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How the U.S. Army Kills Its Own Soldiers A horrifying, exclusive report from JoAnn Wypijewski on the grim secrets of Fort Sill, Oklahoma. How a sadistic drill sergeant tortured basic trainees, amid brutal indifference that led to the death on March 19,2006,of 21-year-old PFC Matthew Scarano. Dead Movement Marching? Cockburn and St Clair assess the failures of the national antiwar groups, even as popular opposition to the war tops 60 per cent. Stalin or Confucius? Chris Reed on the Secrets of the Garden of Bliss, otherwise known as North Korea. CounterPunch Online is read by millions of viewers each month! But remember, we are funded solely by the subscribers to the print edition of CounterPunch. Please support this website by buying a subscription to our newsletter, which contains fresh material you won't find anywhere else, or by making a donation for the online edition. Remember contributions are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! |
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Today's Stories March 22, 2006 Jeffrey
St. Clair
March 21, 2006 Paul
Craig Roberts Winslow
Wheeler Tom
Engelhardt Arnold
Oliver Earl
Ofari Hutchinson Mike
Whitney William
A. Cook Sophia
A. McLennen
March 20, 2006 Paul
Craig Roberts Dave
Lindorff Ralph
Nader Diane
Christian Jeff
Halper Harry
Browne Norman
Solomon Patrick
Cockburn Website
of the Day
March 18 / 19, 2006 Cockburn
/ St. Clair Werther Chris
Kromm Patrick
Cockburn Elaine
Cassel S. Brian
Willson Fred
Gardner Brian
Cloughley Laura
Carlsen Eamon
Martin Julie
Hilden Alison
Weir Jeffrey
St. Clair Poets'
Basement Website
of the Weekend
March 17, 2006 Eduardo
Galeano Greg
Moses Richard
Falk / David Krieger Cindy
and Craig Corrie Amira
Hass Mike
Marqusee James
Petas and Robin Eastman-Abaya Website
of the Day
March 16, 2006 Norman
Solomon Tom
Philpott Heather
Gray Amira
Hass Missy
Comley Beattie Sen.
Russell Feingold Lucinda
Marshall Andrew
Bosworth Clancy
Sigal Website
of the Day
Jonathan
Cook Winslow
Wheeler Diane
Christian Ron
Jacobs Missy
Comley Beattie Jared
Bernstein Noam
Chomsky Website
of the Day
March 14, 2006 Earl
Ofari Hutchinson Dave
Lindorff Kevin
Zeese Todd
Chretien Jason
Kunin Thomas
Palley Cockburn
/ St. Clair Website
of the Day
March 13, 2006 Uri
Avnery Dave
Lindorff Mike
Whitney David
Green Jeremy
Scahill Mike
Ferner Corey
Harris Paul
Craig Roberts Website
of the Day
Alexander
Cockburn Ralph
Nader Paul
Craig Roberts Ben
Tripp John
Strausbaugh Landau
/ Hassen Robert
Bryce Gary
Leupp Fred
Gardner Ron
Jacobs Jonathan
Scott Ramzy
Baroud Jordan
Flaherty John
Chuckman Joe
Allen Julia
Kendlbacher St.
Clair / Walker / Pollack / Vest Poets'
Basement Website
of the Weekend
March 10, 2006 Ben
Rosenfeld Lila
Rajiva Saree
Makdisi Elena
Shore Joshua
Frank Dave
Zirin Aura
Bogado
March 9, 2006 John
Walsh Annie
Zirin Brian
McKenna Chris
Floyd Rachard
Itani Niranjan
Ramakrishnan Wylie
Harris Alexander
Cockburn Website
of the Day
March 8, 2006 Patrick
Bond Brian
Concannon, Jr. Pat
Williams Lance
Selfa Mokhiber
/ Weissman Walter
Brasch Vijay
Prashad Website
of the Day
March 7, 2006 Werther John
Blair Dave
Lindorff Mike
Whitney Warren
Guykema Sen.
Russell Feingold Robert
Jensen Norman
Solomon Bernie
Dwyer Website
of the Day
Ralph
Nader Dave
Zirin Vanessa
Redgrave Walter
A. Davis Joshua
Frank Nate
Mezmer Paul
Craig Roberts Website
of the Day
Alexander
Cockburn Jennifer
Van Bergen Steven
Higgs Winslow
T. Wheeler Ron
Jacobs Rev.
William E. Alberts Colin
Asher Fred
Gardner "Pariah" John
Scagliotti Seth
Sandronsky Joan
Roelofs Arjun
Makhijani Ardeshr
Ommani Diana
Barahona Ben
Tripp St.
Clair / Socialist Worker Staff Poets'
Basement Website
of the Weekend March 3, 2006 Laura
Carlsen John
V. Whitbeck Chris
Floyd Mohamed
Hakki Pratyush
Chandra John
Scagliotti Website
of the Day
March 2, 2006 Paul
Craig Roberts Dave
Lindorff Ramzy
Baroud Saul
Landau Joe
Allen Steve
Shore Denise
Boggs Norman
Finkelstein Website
of the Day
March 1, 2006 Mairead
Corrigan Maguire Niranjan
Ramakrishnan Faheem
Hussain Antony
Loewenstein Elizabeth
Schulte Mike
Whitney John
Ryan Michael
Donnelly Tom
Reeves Website
of the Day
February 28, 2006 Sen.
Russ Feingold Ralph
Nader Joshua
Frank Aziz
Haniffa Benjamin Dangl Norman Solomon Mike
Ferner Sharon
Smith Website
of the Day
February 27, 2006 Buncombe
/ Cockburn Paul
Craig Roberts Ingmar
Lee Ron
Jacobs Dave
Lindorff Pat
Wolff Lila
Rajiva Website
of the Day
February 25 / 26, 2006 Alexander
Cockburn Lila
Rajiva Lee
Sustar Jennifer
Van Bergen / Madis Senner Justin
E.H. Smith Paul
Craig Roberts Jason
Leopold Gilad
Atzmon Zahid
Shariff Fred
Gardner Dick
J. Reavis David
Stocker John
Bomar Mike
Marqusee Pratyush
Chandra Ben
Tripp Dr.
Susan Block Poets'
Basement Website
of the Weekend
February 24, 2006 Alan
Maass William
S. Lind Dave
Lindorff Pierre
Tristam Meg
Bannerji Robert
Jensen Mark
Engler Jennifer
Loewenstein Website
of the Day
February 23, 2006 Chet
Richards Jonathan
Feldman Joshua
Frank Ron
Jacobs Amira
Hass Samah
Sabawi Norman
Solomon Christopher
Reed Website
of the Day
February 22, 2006 Robert
Pollin Phil
Doe Pirouz
Azadi Saul
Landau Brian
McKinlay Sam
Smith Niranjan
Ramakrishnan Diane
Farsetta Website
of the Day
February 21, 2006 Paul
Craig Roberts Franklin
Spinney Dave
Lindorff Alevtina
Rea Bruce
K. Gagnon Dave
Zirin Bill
Quigley Website
of the Day
February 20, 2006 Jennifer
Van Bergen Rachard
Itani Gideon
Levy Joshua
Frank Newton
Garver Pratyush
Chandra Seth
Sandronsky Cockburn
/ St. Clair Website
of the Day
February 18 / 19, 2006 Werther Uzma
Aslam Khan Joe
DeRaymond Edward
F. Mooney Paul
Craig Roberts Elaine
Cassel P.
Sainath Thomas
P. Healy Brian
Concannon, Jr. Fred
Gardner Rep.
Cynthia McKinney Brian
Tokar Chan
Chee Khoon Andrew
Freedman St.
Clair / Walker Poets'
Basement Website
of the Weekend
February 17, 2006 Floyd
Rudmin Gervasio
Rodríguez Gary
Leupp Ramzy
Baroud Amira
Hass Matthew
Koehler Niranjan
Ramakrishnan Debbie
Nathan Website
of the Day
Febrauary 16, 2006 Lila
Rajiva Norman
Solomon Ron
Jacobs Paul
Craig Roberts Website
of the Day
February 15, 2006 Brian
Conacnnon, Jr. Dave
Lindorff Saree
Makdisi Joshua
Frank Amira
Hass CounterPunch
Wire Robert
Bryce Website
of the Day February 14, 2006 John
Sugg Don
Santina William
A. Cook Ray
McGovern John
Ross Website
of the Day
Lila
Rajiva Christopher
Brauchli Dave
Lindorff Ron
Jacobs Mike
Whitney Michael
Neumann Website
of the Day
February 11 / 12, 2006 Alexander
Cockburn Ralph
Nader Paul Craig
Roberts Pat Williams Fred Gardner Saul Landau John Chuckman Roger Burbach Seth Sandronsky Website of
the Weekend
February 10, 2006 Carl
G. Estabrook Sen.
Russell Feingold Roxanne
Dunbar----Ortiz Saree Makdisi Website of
the Day
February 9, 2006 Dave Lindorff Mike Marqusee Paul Craig Roberts Peter Phillips William S. Lind Christine Tomlinson Innocent Targets in the "Long War": False Positives and Bush's Eavesdropping Program Will Youmans Robert Robideau Richard Neville Peter Rost Website of the Day
February 8, 2006 Ron Jacobs Stan Cox Sen. Russ Feingold Robert Jensen Rep. Cynthia McKinney Niranjan Ramakrishnan Don Monkerud David Swanson C.L. Cook Christopher
Fons Jeffrey Ballinger Website of
the Day
February 7, 2006 Edward Lucie-Smith Robert Fisk Paul Craig Roberts Neve Gordon Joshua Frank Peter Montague Jackie Corr Jeffrey St.
Clair Website of the Day
February 6, 2006 Christopher
Brauchli Robert Fisk John Chuckman Jenna Orkin Paul Craig
Roberts
February 4 / 5, 2006 Alexander Cockburn Mike Ferner James Petras Alan Maass Fred Gardner Ralph Nader Bill Glahn Saul Landau Laura Carlsen James Brooks Mike Roselle John Holt Sarah Ferguson William S.
Lind Niranjan Ramakrishnan Seth Sandronsky Derrick O'Keefe Michael Donnelly Ron Jacobs Elisa Salasin St. Clair / Vest Stew Albert Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend
February 3, 2006 Toufic Haddad Heather Gray Tim Wise Conn Hallinan Eva Golinger Daniel Ellsberg Dave Zirin Robert Bryce Website of
the Day
February 2, 2006 Winslow T.
Wheeler Stan Cox Rachard Itani Mike Whitney Amira Hass Norman Solomon Michael Simmons Christopher
Reed Website of the Day
February 1, 2006 Sharon Smith Jason Leopold Cindy Sheehan Joseph Grosso Earl Ofari Hutchinson Steven Higgs Robert Robideau R. Siddharth Jim Retherford Rep. Cynthia
McKinney Paul Craig
Roberts Website of
the Day
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March 22, 2006 How a Remote Alaskan Indian Tribe Got One of the Most Lucrative Post-911 Security Contracts, But Not a Single Job Contract Casino By JEFFREY ST. CLAIR The Pentagon isn't alone in handing out plump no-bid contracts to politically wired corporations. The new Department of Homeland Security, a collage of 22 sub-agencies sprawling across the federal bureaucracy, is sluicing billions into the coffers of a few favorite contractors and many of the deals have been awarded on the same no-bid basis that brought such amazing largesse to corporations doing business in Iraq and Afghanistan, such as Bechtel and Halliburton. Over the past two years, about 30 percent of the Department of Homeland Security's contracts have been awarded on a non-competitive, no-bid basis. These contracts amount to about $2.5 billion, for services ranging from computer systems to the maintenance of airport scanning devices. Among the top beneficiaries of these sweetheart deals are two companies with a track record of contract fraud and overbilling: Boeing and Integrated Coast Guard Systems, the latter being a joint venture between Lockheed-Martin and Northrop Grumman. Combined, the two weapons giants reaped more than $700 million in no bid contracts from the Department of Homeland Security. This is in spite of recent audits by the Department's Inspector General, Clark Kent Ervin, which accused both firms of overcharging. Indeed, in the past three years alone, Lockheed and Boeing had been forced to pay more than $250 million in fines for violations of their contracts with the Pentagon. Integrated Coast Guard Systems was handed the huge contract to install new engines on the Coast Guard's fleet of HH-65 helicopters. A task that the Coast Guard was more than capable of handling on its own more promptly and for much less money. But Lockheed's lobbyists won the day and wrested the contract into their subsidiary. Almost immediately things began to go awry. First, the project proposal was delivered more than a month late. And when auditors began to look at the fine print of the proposal they discovered that it was larded with "$123 million worth of goods and services that the Coast Guard did not ask for." While the auditors raised a red flag, the Coast Guard brass and the honchos at the Department of Homeland Security sped on with the deal, ignoring the warnings of their own inspector general. Of course, any contract with Lockheed should come under special scrutiny given their ripe record of overbilling, shoddy work and contract fraud. Most recently, Lockheed was cited for providing the Air Force with C-130J transport planes that didn't meet military standards, delaying troop and equipment deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Even so, Lockheed raked in $2.6 billion on the deal and stands to make another $5 billion on the planes. Kent's report cited Boeing
with bilking the new department out of more than $49 million
last year on its contract to install bomb detection equipment
in the nation's airports. For its part Boeing, which has witnessed
several of its executives carted off to federal prison in recent
months for illegal lobbying on Pentagon contracts, dismissed
Kent's Another huge no-bid contract went to scandal-plagued BearingPoint Technologies. The McLean, Virginia-based consulting firm was given a $229 million contract to install a new computer system at the Department of Homeland Security. The contract was awarded only months after the Department of Veterans Affairs dumped a BearingPoint $472 million computer system for its VA hospitals in Florida after it failed a 9-month test. Bizarrely, BearingPoint executives were paid a $200,000 incentive bonus for keeping the doomed project on schedule. Now, BearingPoint executives find themselves the subject of two investigations. "One deals with allegations involving criminal activity, the other one involves matters of civil litigation, basically involving money," said Jon Wooditch, a spokesman for the Veteran Affair's Department's inspector general. The IG's initial report into the BearingPoint's hospital computer system discovered "serious deficiencies" in the system and cost overruns averaging $4 million a month. According to VA investigators, key documents related to the award could not be located, "nor could we determine on what basis VA made the award to BearingPoint over other offers." Last month, BearingPoint disclosed to its shareholders that it's also the subject of a federal grand jury investigation in California for improprieties on government contracts in that state from 1998. One of the biggest of Department of Homeland Security contracts went to an obscure company called Chenega Technology Services Corp, which is owned by Alaskan natives from the small village of Chenega. Chenega is a coastal village accessible only by floatplane. In July of 2002, the Customs Service asked Lockheed and Dyncorp to submit proposals for a $500 million project to upgrade and maintain the x-ray and gamma ray machines at the US's ports and border stations. But six months later the Customs Service issued a press release saying that the project would not be put up for competitive bidding. Instead, it was being awarded on a no-bid basis to Chenega Technology. The decision stunned executives at DynCorp, who figured they were front-runners for the deal. "I didn't even know how to spell their name," said Raymond Mintz, who had been hired by DynCorp to prepare its bid for the Customs contract. Chenega officials may have been stunned as well. Their company had little experience with the high-tech scanning machines. In the end, Chenega contracted most of the actual work out to two other companies, SAIC, Inc. and American Science and Engineering Inc. The deal was actually brokered by Senator Ted Stevens, the Alaska Republican, who inserted the deal into a legislative rider on the Defense Appropriations bill. Stevens chairs the mighty Senate Appropriations Committee. Chenega, however, appears to be a native corporation in name only. Of its 2,300 employees, only 33 are Alaskan natives. The headquarters of the company is located not in Anchorage or Juneau, but in shiny glass building in toney Alexandria, Virginia, just down the road from the Pentagon. Through the legislative magic of Ted Stevens, Alaska Native Corporations enjoy cushy loopholes when it comes to federal contracts. For one thing, they can continue to maintain their small business status even when they are bringing in millions in revenue. This special dispensation allows them to be exempt from the $3 million federal cap on no-bid service contracts that are in place for other minority small businesses. By another legislative quirk, Alaska Native Corporations, such as Chenega, don't even have to be run by Native Americans. Moreover, they can subcontract out most of the work to non-Native firms without having to undergo the rigorous cost-benefit analysis required for other corporations. Jeff Hueners, the chief operating officer of Chenega, called the company "an American success story that benefits from preferential laws based upon the trust relationship the United States Government has with its indigenous, aboriginal people." Chenega's success has hinged on the post-911 spending spree. In 2001, Chenega only recorded $42 million in revenues. Last year, Chenega's revenues exceeded $480 million . One of Chenega's biggest contracts came after the start of the Iraq war when the Pentagon transferred most of its military police to places like Abu Ghraib and other prisons and detention centers in Iraq. This left thousands of open positions for military police at DoD facilities in the US. Strangely, Chenega and Alutiiq, another Alaska Native Corporation, won the contracts to provide security forces for 40 US military installations, ranging from Ft. Bragg to West Point to the Anniston Chemical Weapons Depot in Alabama. The contracts were worth about $500 million. They were awarded to the two Native Corporations on a no bid basis, even though neither corporation had any experience in providing security services. The Pentagon made no public announcement about the awarding of the contracts. The deal calls for Chenega and Alutiiq to provide 4,385 private security guards. But neither company will actually provide any workers. Instead, both native firms subcontracted the work out to private security companies. Chenega made a deal with Vance International, the Republican-connected outfit that was founded by Gerald Ford's son-in-law and which provided security for the Bush-Cheney election campaign in 2000. Alutiiq forged a similar deal with Wackenhut Services, the British-owned security corporation. The Pentagon had originally put the security contracts up for open bidding. Both Wackenhut and Vance had submitted bids, but both were rejected. Then, through the suggestion of the Office of Senator Ted Stevens, the Pentagon decided to award the contracts on a no-bid basis to the two Alaskan Native Corporations, which had already formed their partnerships with Wackenhut and Vance. "Alutiiq approached us, we got together, and they said, 'We want to do this; we need you to come help us with it,'" explained Jim Long, Wackenhut's CEO. "We split it up 51-49." The 51-49 relationship is crucial to the deal, since under the Stevens loophole 51 percent of the money from the contract must go to the Native Corporation. It's a great deal for Wackenhut, since as a foreign-owned corporation with a shoddy record at other federal facilities they were unlikely to get any Pentagon contracts. Wackenhut is a subsidiary of Group 4 Securicor. After 9/11, the company came under scrutiny for its mismanagement of security at several Department of Energy facilities, including serious breaches at the Oak Ridge Nuclear Weapons plant in Tennessee. As a subcontractor, however, Wackenhut not only avoids competitive bidding, but they also evade scrutiny of their work by the Pentagon. Neither the Pentagon nor the Department of Homeland Security has any legal recourse over the performance of Vance or Wackenhut. That responsibility is reserved for the native corporations. The Pentagon sees this kind of subcontracting as the wave of the future. An internal Pentagon memo unearthed by the General Accounting Office spoke of "contract security guards as a viable manpower option." It's not hard to see why the Pentagon likes it. They can please powerful senators like Stevens and free up troops for duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. Indeed, Rumsfeld has said that he would like to permanently transfer as many as 320,000 Pentagon positions to private companies. Many federal employees see this as a kind of union-busting. "It's not complicated what they're doing here," says Anne Wagner, a lawyer with the American Federal Government Employees Union. "They hook up with a corporation like Wackenhut, which runs the entire operation." Wackenhut then hires former soldiers at non-union wages and offers them few or no benefits. In 2003, the union sued to halt the issuance of these kinds of no-bid deals, but lost when the US Supreme Court refused to hear the case. The privatized workforce isn't taking home much money, but the corporations certainly are. In 2003 alone the Alaskan native corporations and their subcontractors brought in $12 billion dollars in federal contracts. But little of this money actually makes its way back to Alaskan Natives. In 2004, for example, Chenega Corporation, which brought in nearly a half billion in revenues, only distributed about $1 million to native shareholders and cultural and education programs for natives. Back on those tribal lands in Alaska, poverty rates remain the highest in the nation and unemployment exceeds 40 percent. Not a single member of one of the Alaskan tribes works on any of the Alutiiq/Wackenhut or Chenega/Vance contracts. This article is excerpted
from Jeffrey St. Clair's new book, Grand
Theft Pentagon.
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from CounterPunch Books! The Case Against Israel By Michael Neumann  Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Greed and Profiteering in the War on Terror by Jeffrey St. Clair          Sick of sit-on-the-Fence speakers, tongue-tied and timid? CounterPunch Editors Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St Clair are available to speak forcefully on ALL the burning issues, as are other CounterPunchers seasoned in stump oratory. Call CounterPunch Speakers Bureau, 1-800-840-3683. Or email beckyg@counterpunch.org.                  |
