This is your government high on corruption
"Kuwaiti firm blamed for Baghdad embassy flaws wins new contracts
WASHINGTON | The Kuwaiti contractor that is building the new U.S. Embassy in Baghdad — behind schedule and plagued by allegations of shoddy construction and safety flaws — is still winning lucrative contracts.
Late last month, First Kuwaiti General Trading & Contracting Co. was part of a team that won a $122 million State Department contract to build a U.S. consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, according to contract documents.
That is one of at least three State Department jobs, in addition to the Baghdad project, that First Kuwaiti won in association with a U.S. firm, Grunley Walsh LLC of Rockville, Md. [..]"
Well, isn't it special that the US State Department believes in second chances when it deals with crooked private contractors?
First Kuwaiti General Trading & Contracting Co.-- the firm who is screwing up the construction of our massive US Embassy complex in Baghdad (a small city with hair salons and fast food joints) -- is part of a team that recently won a $122 million State Department contract to build a US consulate in Saudi Arabia.
Never mind all the shoddy construction and safety flaws, being behind schedule, charges of criminal misconduct, forced (slave) labor, and cost overruns in the Baghdad project -- the Kuwaiti company is run by a Lebanese businessman who is bosom buddies with Syria and the Iranian-backed Islamic militant group Hezbollah.
How about them apples? We reward the bad guys who are in bed with other bad guys who are killing American troops.
How fitting that both Inspector General Howard Krongard, and First Kuwaiti are now being investigated by Henry Waxman (D) CA and his House oversight committee. Krongard’s own deputies have accused him of trying to stifle investigations into many of the fraud cases.
About that slave labor; I remember a story of First Kuwaiti hiring workers in India by telling them they would be working in Dubai. Then they were sent to Iraq for forced labor under armed guards. The end product has been sub, sub, sub-standard buildings with water and sewage lines leaking through walls.
Looks like this pattern of corruption and incompetence is being repeated again and again and again. We need to know whose back pockets all these contracting cronies are in. We'll find bribes, kickbacks, ties to the corporations that are getting the contracts, etc.-- a Kuwaiti corporation may only be a subsidiary FRONT for the same Americans who were behind KBR and Halliburton.
We mustn't forget how KBR, the Halliburton subsidiary, was found guilty of offering bribes for contracts, executives taking kickbacks, furnishing contaminated water and food to our troops at outrageous prices, charging our troops $50 for simple laundry, $50 per case of carbonated beverages, charging for services not rendered, fraud, etc. The list of shameless corruption went on and on for four years until the government finally admitted that KBR had violated its contract by hiring Blackwater for security instead of using regular military as their contract clearly stated.
Yeah, hard to believe that's why we fired KBR ...what with Blackwater's shenaganins today....
Anyway, thanks to the bulldog tenacity of Henry Waxman, KBR finally got fined $163 million and eliminated from future contracts. This led to Halliburton to sell off all stocks in KBR and move its head office to Dubai.
I'll bet we find out that First Kuwaiti General Trading & Contracting Co. is a another subsidiary front for the same Americans that were behind KBR and Halliburton.
Because this pattern is being repeated again and again and again ...bribes, kickbacks, ties to the corporations that are getting the contracts, etc...etc...etc...
Sadly, the United States will forever pay for this administration's long list of stupidity ... well into the next two generations, possibly more. To top it all, the entire Iraq fiasco is financed by government credit cards. Keep your fingers crossed that China doesn't decide to call in all our debts.
If you want to know about the depth of this Administration's corruption, read about some suicides: "Suicide Is Not Painless"
