The Need For A New Congress

I recently read a great book, Imperial Life in the Emerald City by Rajiv Chandrasekaran, a reporter from the Washington Post. The book is a first-hand report about the utter chaos in Iraq in the days following the invasion, and the complete lack of preparation displayed by the Coalition Provisional Authority ("CPA") under the "leadership" (using the term very loosely) of Bush's Viceroy, L. Paul Bremer III. If every voter read this book, the Democrats would enjoy a clean sweep in the upcoming Congressional elections.

There is one particular audience to whom I would recommend this book - those who supported the Iraq War and who sincerely believe that an attempt to democratize the Middle East is a noble cause. This book makes it clear that the Bush Administration completely trashed that cause. There was no serious effort to re-build Iraq. The reconstruction efforts - which have cost American taxpayers billions of dollars - were mired in political cronyism, incompetence, and corruption. The book recounts how experienced career soldiers and State Department Middle Eastern specialists were removed from their jobs and replaced by Republican Party hacks. Prospective employees of the CPA were questioned about their voting habits, their loyalty to Bush, and their opinions about Roe v. Wade. The job of reconstructing the Baghdad stock exchange was given to a politically-connected 24-year old with no experience in finance. Accounts of such seemingly limitless outrages abound.

The book also offers a glimpse into some of the rampant waste and corruption being perpetrated in Iraq by government contractors. Aside from such well-known profiteers as Bechtel and Halliburton, the book describes the activities of some lesser known fraudsters who have been feasting at the trough in Iraq. One case is that of the company with the unlikely name of Custer Battles that was given the contract to provide security for the Baghdad Airport. The company had no prior experience in doing such security, and several companies that did have experience made it known that they could not even have calculated a bid for a contract to provide such services given the chaotic state of affairs in Baghdad. Lack of experience, however, presented no obstacle to Custer Battles, whose principals had connections in the Pentagon, the CIA, and the Republican Party (as well as right-wing media circles such as Fox News), and it got the contract from the CPA to provide airport security. Ultimately, Custer Battles' abilities turned out to have nothing to do with providing security services and everything to do with fraudulent billing practices. A former employee brought a whistleblower lawsuit against the company, and a jury in Federal Court in Virginia returned a $3 million verdict for fraud against the company. A retired General testified at the trial that the company's billing practices were the worst he had ever seen in his thirty years in the Army. The Judge in the lawsuit later vacated the verdict, not because of lack of evidence of fraud but only because the victim of the fraud was the CPA, which does not technically qualify as the type of Federal Government agency to which the civil whistleblower statute applies. There are, however, numerous Federal criminal statutes that could apply to the case. The Bush/Ashcroft/Gonzales Justice Department, however, has apparently shown little interest in pursuing the case.

This is precisely why we need new blood in Congress. How can anything possibly be accomplished in Iraq if the money spent supposedly for reconstruction is actually being poured down a rat-hole of incompetence and corruption. If nothing else, a Democratic Congress can at least be counted upon to ask the one question that no Republican has yet had the guts to ask: What the hell is going on over there?

There are many, many reasons to vote Democratic on Tuesday. Reason Number One is the crying need for accountability in Iraq.