CNN reports Shoddy wiring 'everywhere' on Iraq bases, Army inspector says:
"It was horrible -- some of the worst electrical work I've ever seen," said Jim Childs, a master electrician and the top civilian expert in an Army safety survey. Childs told CNN that "with the buildings the way they are, we're playing Russian roulette."
Childs recently returned from Iraq, where he is taking part in a yearlong review aimed at correcting electrical hazards on U.S. bases. He told CNN that thousands of buildings in Iraq and Afghanistan are so badly wired that troops are at serious risk of death or injury.
He said problems are "everywhere" in Iraq, where 18 U.S. troops have died by electrocution since 2003. All deaths occurred in different circumstances and different locations, but many happened on U.S. bases being managed by various military contractors. The Army has reopened investigations in at least five cases, according to Pentagon sources.
Of the nearly 30,000 buildings the Army's "Task Force Safe" has examined so far, Childs said more than half "failed miserably." And 8,527 had such serious problems that inspectors gave them a "flash" warning, meaning repairs had to be completed in four hours or the facility evacuated.
He said the majority of those buildings were wired by contractor KBR, based in Houston, Texas.
C'mon, anybody can make a mistake. The KBR accounting department has made a few, for instance:
Halliburton Co. repeatedly overcharged the government and exhibited "profound systemic problems" under a $1.2 billion contract to restore oil services in Iraq, according to internal government documents released yesterday by one of the company's fiercest critics. ...
The documents, cited in a report by the staff of Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), depict government officials' increasing irritation with Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root Inc. as schedules slid, costs multiplied and the company balked at meeting demands for accurate cost estimates. Ultimately, contract overseers threatened to terminate the company's contract if it did not improve.
The Defense Department's process for acquiring weapons and other equipment has been rocked by recent scandals and the scrutiny of the "revolving door" that can benefit former Pentagon officials.
Pentagon auditors have challenged $45 million worth of company costs, out of $365 million in charges that were reviewed. Under the terms of its deal with the government, KBR earns its profit as a percentage of its costs.
In one case, the government's contracting officials reported that KBR attempted to inflate its cost estimates by paying a supplier more than it was due. In another, KBR cut its cost estimates in half after it was pressed on its true expenses. In a third, KBR billed for work performed by the Iraqi oil ministry.
But, hey, while awaiting trial, these guys are barred from getting new contracts from the Pentagon, right?
Hahahahahahahahaha.
President Obama has promised that inspectors general will be scrutinizing contracts much more carefully as part of the escalation in Afghanistan. Welcome words.
But taxpayer rip-offs by the private sector have been going on since Simon Stevens sold 5000 obsolete Hall carbines at double their cost to the Union Army at the beginning of the Civil War (J.P. Morgan was an early partner in the deal). Despite all the fine words about ending bad procurement practices - $800 toilet seats, for example - the devious corporadoes always find a means to go around new laws and new rules.