Posted by D. Cupples | Sometimes, the media covers stories for days -- then we stop hearing about them. I can't help wondering what's going on with some of those previously covered issues. For example:
The 190,000 Weapons Lost in Iraq
On August 8, the Washington Post reported that 190,000 U.S. weapons (about 1/3 of the weapons we sent to Iraq) were lost in 2004-05. General David Petraeus, who was in charge of arming Iraqis at the time, explained that the Army was too preoccupied with combat to sit around recording serial numbers -- as though officials couldn't possibly have set up record-keeping procedures before shipping the weapons, during the long run-up to the war. (BN-Politics-1)
The Investigation of Levonda Selph & Others
On August 28, the New York Times reported that there were 73 criminal investigations into contract fraud in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan. Among those under investigation was Lt. Col. Levonda Selph, former aide to General Petraeus. Reports didn't specify why she was under investigation. (BN-Politics-2)
The Cockerham Bribery Story (next page...)
On July 27, the Washington Post reported that Army Major John Cockerham took $9+ million in bribes from eight military contractors and that his wife and sister were involved in the schemes. Oddly, these individuals' names were plastered all over the media, but at that time the Justice Department refused to name the companies involved. (BN-Politics-3)
Offering a bribe is as much a crime as taking one. And it's not as though the keep-them-guessing strategy would actually work: the minute the media mentioned the name Cockerham, the bribe-offering companies knew that investigators were on their trail.
Related BN-Politics Posts:
* Gov. Contractors: Driving up War's Costs?
* Have U.S. Officials Protected Blackwater?
* Billions over Baghdad: Poor Accounting Allowed Waste & Fraud
* Defense Dept. Rewarding Bad Contractor Performance?
* How the Defense Dept. Flushes Dollars Down Latrine
* Time for Pentagon to Get Serious about Contractor Fraud
* Taxpayers Losing Money to Engorged Contractors
* Audit Red-Flags Contractor in Iraq
* State Dept. Plans to Start Monitoring Blackwater?
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I often wonder about this stuff all of the time. Strangely, the whole missing weapons story wasn't new news in August. I'd read a story about it last year. So, when the media was making a big deal about it two months ago, I was like "and?" It seems like at least once a year these same stories keep popping back up and everyone acts surprised and then the story disappears again. The last 7 years have been just deja vu over and over. I realized that once looking over my old blog that basically everyone was saying the same stuff year after year. Starting last year, I've started recognizing the repeated stories and wondering why no one else does.
Posted by: J. Lynne | October 19, 2007 at 01:43 PM