On Jan. 17, 1991, Marine Corps Lt. Col. Clifford Acree's plane went down over Iraq. Captured and tortured for 47 days, by the end of his imprisonment his skull was fractured, his nose was broken and he had lost 30 pounds.
In 2002, Acree joined with 16 other former POWs to file suit against the Iraqi government. A federal judge awarded the POWs and their families $959 million from frozen Iraqi assets held in the United States.
Just weeks after the former POWs won their case, the Bush administration asked the courts to withhold the money from them, which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia did. Since then, the administration has refused settlement talks and killed a congressional resolution supporting the POWs. This week, according to the Los Angeles Times, it will most likely file a brief asking the Supreme Court not to hear the case.
In November of 2003, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan explained the administration's decision to fight against monetary compensation for these soldiers, tortured while serving the United States, saying, "These resources are required for the urgent national security needs of rebuilding Iraq."
But, I have learned over the course of the past week, billions more dollars might be available had the Bush administration not decided to essentially legalize fraud during the rebuilding of Iraq. Through executive orders signed by President Bush, as well as orders released by the Coalition Provisional Authority, the U.S.-led former government of Iraq and decisions by the Department of Justice, it has become all but impossible for contractors who did not fulfill their contracts or even committed outright fraud during the rebuilding of Iraq to be held accountable. This story has yet to be fully reported by any other news outlet.
Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart W. Bowen Jr. reported recently that the Coalition Provisional Authority could not account for $8.8 billion, about half of a development fund based on Iraqi oil revenues and entrusted to the CPA. We may never know the full scope of the mismanagement and fraud: At the moment, only one suit dealing with fraud committed against the CPA has been unsealed. No one knows how many more exist.
I spoke yesterday with the lawyer for the plaintiffs in that case. Alan Grayson is the lawyer for two former employees of Custer Battles, a firm hired to perform various security functions in Iraq. He testified before the Senate Democratic Policy Committee on Monday, saying that, "In our case, the Bush administration has not lifted a finger to recover tens of millions of dollars that our whistleblowers allege was stolen from the government."
And the egregious misuse of funds that Grayson's clients allege -- $15 million paid to the company to provide security screening for civilian flights from the Baghdad airport during a period when there were no civilian flights; attempted theft of $10 million in Iraqi dinars the company was under contract to keep secure; over-billing by nearly $7 million for material costs -- is just the tip of the iceberg. Let's not forget the charges that have been leveled against Halliburton, Custer Battles and Bechtel.
It is likely, however, that no one will ever be held responsible for mismanagement of CPA funds or fraud. When I spoke with him, Grayson described Iraq during the CPA's administration as a "free-fraud zone, like a free-fire zone, where you can commit fraud without any penalty."
Unfortunately, it seems that Grayson's interpretation of the situation is dead on.
Executive Order 13303 was put in to effect in May 2003 by President Bush, supposedly to protect the Iraqi oil money controlled by the CPA. But, according to a September 2003 article by Bob Barr, a former Republican congressman, it "grants to every company or other entity with any interest -- direct or indirect -- in Iraqi oil or any proceeds thereof blanket immunity from any judicial process whatsoever." The White House did not respond to calls seeking comment.
Even if Executive Order 13303 was not in effect, actions by the Justice Department and the CPA would still give contractors immunity. Grayson testified on Monday that he was told by an assistant U.S. attorney that "the Bush administration had decided, as a matter of policy, that cheating the Coalition Provisional Authority was not the same as cheating the United States." This essentially exempts contractors from U.S. fraud laws, and, coupled with the CPA's Order 17, which provided contractors immunity from Iraqi law, means that no one is empowered to take action. The Justice Department could not respond to requests for comment in time for publication.
The administration was not simply ignorant and incompetent in its administration of Iraq, it but has acted to legalize the fraud that occurred under its watch, wasting billions of dollars at the expense of tortured POWs like Clifford Acree and at the expense of real rebuilding efforts in Iraq.
Once again, the administration has shown that, given a choice between American soldiers, taxpayers, indeed, our national security and its business friends, we'll get the shaft every time.
Alex Koppelman is a senior individualized major in the College from Baltimore and former editor-in-chief of 34th Street Magazine. Rock the Casbah appears on Thursdays.
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