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<DIV><FONT size=2>The DOD helps relieve the pain of the recession/depression:
See article below.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT><FONT size=2> </DIV>
<DIV><BR>Wayne A. Fox<BR>1009 Karen Lane<BR>PO Box 9421<BR>Moscow, ID
83843</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><A href="mailto:waf@moscow.com">waf@moscow.com</A><BR>208 882-7975</DIV>
<DIV>_____________________________________________________</DIV>
<DIV><BR> <A
href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/158250/pentagon-fraud-papers-contractors-defrauded-dod-were-rewarded-285-billion-new-contracts">http://www.thenation.com/blog/158250/pentagon-fraud-papers-contractors-defrauded-dod-were-rewarded-285-billion-new-contracts</A></DIV>
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src="mhtml:mid://00000078/!http://www.thenation.com/sites/default/themes/thenation/images/logo-main.gif">
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<DIV class=print-site_name>Published on <EM>The Nation</EM> (<A
href="http://www.thenation.com/">http://www.thenation.com</A>)</DIV>
<P></P>
<HR class=print-hr>
<H1 class=print-title>The Pentagon Fraud Papers: Contractors That Defrauded DOD
Were Rewarded With $285 Billion in New Contracts</H1>
<DIV class=print-created>John Nichols | February 3, 2011</DIV>
<DIV class=print-content><!--paging_filter-->
<P>Defense contractors that were convicted of defrauding the Pentagon received
new contracts from the Department of Defense in the amount of <A
href="http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=2B80052E-9401-4B96-989C-84D506B76DEB">$285
billion</A> <SPAN class=print-footnote>[1]</SPAN>.</P>
<P>That’s a shocking number.</P>
<P>Even more shocking is the determination of the Department of Defense to
continue the practice of steering taxpayer dollars into the bank accounts of
contractors that the courts say intentionally stole money from the federal
government.</P>
<P>Now, the question is whether Congress will be as tough on multinational
corporations with long-term patterns of wrongdoing as it was on a community
group that made a few mistakes.</P>
<P>In the fall of 2009, after some embarrassing revelations about misdeeds
committed by low-level employees of <A
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_Community_Organizations_for_Reform_Now"><STRONG>Association
of Community Organizations for Reform Now</STRONG></A> <SPAN
class=print-footnote>[2]</SPAN>, Republicans forced Democrats in Congress to
move with rare speed and dramatic reach to prevent the allocation of federal
money to the advocates for low- and moderate-income families.</P>
<P>In so doing, they established an “<A
href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/bernie-sanders-applies-acorn-standard-defense-contractors?comment_sort=ASC&page=0,0,0,2">ACORN
Standard</A> <SPAN class=print-footnote>[3]</SPAN>” for policing federal
expenditures, which holds that if even a few employees of an organization that
feeds at the public trough stand accused of engaging in activities that appear
to be inappropriate, then federal funding must be yanked. (And now some of the
same players are trying to apply a variation on the standard to <A
href="http://www.thenation.com/article/158238/piling-against-planned-parenthood">Planned
Parenthood</A> <SPAN class=print-footnote>[4]</SPAN>.)</P>
<P>Vermont Senator <A href="http://sanders.senate.gov/">Bernie Sanders</A> <SPAN
class=print-footnote>[5]</SPAN> was interested in whether the “ACORN Standard”
was being applied uniformly, or just to community groups with which President
Obama was once associated.</P>
<P>Sanders decided to look at where the real money is spent by the federal
government: the Department of Defense.</P>
<P>“The sad truth of the matter is that virtually every major defense contractor
in this country has, for a period of many years, been engaged in systemic,
illegal, and fraudulent behavior, while receiving hundreds and hundreds of
billions of dollars of taxpayer money,” <A
href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/bernie-sanders-applies-acorn-standard-defense-contractors?comment_sort=ASC&page=0,0,0,2">the
independent senator explained in a statement delivered on the Senate floor in
the fall of 2009.</A> <SPAN class=print-footnote>[3]</SPAN> “We’re not talking
here about the $53 million that ACORN received over 15 years. We’re in fact
talking about defense contractors who have received many, many billions in
defense contracts and year after year, time after time, violated the law,
ripping off the taxpayers of this country big time. And in some instances, these
contractors have done more than ripping off the taxpayers. In some instances,
they have endangered the lives and well being of the men and women who serve our
country in the armed forces.”</P>
<P>To prove his point, Sanders attached a provision to a defense spending bill,
which required the the Pentagon produce a report detailing instances of contract
fraud and how they were dealt with. A preliminary report was made available
Wednesday and it revealed that there’s a lot of fraud—involving more than 100
contractors during just the brief period that was studied.</P>
<P>But the real revelation involved how the Pentagon deals with convicted
contractors. It gave them new contracts and lots more money. How much? A
remarkable $285 billion during just the three-year period in thr latw 2000s that
was covered by the report.</P>
<P>That’s $285 <EM>billion</EM> with a”b.”</P>
<P>The preliminary report concluded that:</P>
<P>1. The Pentagon distributed $270 billion from 2007 to 2009 to ninety-one
contractors involved in civil fraud cases that resulted in judgments of more
than $1 million.</P>
<P>2. The Pentagon spent another $682 million during the same period on thirty
contractors convicted of hard-core criminal fraud in the same three-year period.
Billions more went to firms that had been suspended or debarred by the Pentagon
for misusing taxpayer dollars.</P>
<P>“With the country running a $14 trillion national debt, my goal is to provide
as much transparency as possible about what is happening with taxpayer money,”
<A
href="http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=2B80052E-9401-4B96-989C-84D506B76DEB">says
Sanders</A> <SPAN class=print-footnote>[1]</SPAN>.</P>
<P>But transparency is different from accountability.</P>
<P>The provision Sanders attached to the defense spending bill also required the
Pentagon to detail how it was moving to address fraud. In particular, the
provision directed the Department of Defense to recommend ways to punish
fraudulent contractors.</P>
<P>The Pentagon saw no need to act. “The department believes that existing
remedies with respect to contractor wrongdoing are sufficient,” concluded the
Report to Congress on Contractor Fraud.</P>
<P>Sanders, who has emerged as the Senate’s chief watchdog when it comes to the
frivilous and fraudulent financial dealings of major federal agencies, is of a
different view.</P>
<P>“It is clear that DOD’s current approach is not working,” <A
href="http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=2B80052E-9401-4B96-989C-84D506B76DEB">says
the senator</A> <SPAN class=print-footnote>[1]</SPAN>, who adds that “we need
far more vigorous enforcement to protect taxpayers from massive fraud.”</P>
<P>___________________________________________________________</P>
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