black…MYstory

By now, there is a good chance that you have heard of Bunnatine “Bunny” Greeenhouse. She is a 20-year employee of the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers and, until 2005, was their highest-ranking civilian contracting officer. Then, she came across something that she should have reported…and did. When her superiors did nothing, she testified before Congress about it. What was it she saw? Multibillion-dollar reconstruction contracts awarded to Halliburton and its subisidiary KBR that were wrought with fraud.

Now, one would think that this would have spurred to Army Corps to get to the bottom of this fraud, right? Wrong. Instead, Ms. Greenhouse was demoted and now is riding out the rest of her career in a small cubicle.

Why do I bring up this “old” story again? Well, sadly, Ms. Greenhouse’s case is not unique but, is instead a longer narrative about what happens to those who have blown the whistle on corrupt business practices in regards to the Iraq War.

Donald Vance worked for the Iraqi-owned Shield Group Security Co. and what he saw there shocked him enough to contact the FBI. Vance saw weapons being sold for cash to anyone who would buy them. The weapons were things like guns, land mines and rocket launchers. The clientele included Iraqi insurgents.

Now, if someone is selling weapons that could, in turn, be used to kill U.S. troops or Iraqi civilians, you would think the government would want to stop that, right? Wrong. For is diligence, Vance was detained for over three months in the same facility that was once used to incarcerate Saddam Hussein. According to Vance, he was “subjected to physical and mental interrogation tactics ‘reserved for terrorists and so-called enemy combatants.’”

This article contains more stories that are shocking, as well. However, a common thread runs through all of these. Our government is not only sitting on its hands while taxpayers are defrauded and, in the case of Donald Vance, might also have allowed weapons sales to insurgents to continue, but it is also punishing those stepping forward to call what is wrong, “wrong.”

One of my favorite talk show hosts, Randi Rhodes, says it best when she states that they want chaos because, in chaos, they can steal. Well, America, we’re getting stuck up to the tune of billions.

Popularity: 15% [?]