Ms Sparky

David Isenberg – Huffington Post Posted: June 3, 2010 02:08 PM
Author, Shadow Force: Private Security Contractors in Iraq (Praeger Security International)

When I was in the Green Zone 2004-2006 KBR used Global Security "Gurkhas" to guard the Iraqi's who were guarding KBR's Camp Hope and other KBR interests in the Green Zone~Ms Sparky

Back in April it was briefly in the news that the United States Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Kellogg Brown & Root Services (KBR) alleging that it violated the False Claims Act.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, alleged that KBR knowingly included impermissible costs for private armed security in billings to the Army under the Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP) III contract. The LOGCAP III contract provides for civilian contractor logistical support, such as food services, transportation, laundry and mail, for military operations in Iraq.

The government’s lawsuit alleges that some 33 KBR subcontractors, as well as the company itself, used private armed security at various times during the 2003-2006 time period. KBR allegedly violated the LOGCAP III contract by failing to obtain Army authorization for arming subcontractors and by allowing the use of private security contractors who were not registered with the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior. The subcontractors using private security are alleged to have also violated subcontract terms requiring travel only in military convoys. The lawsuit further alleges that at the time, KBR managers considered the use of private security unacceptable and were concerned that the Army would disallow any costs for such services. KBR nonetheless charged the United States for the costs of the unauthorized services.

The ever intrepid Ms. Sparky posted the suit online and parts of it merit examination. (Read the rest of the story here…)

Posted in Huffington Post, KBR Contract, LAWSUITS, LOGCAP III - KBR, Lawsuits Against KBR, Qui Tam. Tags: David Isenberg, DoJ, False Claims Act, Qui Tam. 5 Comments »

Podesta walks on both sides of the fence

May 10, 2010 — Ms Sparky

The Podesta Group: Playing Both PMC Sides

David Isenberg – Huffington Post Posted: May 10, 2010 06:46 PM
Author, Shadow Force: Private Security Contractors in Iraq (Praeger Security International)

While private military contractors are not exactly like the larger traditional, military industrial contractors that everyone knows about, i.e., Lockheed Martin. Northrop Grumman, et cetera, that is not to say they don’t have some things in common with their much larger corporate brethren.

Take lobbying, for example. It is well known that for lobbyists there is no such thing as partisanship. It is all about results and getting paid for them. As long as someone can deliver for a lobbyist’s client their ideology and political affiliation don’t matter. And in that regard PMC, like politics, makes for interesting bed fellows.

Consider, for example, the Podesta Group. It is just one of the myriad, albeit better connected than many, of DC-based lobbying firms. Or as its website phrases it, a “bipartisan government relations and public affairs firm with a reputation for employing creative strategies to achieve results.” (Read the rest of the story here…)

Posted in GOV. CONTRACTORS, Huffington Post, Politics. Tags: David Isenberg, Jeremy Scahill, Lobbying, Podesta Group. No 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…)

David Isenberg: DynCorp Begs to Differ

April 20, 2010 — Ms Sparky

David Isenberg – Huffington Post
Author, Shadow Force: Private Security Contractors in Iraq (Praeger Security International)
Posted: April 20, 2010 09:57 AM

In regard to my April 16 2010 post “The Contractors that Couldn’t Shoot Straight?” I received the below email yesterday.

Dear David,
At DynCorp International, we appreciate your ongoing coverage of, and interest in, contractor issues and Afghan National Police training. However, many points in the article you posted today, “The Contractors That Couldn’t Shoot Straight”, are factually incorrect:

1. The issue of faulty marksmanship training has unfortunately been perpetuated after it appeared in a Newsweek story. It is just plain wrong, and I have attached for your information a brief discussion of the facts of this issue. (Read the rest of the story here…)

Posted in Dyncorp Drivel, GOV. CONTRACTORS, Huffington Post, LOGCAP-Dyncorp, Reports & Investigations, Security Contractors, Senate & House Committee Hearings. Tags: Afghanistan, Christopher Shays, Commission on Wartime Contracting, CWC, David Isenberg, DynCorp, Michael L. Thibault, Security, SIGAR, SIGIR. 3 Comments »

Will our next war be with Mexico?

March 15, 2010 — Ms Sparky

Americans Killed In Drive-By Shooting At Consulate In Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Obama ‘Outraged’
Is this violence any different than what is going on in the Middle East?

Ciudad Juarez, Mexico — Gunmen killed a U.S. consulate employee and her husband as they drove in this violent border city with their baby in the back seat, minutes after the husband of another consular employee was shot to death and his two children wounded, officials said Sunday. Security forces suspected a drug gang hit, but offered no motive.

President Barack Obama expressed outrage over the killings, and Mexican President Felipe Calderon said he was indignant and promised a swift investigation. (Read the rest of the story here…)