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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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July 29th,
2010 - Audit: Blackwater May Have Overcharged for Iraq Work |
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Audit: Blackwater May Have Overcharged
for Iraq Work By Bill Sizemore The Virginian-Pilot July 29, 2010 Lax oversight by the State
Department appears to have allowed Blackwater to overcharge a nonprofit
organization for security services in Iraq, according to a government audit
released today. For five years, the Moyock,
N.C.-based private military company, now known as Xe, held a no-bid contract
to provide security for the Iraq operations of the International Republican
Institute. The company lost the contract last year - along with a much larger
contract with the State Department - after the Iraqi government canceled its
license to do business in the country. The International Republican
Institute “advances freedom and democracy worldwide by developing political
parties, civic institutions, open elections, good governance and the rule of
law,” according to its website. Although it bills itself as nonpartisan,
prominent Republicans occupy many of its leadership positions. Sen. John McCain, the 2008
Republican presidential nominee, is chairman of the board. The organization is funded
largely by government grants. Over the three-year period
from Oct. 1, 2005, to Sept. 30, 2008, IRI paid Blackwater $50 million - more
than one-fifth of its budget - for security services, according to its most
recent tax returns. Since 2004 the State
Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor has awarded IRI
eight democracy-building grants totaling $131 million. Auditors for the
Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction examined the largest of
those, for $50 million. There are no records to
indicate that IRI conducted any analysis of the reasonableness of the
security costs that Blackwater was charging, the auditors found. The company lost its
operating license last year over allegations of unprovoked killings of Iraqi
civilians by Blackwater contractors. IRI then opened up its
security work to competitive bidding and replaced Blackwater with two other
companies. The auditors found that those companies provided the same level
and type of services for significantly less money. For example, in January 2008,
Blackwater charged $114,470, which included $120.11 per day for 30 Iraqi
static security guards. In February 2010, one of the
successor companies, Ardan Energy Services, charged less than one-third of
that amount, $33,120, for 34 guards who were paid $27 to $33 per day. The State Department still
uses Xe’s security services. Last month the company won a contract worth more
than $120 million to protect U.S. consulates in Afghanistan. External link: http://hamptonroads.com/2010/07/audit-blackwater-may-have-overcharged-iraq-work?cid=ltst |