Halliburton planned it all!

The oil well explosion in the Gulf of Mexico could be a well-timed and profitable accident for Halliburton, the global oil company with the famous connection to former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney. Just eight days before the uber-Valdez accident, Houston-based Halliburton acquired Boots & Coots Services, also based in Houston, in a $240 million cash and stock deal.

Boots & Coots, which uses the graphic of a burning oil well to represent the ampersand in its name, specializes in "pressure control and well intervention services." In other words, when an oil well explodes, Boots & Coots can step in and help remedy the problem. In a release, Jerry Winchester, Boots & Coots president and CEO, says "Combining the resources of both companies creates the premier intervention company across the globe.”

While Halliburton's timing of the acquisition could be chalked up to luck, some members of Congress are asking questions. Reps. Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills) and Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), have asked Halliburton provide all documents relating to "the possibility or risk of an explosion or blowout" at the rig in the Gulf, according to a report in the LA Times.

They just couldn't have foreseen it would get so big and out of control..... Kinda like the Iraq war....

Get well quickly, Rep. Waxman!

We need you!:

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) is still in a Los Angeles hospital after being admitted on Tuesday. The 69-year-old chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee had fainted and is under evaluation.

The congressman was not feeling well when he fainted, but is now "in good spirits," the Los Angeles Times quotes spokesman Karen Lightfoot as saying. He is still at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for some tests.

Congress is currently in a week-long July 4 recess and will return to session on Monday. But Waxman had been pushing himself hard in the past weeks, crafting along with Environment Subcommittee chairman Edward Markey (D-MA) a landmark energy bill, the American Clean Energy and Security Act, which Democrats were able to pass last Friday despite enormous opposition from Republicans, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and initially, even farm state Democrats.

Why?
Waxman Wants State Dep't DynCorp Documents

Letter From Rep. Waxman To Banks Questions Ethics Of Using Taxpayer Funds For Bonuses

Rep. Waxman Announces Democratic Membership of Oversight Committee

What a quick google search brings up. There's no better bulldog in Congress for getting oversight enacted and people held accountable.

What do you mean foxes can't guard the henhouse?

The inmates can't run the asylum? ... Corporations can't self-regulate?

I'm shocked, shocked, I tell you!!

In opening statements, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., committee chairman, said the current economic crisis could have been prevented "if regulators had paid more attention and intervened with responsible legislation. The list of regulatory mistakes and misjudgments is long and the cost to taxpayers and the economy is staggering."

Waxman put Greenspan on the spot, asking if he made any mistakes during his tenure as Federal Reserve chairman that may have contributed to the mortgage crisis.

Greenspan said he made a mistake in presuming that lenders themselves were more capable than regulators of protecting their finances. He said he was "shocked" when that system "broke down."

"I still do not understand exactly how it happened," said Greenspan.

Well... you see, Mr. Greenspan, it's like this.... human nature by default is self-obsessed and greedy. We must assume that those who know they won't be caught will do things that benefit themselves, ignoring the cost to others. We need checks and balances built into the system. When you take those away, you see the wreckage before you as an illustration of the end result.

Will this lesson take? Nah, I give it ....oh... another twenty years or so before we hear the pleading for deregulation again... long enough for the next generation of neocons to spawn and for voters to forget.

crossposted at American Street

A tin ear

And a thick skull:

American International Group Inc. spent $440,000 on a conference at a California resort less than a week after an $85 billion government takeover, lawmakers said.

The bill from the St. Regis resort in Monarch Beach included $23,380 for spa services, according to Representative Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Waxman led questioning Tuesday of former AIG Chief Executive Officers Martin Sullivan and Robert Willumstad as Congress probes events that led to federal intervention.

"Average Americans are suffering economically," Waxman, a California Democrat, said in his opening statement. "Yet less than one week after the taxpayers rescued AIG, company executives could be found wining and dining at one of the most exclusive resorts in the nation."

That's the TAXPAYERS' MONEY that you AIG guys are wasting with your unearned sense of entitlement. Americans own your company now, and we can dock your pay for this behavior.

Maybe we should fire your asses and sell your yachts so you can join the foreclosure crowd you helped create.

Update 10/9: Very interesting discussion about this 'perk' over at the Consumerist. (The comments are illuminating, be sure to note there are comments to the comments...)

Just imagine if a Clinton or Obama administration did this

And imagine the outcry, the baying of hounds, the frothing of mouths as the Right Wing Smear Machine ground into full throttle:

WASHINGTON -- The White House is missing as many as 225 days of e-mail dating back to 2003 and there is little if any likelihood a recovery effort will be completed by the time the Bush administration leaves office, according to an internal White House draft document obtained by The Associated Press.

The nine-page outline of the White House's e-mail problems invites companies to bid on a project to recover the missing electronic messages.

The work would be carried out through April 19, 2009, according to the Office of Administration request for contractors' proposals, which was dated June 20.

Last week, the White House declined to comment on the document.

[snip]

"We will continue to work with members of Congress and the National Archives and will communicate the results of our accounting effort at an appropriate time," White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore said.

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, has said the White House's failure to properly archive e-mails violated the Presidential Records Act. The top lawyer for the National Archives has expressed disappointment the White House did not have a formal records management system in place.

On Wednesday, House Democratic Caucus chairman Rahm Emmanuel of Illinois criticized how the problem has been handled, saying, "The White House that wants to keep track of all your e-mail and phone records can't even keep track of their own."

Right. Everyone stands back while Cheney hires a TRUCK SHREDDING SERVICE to come to his office, has two man-sized safes to keep his paperwork in, silences everyone who's ever worked for, near, in the vicinity of him while he clearly took notes on how not to get caught from the Watergate scandal. There's even a question on exactly how many people staff his office. And Cheney has even cast doubt which branch of government the vice-president works for and answers to?

It's called covering your tracks, wiping your fingerprints, giving yourself plausible deniability. And yet people cannot call the White House on this blatant of all lies?

Sibel Edmonds is finally getting attention

And look who has run this article! The American Conservative:

Charismatic and articulate, the 37-year-old Edmonds has deftly worked the system to get as much of her story out as possible, on one occasion turning to French television to produce a documentary entitled “Kill the Messenger.” Passionate in her convictions, she has sometimes alienated her own supporters and ridden roughshod over critics who questioned her assumptions. But despite her shortcomings in making her case and the legitimate criticism that she may be overreaching in some of her conclusions, Edmonds comes across as credible. Her claims are specific, fact-based, and can be documented in detail. There is presumably an existing FBI file that could demonstrate the accuracy of many of her charges.

[snip]

Edmonds’s revelations have attracted corroboration in the form of anonymous letters apparently written by FBI employees. There have been frequent reports of FBI field agents being frustrated by the premature closure of cases dealing with foreign spying, particularly when those cases involve Israel, and the State Department has frequently intervened to shut down investigations based on “sensitive foreign diplomatic relations.” One such anonymous letter, the veracity of which cannot be determined, cites transcripts of wiretaps involving Marc Grossman and a Turkish Embassy official between August and December 2001, described above, in which Grossman warned the Turk that Brewster Jennings was a CIA cover company. If the allegation can be documented from FBI files, the exposure of the Agency cover mechanism took place long before journalist Robert Novak outed the company in his column on Valerie Plame in 2003.

[snip]

Curiously, the states-secrets gag order binding Edmonds, while put in place by DOJ in 2002, was not requested by the FBI but by the State Department and Pentagon—which employed individuals she identified as being involved in criminal activities. If her allegations are frivolous, that order would scarcely seem necessary. It would have been much simpler for the government to marginalize her by demonstrating that she was poorly informed or speculating about matters outside her competency. Under the Bush administration, the security gag order has been invoked to cover up incompetence or illegality, not to protect national security. It has recently been used to conceal the illegal wiretaps of the warrantless surveillance program, the allegations of torture and the CIA’s rendition program, and to shield the telecom industry for its collaboration in illegal eavesdropping.

Both Senators Grassley and Leahy, a Republican and a Democrat, who interviewed her at length in 2002, attest to Edmonds’s believability. The Department of Justice inspector general investigation into her claims about the translations unit and an internal FBI review confirmed most of her allegations. Former FBI senior counterintelligence officer John Cole has independently confirmed her report of the presence of Pakistani intelligence service penetrations within the FBI translators’ pool.

Edmonds wasn’t angling to become a media darling. She would have preferred to testify under oath before a congressional committee that could offer legal protection and subpoena documents and witnesses to support her case. She claims that a number of FBI agents would be willing to testify, though she has not named them.

But this information is not good:

Prior to 2006, Congressman Henry Waxman of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee promised Edmonds that if the Democrats gained control of Congress, he would order hearings into her charges. But following the Democratic sweep, he has been less forthcoming, failing to schedule hearings, refusing to take Edmonds’s calls, and recently stonewalling all inquiries into the matter. It is generally believed that Waxman, a strong supporter of Israel, is nervous about exposing an Israeli lobby role in the corruption that Edmonds describes. It is also suspected that Waxman fears that the revelations might open a Pandora’s box, damaging Republicans and Democrats alike.

[snip]

Sibel Edmonds makes a number of accusations about specific criminal behavior that appear to be extraordinary but are credible enough to warrant official investigation. Her allegations are documentable: an existing FBI file should determine whether they are accurate. It’s true that she probably knows only part of the story, but if that part is correct, Congress and the Justice Department should have no higher priority. Nothing deserves more attention than the possibility of ongoing national-security failures and the proliferation of nuclear weapons with the connivance of corrupt senior government officials.

C'mon, Waxman! You've been a hero in pursuing corruption and injustice so far. Take on Sibel Edmonds' case and let the truth be told. Corruption on this level must be addressed even though it looks like it's both sides of the aisle.

Imagine that!

How utterly bizarre! We couldn't have imagined this happening... oh good grief, you guys! How can this possibly be a surprise?

The Washington Post:

The White House possesses no archived e-mail messages for many of its component offices, including the Executive Office of the President and the Office of the Vice President, for hundreds of days between 2003 and 2005, according to the summary of an internal White House study that was disclosed yesterday by a congressional Democrat.

The 2005 study -- whose credibility the White House attacked this week -- identified 473 separate days in which no electronic messages were stored for one or more White House offices, said House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.).

Waxman said he decided to release the summary after White House spokesman Tony Fratto said yesterday that there is "no evidence" that any White House e-mails from those years are missing. Fratto's assertion "seems to be an unsubstantiated statement that has no relation to the facts they have shared with us," Waxman said.

The competing claims were the latest salvos in an escalating dispute over whether the Bush administration has complied with long-standing statutory requirements to preserve official White House records -- including those reflecting potentially sensitive policy discussions -- for history and in case of any future legal demands.

Waxman said he is seeking testimony on the issue at a hearing next month from White House counsel Fred F. Fielding, National Archivist Allen Weinstein and Alan R. Swendiman, the politically appointed director of the Office of Administration, which produced the 2005 study at issue.

Another official in that office on Tuesday challenged the study's credibility in a court affidavit, contending that current White House employees have been unable to confirm the veracity of the analysis or to recreate its findings. Waxman's disclosure provides the first details about the study's findings.

We saw this one a mile off. Why are people so amazed? I mean, in 2006 the Democrats take Congress and the next thing we see is a TRUCK filled with shredding machines driving up to Cheney's offices. This is the group that studied Watergate to see how NOT to make mistakes. Not to avoid breaking laws, mind you, but how NOT TO GET CAUGHT.

Cheney has wiped his fingerprints off of every thing he's ever touched. I'm sure he's behind this oh-so-mysterious email erasure thing....

Update 1/19: Steve Bates of The Yellow Doggerel Democrat cites an AP article and says:

Read the entire article for a sample list of some dates for which emails are known to be absent. Remember as you read that the government is legally required to archive all its emails. There's a system in place to do so. There is simply no way this quantity of emails can have gone missing accidentally.

Why is there any American anywhere who does not see that the current White House is one massive criminal enterprise?

Blackwater's brothers

Jeremy Scahill looks at Cookie and Buzzy Krongard's Blackwater connections and history:

While Buzzy's new position on Blackwater's advisory board is indeed a salacious development, it is just the tip of the iceberg. In my book Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, I explore in depth the relationship between Buzzy Krongard and Blackwater founder Erik Prince. The two men go back at least to 2002, when Buzzy helped jump-start Blackwater's ultra-profitable role as a provider of soldiers-for-hire in the "war on terror."

Though Blackwater was founded in 1997, Blackwater Security Consulting--its mercenary division--was incorporated in Delaware on January 22, 2002. Within months, as the United States occupied Afghanistan and began planning the Iraq invasion, Blackwater Security was already turning a profit, pulling in hundreds of thousands a month from a valuable CIA contract.

One of the players in forging that first Blackwater Security contract was Buzzy Krongard, at the time executive director of the CIA, the agency's number-three position.

[snip]

Since CIA and other intelligence and security contracts are "black" contracts, it's difficult to pin down exactly how much Blackwater began pulling in after that first Afghanistan contract, but Smith described it as a rapid period of growth for Blackwater. The company's work for the CIA and the military and Prince's political and military connections would provide Blackwater with important leverage in wooing what would become its largest confirmed client, the US State Department. "After that first contract went off, there was a lot of romancing with the State Department where they were just up the road, so we traveled up there a lot in Kabul and tried to sweet-talk them into letting us on board with them," Smith said in an interview. "Once the State Department came on and there was a contract there, that opened up some different doors. Once you get your foot in the door with a government outfit that has offices in countries all over the world, it's like--and this is probably a horrible analogy--but it's something maybe like the metastasis of a cancer. You know, once you get into the bloodstream you're going to be all over the body in just a couple of days, you know what I mean? So if you get in that pipeline, then everywhere that they've got a problem and an office, there's an opportunity."

A year later, Prince's mercenary operations would get the boost of a lifetime when Blackwater was handed a $27 million no-bid contract to serve as the elite bodyguards of the US occupation of Iraq. To date that arrangement has brought Blackwater about $1 billion in federal "security" contracts. Is it just a coincidence that one of the key players in securing Blackwater's role as the leading mercenary company of the Bush Administration has a brother whose job it was to oversee Blackwater? Or that the Inspector General stands accused of failing to do his duty and actually impeding federal investigations into the company's potentially criminal activities? Is there a connection between the Krongards and the State Department's systematic cover-up campaign for Blackwater?

So: Buzzy Krongard now resigns from the board.

And now this incestuous relationship is being unraveled:

SIGIR Stuart Bowen has provided an independent check on President Bush’s Iraq efforts, concluding that the administration’s post-war planning “was insufficient in both scope and implementation.” Last year, he reported that over $8.8 billion in funds meant for Iraq reconstruction could not be accounted for.

Not surprisingly, Bowen’s assessments have frustrated the Bush administration, which called them “too negative.” In 2006, the White House persuaded its conservative allies in the House Armed Services Committee, then led by Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA), to terminate the SIGIR position on Oct. 1, 2007. As Tim Dickinson of Rolling Stone points out, oversight responsibility would have been transferred to embattled State Department IG Howard Krongard. The New York Times reported:

The idea, [committee spokesman] Mr. Holly said, was simply to return to a non-wartime footing in which inspectors general in the State Department, the Pentagon and elsewhere would investigate American programs overseas. The definite termination date was also seen as helpful for planning future oversight efforts from Bush administration agencies, he said.

The House Oversight Committee is currently investigating allegations that Krongard blocked investigations into fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement in Iraq, working to “support the Bush Administration” rather than “act as an independent and objective check.” Because of this investigation, Krongard has now “recused himself from the State Department’s two main internal investigations in Iraq.”

Luckily, in Dec. 2006, Congress voted to restore Bowen’s tenure.

And the end result? Waxman wants to hear you testify, Buzzy:

We're that much closer to a perjury investigation. Buzzy Krongard has told House oversight committee staff what he told TPMmuckraker on Wednesday: that he told his brother, State Department Inspector General Howard "Cookie" Krongard, about his decision to join the advisory board of State Department contractor Blackwater. Cookie Krongard told the committee on Wednesday his brother had told him no such thing.

Waxman says he'll hold a hearing the week of December 3 to determine if Krongard lied to the committee under oath. Both Krongard brothers will be invited to testify. And you thought your last family reunion was awkward. But will Howard Krongard resign before then?

The incestuousness of the Bush administration

Continues. Sorghum Crow of Sorghum Crow's General Store notes that the State Department Inspector General's brother is on Blackwater's board of directors. Krongard called it an ugly rumor and then found out it was true.

Think Progress:

During today’s House Oversight Committee hearing on the performance of State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) revealed that Krongard’s brother — former CIA Executive Director A.B. “Buzzy” Krongard — sits on Blackwater USA’s board. Krongard vehemently denied the allegation, calling it an “ugly rumor”:

KRONGARD: I can tell you very frankly, I am not aware of any financial interest or position he has with respect to Blackwater. It couldn’t possibly have affected anything I’ve done, because I don’t believe it. And when these ugly rumors started recently, I specifically asked him. I do not believe it is true that he is a member of the advisory board, as you stated, and that is something I think I need to say.

During a break in today’s hearing, Krongard called his brother and confirmed that the “ugly rumor” was in fact true, and promised to recuse himself from any Blackwater investigations:

KRONGARD: This is in response to something I think you found important. During the break I did contact my brother. I reached him at home — he is not at the hotel. But I learned that he had been at the advisory board meeting yesterday. I had not been aware of that, and I want to state on the record right now that I hereby recuse myself from any matters having to do with Blackwater.

WAXMAN: I see. You indicated you had called your brother to ask him earlier whether he was on the board. He told you he wasn’t.

KRONGARD: Well that was about six weeks ago, and I was not aware — and this board meeting happened yesterday, and I found out just during the break that he had in fact attended yesterday.

Well gee whiz. Imagine that.

Blackwater's saga continues in Iraq and California

Why is our government having to clean up after Blackwater?:

BAGHDAD, Oct. 24 -- The U.S. Embassy on Wednesday began offering tens of thousands of dollars in payments to victims and families of victims of the Sept. 16 shootings in Baghdad involving security guards from the firm Blackwater Worldwide, according to relatives and U.S. officials.

Family members of several victims turned down the compensation, out of concern that accepting the funds would limit their future claims against the North Carolina-based security contractor and its chief executive, Erik Prince. Others said that the money being offered -- in some cases $12,500 for a death -- was paltry and that they wanted to sue Blackwater in an American court.

Shouldn't Blackwater be making the payments? It's not like it is running out of money.

Erik Prince, war profiteer:



Always widening the business ventures:

We couldn't make this stuff up. Brian Bonfiglio, vice president of Blackwater West, "I see a tactical operation center for East County fires," said Bonfiglio, noting that Blackwater's proposal includes water tanks capable of holding 35,000 gallons. "Can you imagine how much of a benefit it would be if we were operational now?"

This takes great big balls. This is from the guy who takes orders from billionaire Erik Prince, whom Congressman Waxman is now investigating for tax fraud, among other abuses. It's from the same company that sent an email Tuesday asking its undoubtedly well-paid supporters to lobby congress for Blackwater and help promote a newer, softer logo.

Mr. Bonfiglio has learned at the Mark Penn School of PR, where George Orwell lives. As a reminder, Hillary Clintons' top advisor, Mark Penn, runs a huge PR firm called Burson Marstellar which was hired by Mr. Prince before he appeared before Mr. Waxman's committee.

The article continues:

Fires of historic proportion break out all over southern California, including an as yet to be contained fire in Potrero, hundreds of yards from where Blackwater wants to open its 824 acre base including eleven live fire ranges. As Courage Campaign and 10,000 others wrote to Senators Feinstein and Boxer weeks ago, one of the major concerns people have about such a mercenary training facility is the risk of fire. It already happened without Blackwater there; think what would have happened had Blackwater been there with tons of live ammunition? And what about a spark from a live round used in training? Blackwater would be required by law to have 35,000 gallons of water on such a facility as a minimal defense to prevent itself from blowing up the neighborhood. That's equivalent to just under three DC-10 tanker runs. It's taken hundreds of such flights and a shift in winds to begin to contain the fires. It is literally inconceivable that the wilderness and small towns near such a base would be safer by having Blackwater there.

But here's the Mark Penn/ George Orwell/Blackwater summation: Blackwater needs to build a base in an environmentally sensitive fire hazard area because we'll make you safer.

Blackwater evades and degrades

Evades taxes? Via Sorghum Crow at Sorghum Crow's General Store,
Think Progress:

In a letter to Blackwater CEO Erik Prince today, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) says he has obtained documents “which suggest that Blackwater may have engaged in significant tax evasion” by labeling their armed guards “independent contractors.” Due to the label, “Blackwater may have avoided paying millions of dollars in Social Security, Medicare, unemployment, and related taxes for which it is legally responsible,” writes Waxman. DynCorp and Triple Canopy, “the two other major private military contractors providing security services to the State Department in Iraq,” classify their guards as “employees.”

Degrades the police force? Via Morse of Republic of Sestakastan, a Wayne Madsen report: (my bold)

The mercenary firm Blackwater USA is well known for the controversy involving its "shoot first, ask no questions" policy in Iraq. It is also known that Louisiana's Department of Homeland Security contracted with Blackwater to provide public law enforcement services in New Orleans following hurricane Katrina. Blackwater is also planning to establish regional training centers in Potrero, California and Mount Carroll, Illinois, billed as Blackwater West and Blackwater North, respectively.

These training centers, in addition to Blackwater's Lodge and Training Center in Moyock, North Carolina -- Blackwater East -- and a possible fourth rumored to be slated for the Pacific Northwest -- Blackwater Northwest -- may result in the establishment of a network of Blackwater-trained police, sheriffs, and other police units around the country. Given Blackwater's dismal record on human rights and brutality, this spells trouble for civilian control of police and paramilitary forces in the United States, from major metropolitan areas to small rural towns.

Finally Bill Moyers talks in depth to Jeremy Scahill. Watch or read the transcript.

Blackwater might drop the protection of diplomats but consider warring with drug cartels

Either way, it's a megabillion dollar industry that's NOT going away:

WASHINGTON — Troubled military contractor Blackwater USA is likely to be eased out of its role of guarding U.S. diplomats in Iraq in the aftermath of a shooting last month that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead, U.S. officials said Friday.

While no decisions have been finalized, Blackwater's role in Baghdad is likely to be taken over by one of two other contractors who provide security for the State Department in Iraq, the officials said. They are Triple Canopy and DynCorp International.

"There will be some sort of disengagement process, but it won't be that they're shown the door," said a State Department official. "As one builds down, another builds up."

He and other U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity because Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice hadn't received an oral report from a four-person team led by Patrick Kennedy, the department's director of management policy. The team reviewed State Department security operations in Iraq.

[snip]

In a related development Friday, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who's been investigating State Department operations in Iraq, said in a letter that Blackwater attempted to transport two Iraqi military aircraft out of Iraq without official permission.

In the letter to Blackwater founder Erik Prince, Waxman said that an unnamed military official told his House Oversight Committee that "the Iraqi ministry of defense attempted to reclaim the aircraft, but that Blackwater would not comply."

Waxman also alleged that Prince had misled the committee in testimony earlier this month. Prince had said that the company's early contracts with the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq and the State Department were competitively bid, when in fact they were sole-source contracts.

Waxman demanded that Prince turn over a wealth of company information to the committee, including contract documents, Blackwater's profit data and information about Prince's compensation.

In the letter, and in a separate one to Rice, he asked for details about payments that the company has given to the families of Iraqis Blackwater killed.

Will this hurt Blackwater's business? No:

The U.S. Defense Department has invited five contractors to bid on elements of a new multibillion-dollar effort to combat the global flow of illegal drugs allegedly used to finance terrorism.

Awarded by the Pentagon’s Counter-Narcoterrorism Technology Program Office (CNTPO), Dahlgren, Va., the contract vehicle has a potential value of $15 billion over five years. One participant is ARINC, a Maryland-based provider of airline communications systems.

“This gives us the opportunity to bid on this work,” said Linda Hartwig, an ARINC spokeswoman. “We don’t have a lot of details yet, but we do know that this is an expansion of what [the United States] is already doing to fight drug trafficking, and that 80 percent of the work will be overseas.”

Hartwig said the other participating vendors are defense giants Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon, and security contractor Blackwater USA. Blackwater confirmed its participation, but the other three vendors did not respond to inquiries.

The vendors will compete for a series of task orders covering a wide range of products and services. These could include anti-drug technologies and equipment, special vehicles and aircraft, communications, security training, pilot training, geographic information systems and in-field support.

According to ARINC, training elements could include instruction for border police, the construction of shooting ranges and the integration of aircraft-mounted drug-detection systems.

ARINC has assisted U.S. drug interdiction efforts since 2002, when it joined the State Department’s Air Bridge Denial program.

Within the Pentagon, the CNTPO is the lead agency for developing new technologies to “disrupt, deter and deny” narcoterrorism. Much of this work relates to prototyping new communications and sensor systems.

The cowboy mentality unleashed in Iraq

The Wild West meets HALO 3:

It was Nov. 27, 2004. Blackwater 61 -- its official flight code -- was a transport flight operated by Presidential Airways, a subsidiary of the US security contractor Blackwater. It handled airlifts for the Pentagon in the area, as part of a $35 million contract. On board with Miller and several crates of illumination mortar rounds were the Blackwater crew -- pilot Noel English, 37, co-pilot Loren Hammer, 35, and flight mechanic Melvin Rowe, 43 -- and two other army passengers: Lieutenant Michael McMahon, 41, and Chief Warrant Officer Travis Grogan, 31.

Shortly after 7 a.m., the propeller plane took off. The weather was good, the visibility was clear. Roughly 45 minutes later, the plane smashed into a rocky canyon wall high in the mountains.

The crash of Blackwater 61, with its blood-curdling details only now fully revealed, has long been a forgotten chapter in the drama of that security company. Even more so: It exposes the cynicism of a war, which has become almost a videogame for its warriors. The doom of that flight, chillingly documented in official investigative reports and a dramatic cockpit voice recording, paints a picture of a campaign between audacity and folly.

The tragedy only came to full light this week during Blackwater CEO Erik Prince's testimony before the US House of Representatives' Oversight and Government Reform Committee. When chairman Henry Waxman, a Democrat, broached the subject briefly, Prince denied all responsibility: "The Air Force investigated the incident, and they found it was pilot error."

[snip]

Blackwater itself initially denied having anything to do with Presidential Airways and Flight 61. Later, it called the reports by the NTSB and the Army CIB "erroneous" and "politically motivated." They were only intended to cover for the military's failures, Joseph E. Schmitz, chief operating officer and general counsel for the Prince Group, the parent company of Blackwater and Presidential told the News & Observer newspaper.

Blackwater CEO Erik Prince, too, showed himself unmoved when the case came up in the hearing on Tuesday. Instead, he defended his fun-loving crash pilots: "I disagree with the assertion that they acted like cowboys." Besides, he added drily: "Accidents happen."

And this:

BAGHDAD, Oct. 7 — The Iraqi prime minister’s office said Sunday that the government’s investigation had determined that Blackwater USA private security guards who shot Iraqi civilians three weeks ago in a Baghdad square sprayed gunfire in nearly every direction, committed “deliberate murder” and should be punished accordingly.

[snip]

Mr. Jassim said that little information had come from the Americans and that Iraqi investigators had not been granted access to the guards. But he said the Americans had promised to cooperate.

In previously undisclosed details in the government’s final report, the Iraqi police documented that Blackwater guards shot in almost every direction, killing or wounding people in a near 360-degree circle around Nisour Square.

The thick file amassed for the investigation asserts that bullets reached bystanders who were as far as 200 feet away and nearly on the opposite side of the square.

Even the military is having a hard time:

PATROL BASE HAWKS, Iraq (AP) -- When U.S. sentries fatally shot three guards near an Iraqi-manned checkpoint south of Baghdad, they thought they were targeting enemy fighters planting roadside bombs, according to the American commander of the region.

The shootings, which are still under investigation, underscore a new dilemma facing U.S. troops as former fighters join forces against extremists and Iraqis are increasingly forced to take up arms to protect themselves - how does one distinguish them from the enemy?

The U.S. military said the American troops shot the three civilians Thursday near a checkpoint manned by local members of a U.S.-allied group helping provide security in the village of Abu Lukah, near Musayyib, a Shiite-dominated town 40 miles south of Baghdad.

Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division that controls territory south of Baghdad, stressed the investigation was continuing but said initial results showed that U.S. troops fired on the checkpoint after spotting what appeared to be enemy forces planting roadside bombs.

"We are not looking to see who made a mistake but rather see what we can learn from that particular event," Lynch told The Associated Press Saturday during a whirlwind tour of patrol bases in the area.

Lynch said it's critical to "better coordinate between coalition forces, Iraqi security forces and concerned citizens," as he calls the vigilante-style groups that have sprouted up across the country to fight extremists.

The comments reflect rising concerns about possible friendly fire killings that could threaten to undermine the U.S. strategy of seeking alliances with local Sunni and Shiite leaders to fill the vacuum left by a national police force that has been plagued by corruption allegations and infiltration by militants.

Incidents of shooting of civilians at checkpoints has drawn allegations by many, in Iraq and beyond, that U.S. troops and contractors are quick to fire and ask question later.

Hold still! No sudden moves, dammit! We are bringing democracy to your country! So smile!

Waste, fraud, and abuse

The Bush administration's three tenets for governing:

Just who the hell does he think he is?

Cheney declares himself fourth untouchable branch of government:

The Office of Vice President Dick Cheney told an agency within the National Archives that for purposes of securing classified information, the Vice President's office is not an 'entity within the executive branch' according to a letter released Thursday by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

"The Oversight Committee has learned that over the objections of the National Archives, you exempted the Office of the Vice President from the presidential executive order that establishes a uniform, government-wide system for safeguarding classified national security information," Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), the Committee's chairman, wrote in a letter to Cheney. "Your decision to exempt your office from the President's order is problematic because it could place national security secrets at risk. It is also hard to understand given the history of security breaches involving officials in your office."

Waxman noted that Cheney's office had declared itself not affected by an executive order amended by President George W. Bush in 2003 regarding classification and declassification of government materials.

Via Sorghum Crow at Sorghum Crow's General Store.

Update: Waxman is on the case!

The Oversight Committee has learned that over the objections of the National Archives, Vice President Cheney exempted his office from the presidential order that establishes government-wide procedures for safeguarding classified national security information. The Vice President asserts that his office is not an “entity within the executive branch.”

As described in a letter from Chairman Waxman to the Vice President, the National Archives protested the Vice President's position in letters written in June 2006 and August 2006. When these letters were ignored, the National Archives wrote to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in January 2007 to seek a resolution of the impasse. The Vice President's staff responded by seeking to abolish the agency within the Archives that is responsible for implementing the President's executive order.

In his letter to the Vice President, Chairman Waxman writes: "I question both the legality and wisdom of your actions. ... [I]t would appear particularly irresponsible to give an office with your history of security breaches an exemption from the safeguards that apply to all other executive branch officials."

Remorse? What's that?

Waxman tells GSA administrator Doan (and BOY, does he tell her) to resign.

Waxman focuses on the RNC emails

TPM Muckraker:

The RNC has said that the committee provides email addresses to White House personnel so that they can keep their official and political duties separate.

So what's the official/political breakdown for Karl Rove?

According to National Journal (not available online), Rove does approximately 95 percent of his emailing from his RNC address.

Think Progress says Waxman warns the RNC not to delete their emails:

Multiple congressional investigations have uncovered evidence that White House appointees regularly communicate using email accounts provided by the Republican Party. As CREW has argued, such activity violates the Presidential Records Act, which requires the White House to preserve such records. Today, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) issued letters to the Republican National Committee and the Bush-Cheney ‘04 Campaign directing them to preserve all emails by and for White House officials, and to meet with the committee about the legal issues involved in conducting official government business using partisan email accounts.

Fixing facts to fit their own reality

Works until reality hits them square in the face.

Think Progress:

Philip Cooney is the former chief of staff to President Bush’s Council on Environmental Quality who made hundreds of edits to government climate reports in ways that played down links between human activity and global warming. He worked for the American Petroleum Institute before coming to the Bush administration, and left the White House for Exxon shortly after his edits were revealed.

Cooney appeared yesterday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Committee chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) told Cooney he wanted to determine whether what is “driving the policy of this administration on global warming and climate change is the science or whether it’s something called the politically correct science.”

Cooney admitted it was the latter: “My objective was to align these communications with the administration’s stated policy” of climate skepticism.

And as Think Progress notes, fitting facts to a pretend reality should sound familiar.

The most glorious smackdown of Toensing,

The brilliant testimony of Valerie Plame, and the bringing to light more things to investigate for Henry Waxman. Emptywheel from Firedoglake:

Which leaves us, two days later, to reflect on what the Hearing accomplished. Importantly, Waxman gave Valerie Wilson an opportunity to correct, under oath, many of the fictions the right has propagated about her in the last four years. Just as importantly, the Hearing served to remind us (as Patrick Fitzgerald did in his closing statements) that Valerie Wilson is a person, not an argument. Not only does she have kids and a husband. But she used to have an important role in protecting our country from the proliferation of nuclear weapons. She served our country, and the gratitude our country showed her was to expose her, her family, her colleagues, and the assets she recruited to a great deal of danger.

But the hearing also did one more thing. It established uncontrovertibly that the White House did not follow statutes governing the unauthorized release of classified information. Regardless of what happens with the other materials Fitzgerald collected during his investigation, establishing that fact gives Waxman the ability to pursue more information. It took a matter of hours for Waxman to take the next step–asking Josh Bolten for a full accounting.

Update: Tengrain at Mock Paper Scissors notes how much Toensing actually didn't know.

Update: Silent Patriot at Crooks and Liars reminds Toensing what the word covert actually means and how it's not hard to find:

I am not a lawyer, but I tracked down the language of the law and it reads as follows:

FindLaw:

(4) The term "covert agent" means -
(A) a present or retired officer or employee of an
intelligence agency or a present or retired member of the Armed
Forces assigned to duty with an intelligence agency -
(i) whose identity as such an officer, employee, or member
is classified information, and
(ii) who is serving outside the United States or has within
the last five years served outside the United States;

I was wondering if you would be willing to explain why Ms. Plame was not "covert" despite her sworn testimony that (a) she was employed by the Central Intelligence Agency, (b) her identity was classified (as was confirmed during yesterday's hearing), and (c) she had indeed served overseas within the past five years. By the very definition of the law you helped craft, it would appear that she meets every qualification of a "covert" agent.

Waxman demands answers from Condi

Questions in letters long ignored:

• Letter to Secretary Rice Regarding Fabricated Niger Claims
• June 10, 2003: Administration Statements on Iraq Nuclear Evidence Contradict Known Facts, Raise New Questions
• July 29, 2003: More Questions for NSA Rice on Iraq Nuclear Claims
• January 14, 2004: Rep. Waxman Investigates Inconsistencies in White House Leak Responses
• February 17, 2005: Unanswered Questions Remain on Rice's Iraq Pick
• August 1, 2005: Letter to Secretary Rice

Update 3/13: Digby at Hullabaloo is also proud of Henry Waxman:

You all see where this is going don't you? Perhaps Mr Fitzgerald was bound to stick to charges which he could prove in a court of law and had no mandate to expose the administration's lies and distortions in the run-up to the war. But the Democrats are under no such restraints. Indeed, they have that mandate, conferred by the people in November of 2006.

The Republicans want to rend their garments over poor little Scooter having been found guilty of lying even though there was "no underlying crime." Well, it depends on what the definition of crime is, doesn't it? Perhaps this White House didn't break the law when it "stovepiped" the intelligence to take this country into war, but damned well committed a political crime and it should be held to account for thet.

It will all come out --- every clumsy, stupid lie they told, and they'll pretend that up is down and black is white and their true believers will believe it. But the nation as a whole seems to be getting a little bit tired of feeling disoriented by the Republicans' insistence that they should ignore what their eyes and ears are telling them. This clarifying process is long overdue.

Go Henry. You make me proud to be a citizen of Santa Monica.