• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Hey Twoofers; 70 Whistleblowers under gag order go public

BigAl

Philosopher
Joined
Jun 9, 2007
Messages
5,397
Actually it's more correctly "up to 70". The news article is a little vague on exactly how many.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/panorama/7438372.stm

Panorama investigates claims that as much as $23bn (.11.75bn) may have been lost, stolen or not properly accounted for in Iraq.

There are contracts for caterers, tanker drivers, security guards and even interrogators, many of them through companies with links to the White House.

Now more than 70 whistleblower cases threaten to reveal the scandals behind billions of dollars worth of waste, theft and corruption during the Iraq war.

Gagging orders

A total of $23bn (.11.75bn) is under scrutiny.

The US justice department has imposed gagging orders which prevent the real scale of the problem emerging.

But Panorama's Jane Corbin has spoken to some of those involved - with astonishing stories to tell of who got rich and who got burned.

She hears allegations of mismanagement, fraud and waste; tales of contractors chosen for their US government connections without a competitive bidding process; contractors inflating their costs and double counting to increase their profits and billions supposed to be used to rebuild the Iraqi military allegedly


Play the audio on the web page for lots of specifics and lots of "I can't talk about that". If the TV show this news item is related to shows up on YouTube, I'd like to hear about it.
 
Surely these brave men and women are about to be shot down like partridges by their ruthless neo-con government.
 
Surely these brave men and women are about to be shot down like partridges by their ruthless neo-con government.

Man, there's gonna be a lot of 'suicides' happening soon. Well bless his heart, he couldn't live with himself for lying about his government that way, so he shot himself in the back of the head.

Twice.

Poor guy.


The tentacles of the BFEE reach far & wide...
 
Yikes, nice hype:

"The US justice department has imposed gagging orders which prevent the real scale of the problem emerging."

Except these are all Qui Tam false claim suits.

"Once a relator brings suit on behalf of the government, the Department of Justice, in conjunction with a U.S. Attorney for the district in which the suit was filed, have the option to intervene in the suit. If the government does intervene, it will notify the company or person being sued that a claim has been filed. Qui tam actions are filed under seal, which has to be partially lifted by the court to allow this type of disclosure."

So the claim that "the Justice Department" is gagging these suits is misleading by omission.
 
Last edited:

Back
Top Bottom