Truth - Al Franken [105]
Erwin soon landed a gig as the top Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) official managing the finances of Iraq’s civilian security forces—fire units, customs, border patrols, and police. What a great job! Almost as much fun as his previous favorite job, which he told the Richmond Times-Dispatch was “my time as an ice cream truck driver.”
Erwin was one of the six youngsters given control of Iraq’s $13 billion budget. “The Brat Pack,” as they inevitably came to be known, were understandably startled to find themselves with awesome new jobs in Baghdad, especially since they hadn’t applied for them. Each had received an unsolicited e-mail from the Pentagon inviting them to join in the liberation effort. After comparing notes, the twenty-somethings realized the one thing they all had in common. They had all sent their résumés to the notoriously unreliable Heritage Foundation.
The Brat Packers, the contractors, and Bremer were all operating under the aegis of the CPA, which, depending upon who you talk to, was created by a secret presidential directive or by a resolution of the United Nations Security Council. An extensive investigation by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service was unable to determine whether the CPA was a “federal agency” or an “amorphous international organization.” This ambiguity provided excellent legal cover for the tremendous amount of irregular activity, such as stealing, that took place during Bremer’s tenure, activities that continued even after the CPA was officially dissolved.
CPA Inspector General Stuart Bowen concluded that no less than $8.8 billion went unaccounted for on Bremer’s watch. Where did this money go? Perhaps it’s out there now working to improve the lives of ordinary Iraqis. Perhaps. But somehow I doubt it.
Entire books could be written about the unchecked corruption that occurred after the fall of Saddam. None of them by me. I do, however, have some favorite examples that I’d like to share with you.
As part of an audit of Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root, Bowen tried a little experiment. KBR’s Baghdad office had been entrusted with 20,531 pieces of U.S. government property valued at $61.1 million. Bowen selected 164 of those items at random and asked KBR to produce them. Out of the 164 items, 52 were either missing or could not be accounted for, including two electric generators, six laptops, and an eight-by-twenty-foot trailer. And eighteen trucks.
Overall, Pentagon auditors found that Halliburton couldn’t account for $1.8 billion of work they had done in Iraq and Kuwait.
But that’s not my favorite story. My favorite story involves a company called Custer Battles.
Now, if your name were Jim Custer and you decided to start a new company with your friend Joe Battles and you wanted to be sure that when people thought of your company they thought of it as a winner, you probably wouldn’t call it Custer Battles. You’d call it something like Consolidated International Solutions. However, when former CIA officer, unsuccessful Republican congressional candidate, and Fox News commentator Michael Battles teamed up with his pal Scott Custer, a former Army Ranger and defense contractor, the pair showed an admirable disdain for modern business’s obsession with perception management. No, they didn’t name their company Fuck You. They just ran it that way. They actually called their security firm Custer Battles. This time they were determined that by hook or by crook, especially crook, Custer would win the battle.
In the spring of ’03 Custer Battles received a $16 million contract to provide security inspection for civilian flights at Baghdad International Airport. The fact that there were no civilian