black…MYstory

It no secret that since the Bush folks took office, there’s been a fire sale of sorts in federal, state and local governments. Functions that used to be handled by the government have been sold off to private, for-profit companies which supposedly save money, either for the government or consumers (generally, this never happens) or it’s supposed to be more efficient (another “almost never happens”).

Just think about some of the things they have or, at least, have tried to sell off:

• The attempt to sell control of our nation’s ports to “Dubai Ports World”, a company owned by a country with a record of knowingly laundering terrorist money.
• The attempt to privatize social security which would cut off a lot of people from this needed benefit and turn our social safety net over to Wall Street CEOS.
• The use of private security firms like CACI and Blackwater in places like Iraq and New Orleans (after Hurricane Katrina) and the possibility that some of these firms were involved in the torture going on at Abu Gharib and allegations that Blackwater may have been involved in shooting/killings in the chaos that followed the flooding in New Orleans.
• Indiana trying to lease its toll roads to foreign interests, skirting the laws against the selling off of public assets.
• Illinois attempting to lease control of its state lottery to private interests, again skirting laws regarding the selling of public assets to private investors (for the record, this is a Democratic initiative).
• Contracting with Halliburton to provide logistical services for the military.

The point is that, it is risky and, in some cases, just bad policy to privative public services. For example, in Iraq, this seems to be having disatrous results (wasted billions and sub-par service for troops).

Now, it looks like the privatization bug has once again bitten us in the collective a$$.

As stated previously, many soldiers recovering at Walter Reed Medical Center are living under abysmal conditions. However, while the heads of military leaders are rolling, there’s a pieces that has just gotten some attention. It appears that a lot of problems at Walter Reed may stem from the move to privatize services at the hospital.

An except from a story posted at Armytimes.com details this. In this passage, it discusses how the House Committed on Oversight and Government reform may seek testimony from Army Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman who was relieved as head of Walter Reed after only 6 months on the job (this issue seems to go back as far as 2003 so, it is highly probable that the higher-ups in the Penatagon knew about this issue for years). The excerpt is as follows:

Committee Chairman Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and national security and foreign affairs subcommittee Chairman Rep. John Tierney, D-Mass., said they want Weightman to testify about a memo written in September by Garrison Commander Peter Garibaldi to Weightman.

In a letter from the committee to Weightman, the members said the Garibaldi memo “describes how the Army’s decision to privatize support services at Walter Reed Army Medical Center was causing an exodus of ‘highly skilled and experienced personnel.’ … According to multiple sources, the decision to privatize support services at Walter Reed led to a precipitous drop in support personnel at Walter Reed.”

The committee’s letter also noted that Walter Reed awarded a five-year, $120 million contract to IAP Worldwide Services, which is run by Al Neffgen, a former senior Halliburton official.

The committee also noted that more than 300 federal employees providing facilities management services at Walter Reed dropped to fewer than 60 by Feb. 3, the day before IAP took over facilities management. IAP replaced the remaining 60 employees with 50 private workers.

Right now, testimony on Walter Reed is going on in the House. It will be interesting to see how much will come out of this.

Popularity: 9% [?]