Slam Their Fist Down on the Table

The
Pentagon needs to crack down on KBR and other contractors, said Dorgan,
head of the Democratic Policy Committee. "It requires a change in
mind-set at the Pentagon, for them to slam their fist down on the table
and say, 'We're not going to put up with this anymore.' "



What got US Sen.
rel="tag">Byron Dorgan
so upset?  Perhaps
it was the fact the KBR continues to steal money from the American
people.  Or at least they try.  According to USA
Today:




href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-07-16-iraq-auditors_N.htm">Largest
Iraq contract rife with errors


By Matt Kelley, USA TODAY



Government auditors discovered something odd last year when they
reviewed KBR Inc.'s annual cost estimate to provide support services
for U.S. troops in Iraq. The contractor proposed charging $110 million
for housing, food, water, laundry and other services on bases that had
been shut down...



The errors occurred because KBR developed the proposal under a tight
schedule, said company spokeswoman Heather Browne...



I would be on a tight schedule too, if I was expecting to get $110
million dollars for work I hadn't done.



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The Oregonian's Julie Sullivan has been following the story of the National Guard troops who were exposed to the carcinogen hexavalent chromium at the Qarmat Ali water plant in Iraq - which contracting giant KBR was tasked with rebuilding.
Congratulations, North Carolina. You are getting brand new $52 million facility for your State Public Health Laboratory and Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, each in separate wings of a 220,000 square foot facility in Raleigh. Sounds great.
Reading about the latest atrocity by KBR that is the cover up of a rape of a US citizen by its contractors (apparently one of many), I ask the lawyers a question.
The New York Times reports this week that Charles M.

$110 million? A drop in the bucket. I'm sure KBR figured no one would ever notice.

It's like when I switched long-distance carriers years ago. My local bill was still AT&T (back then), and the first one that came in after I switched had a $7 charge for whatever they were calling their plan. No calls, but the plan. So I wrote them reminding them that I was now (then) an MCI customer. Next bill - the charge remained. I called them and the supervisor attempted to claim that they thought I still wanted to be in their plan "in case I called on AT&T in the future."

Ha. They just figured I wouldn't even notice the charge. KBR was doing the same thing.