Sorry for the short diary....

This morning the Iraqi government decided to revoke the aspects of CPA Order 17 that had been integrated into Iraqi law. CPA Order 17 was the Bremer issued order that gave contractors immunity under the Iraqi system of law. link

The Iraqi government announced on Wednesday that it has decided to formally revoke the immunity from prosecution granted to private security companies operating in the war-ravaged country.

Article 1 of Section 2 of CPA order 17 issued by then US administrator for Iraq, Paul Bremer, stipulates that the "multinational force, foreign liaison missions, their personnel, property, funds and assets and all international consultants shall be immune from Iraqi legal process."

One thing I haven't seen covered here today (and I will delete if so) is Representative Henry Waxman's letter (pdf) to State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard yesterday.

The Project on Government Oversight (POGO) has been following this in their story "What a Tangled Web We Weave"

What they are referring to are the allegations leveled by Waxman against State's IG for blocking and impeding investigations into cases concerning contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan and the fraternal relation of the IG to former CIA Executive Director Buzzy Krongard who was instrumental in an early and important in-the-door contract for Blackwater.

Walter Pincus had an article today in the Washington Post titled "Contractors in Iraq Have Become U.S. Crutch" in which he points out:

While U.S. contractors have provided personal security to officials in other conflict zones, those in Iraq are now being used in all aspects of the struggle because, as the CRS report says, doing otherwise would require policymakers "to contemplate an increase in the number of U.S. troops, perhaps increasing incentives to attract volunteers or re-instituting the draft."

emphasis mine

With a roughly 1 to 1 ratio in Iraq, this is no exaggeration.

Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released a follow up to a 2006 report last week on federal contracting. The new report can be found here (pdf file).

The report found three conclusions:

1. Procurement spending has increased over 100% in the last 6 years.

2. Over half of those contracts are no-bid or limited competition contracts. Over half.

3. Contracts with a cumulative value of  $1.1 trillion have been found by government auditors and investigators to be marked by significant waste, fraud, abuse,  or mismanagement.

A list and report of the contracts can be found here.

J. Cofer Black, the former CIA counter-terrorism specialist who has retained a vice-president position at Blackwater USA in addition to a chairmenship at his newest company, Total Intelligence Solutions, has joined the presidential campaign team of Mitt Romney as Senior Adviser for counterterrorism and national security issues.

Governor Mitt Romney today announced that Cofer Black, a former top counterterrorism official at the Central Intelligence Agency and State Department, has joined his campaign for President of the United States. Black will serve as Senior Adviser for counterterrorism and national security issues.

CSPAN's Capitol Hill News is reporting that the House has authorized subpoenas for the RNC and for Secretary Rice.

Alrighty... it's coming in baby:

In rapid succession, congressional committees Wednesday ramped up their investigations of the Bush administration by approving a subpoena for Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice and granting immunity to a former key aide to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

By 21-10, the House oversight committee voted to issue a subpoena to Rice to compel her story on the Bush administration's claim, now discredited, that
Iraq was seeking uranium from Africa.

Richard Nordan, the administrator of the estates of the four Blackwater independent contractors who were mutalated in Falluja in 2004, had sued the company at the behest of the families for "wrongful death and fraud under North Carolina tort law".

Blackwater in turn:

removed the case to federal district court, asserting that the Defense Base Act, which Congress passed in 2000, completely pre-empted the state law claims and presented unique federal interests sufficient to create a federal question. Once in federal court, Blackwater sought dismissal based on the district court's purported lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.

This was shot down by the district court and shot down again by the 4th US Court of Appeals.

UPDATE And SCOTUS shot it down the following day after I wrote this diary, so back to the State Court.

Recent reports have shown that most people in Tirge Caps' life think Tirge is an asshole. Despite consistent efforts to work hard, plan for the future, and maintain a semblance of realistic ambitions, those polled responded overwhelmingly that Tirge Caps is indeed an asshole.

When asked what he thought of being polled as being a major asshole, Tirge responded:

"This is basically the same fucking problem I've had all my life. I have this instinctual inhibition of just being me, as I would accord you the very same respect of just being you. And the problem I have with just being me is that the people in my life just think I am an asshole."

A lot of attention is paid, or at least, beginning to get paid to military service provision as a business enterprise. Our Pentagon has been changing for years now, even decades, to adjust to a post-Cold War world. One aspect of this change has been a concentrated focus on technological weaponry, which in turn, reduced the need (or the presumption of need, depending where you fall in the outsourcing debate) for manpower, or at least, in house manpower.

There are very good arguments for outsourcing many aspects of the military, including security. There are also very good arguments for keeping these services within the government's structure. Many factors come in and each situation proves a different answer. As long as there is not proper oversight, it is not really possible to understand the true impact of outsourcing these services. Basically, you just get ripped off.

But that's another topic.

The Boston Globe reported on January 2nd that a select group of US officials modeled after the Iraq Policy and Operations Group has been:

quietly co-ordinating actions for nearly a year to counter the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran, including increasing the military capabilities of Arab allies such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

They only have been outdone by themselves, when in the fourth quarter of 2005 they pulled in $10.71 billion.

Exxon has a good chance of beating that in the final quarter and that'll put them over the $40 billion mark for the year.

Royal Dutch Shell:

reported third-quarter profit jumped 21 percent, more than analysts estimated, because of rising production and higher crude prices.

The shares gained the most in five months after Shell, based in The Hague, said today that profit climbed to $7.03 billion

I speak from no higher authority than any other users here, but I suspect we will see more diaries like this before the elections are over.

Because we are an open forum, and because, as one user said so well awhile ago, "Marcos gave us all the keys to the kingdom," that very privilege will be abused by those wishing to take advantage of our kindness.

So keep a head's up all.

Peace.

-Tirge Caps

The New York Times reported on May 27, 2004 that a GAO survey of federal agencies found 52 agencies

reported 199 data mining projects, of which 68 were planned and 131 were in operation. At least 122 of the 199 projects used identifying information like names, e-mail addresses, Social Security numbers and driver's license numbers.

The survey provides the first authoritative estimate of the extent of data mining by the government. It excludes most classified projects, so the actual numbers are likely to be much higher.

That GAO report can be found here: (pdf)

more than 20 countries colluded in a "global spider's web" of secret CIA prisons and flight transfers of terror suspects

The Council  of Europe investigator Dick Marty said there is no smoking gun, however,

"there were a "number of coherent and converging elements (that) indicated that secret detention centers have indeed existed and unlawful inter-state transfers have taken place in Europe"."

Sessions has been on the floor of the Senate pushing the never dead issue of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This condescending idiot has been blathering on and blaming every thing in sight ,

Right now he has a chart up of Fidel Castro next to a Donkey in Stars and Stripes insinuating that Castro and China want to drill off the Florida coast and the Dems are trying to block our drilling there. "Are we going to have to pay Castro for our oil?"

second thread

cspan has live hearings.

Brownie's wearing a red tie today. Compared to the baby boy blue tie he had on in the last hearing, I think he woke this morning ready to not take the heat for the Katrina disaster.

Hopefully the Senators will take advantage of Brownie not being under executive privilege. Sen. Collins keeps reminding us this can be evoked in the future.

I wonder if the administration will send him a blackberry message right in the middle of the hearing...

If you want to keep the open threads going, recommend this one, unrec the other.

"exclusive editorial content" to blogs willing to run government propaganda.

Rather than rely on the organic words of soldiers blogging from Iraq, the Army has decided perspective needs a shot in the arm.

[T]he "content" under discussion, an Army public affairs officer tells me, is not the nitty gritty of deployments and living conditions overseas. It is planned to be an official counter to the perceived unwillingness of the mainstream media to report the "good news" from Iraq and the war on terror.

If anyone heard last night's town hall with Rep. Moran and Rep. Murtha, you may remember one questioner raising this cost projection and Rep. Moran claiming he had never heard it. (CSPAN has the meeting up)

Excerpts on the flip.