Congressional Budget Office Report: Billions of Taxpayer Dollars Go to Contractors in 'Unprecedented Level of Dependence on Private Firms' in Iraq

According to a new Congressional Budget Office report, one in every five dollars devoted to Iraq has gone to private contractors, who now have more people in Iraq than the U.S. military does. [The accompanying graphic depicts U.S. government obligations for contracts in the Iraq theater -- in billions of dollars.] The New York Times describes this as "a second, private, army...one whose roles and missions and even casualties among its work force have largely been hidden from public view."

As chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Sen. Norm Coleman failed to hold a single hearing on the waste, fraud, and abuse that sabotaged the reconstruction of Iraq.

"Whenever Norm Coleman is put in charge of Minnesota tax dollars, you can be sure there are corporate special interests getting a big payday," declared Al Franken, Democratic challenger for the U.S. Senate seat that Coleman has held since 2003. "But it's simply unconscionable that he allowed our troops to be put at risk, just so that his cronies could cash in. Instead of being a watchdog, Norm Coleman was a lapdog – and, every day, we learn more about the cost of his inaction."

The New York Times reports: "The United States this year will have spent $100 billion on contractors in Iraq since the invasion in 2003, a milestone that reflects the Bush administration's unprecedented level of dependence on private firms for help in the war, according to a government report to be released Tuesday [Aug. 12, 2008].

"The Pentagon's reliance on outside contractors in Iraq is proportionately far larger than in any previous conflict, and it has fueled charges that this outsourcing has led to overbilling, fraud and shoddy and unsafe work that has endangered and even killed American troops."

A defense contracting expert, Peter Singer, noted, "We have just handed over functions to contractors in a very haphazard way."

And Sen. Byron Dorgan [D-N.D.] said what Al Franken has been saying for years: "It's unfathomable to me that we don't have a bipartisan investigative committee on contracting in Iraq."

This, like so many other Tales from the Oversight-Free Zone, took place while Chairman Coleman, who accepted campaign contributions from Halliburton -- described as "the largest Pentagon contractor in Iraq" -- sat idly by.

Coleman Took $4,000 From Halliburton's PAC
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, in 2001 and 2002, Coleman's U.S. Senate campaign accepted four $1,000 contributions from Halliburton's political action committee. Hmm-m-m...

GoodBiz113's take: As any small-business subcontractor can attest, trying to do business with a federal agency can be challenging -- even to score a five- or six-figure deal. The multimillion- and multibillion-dollar no-bid contracts that the Bush administration has awarded Halliburton, Blackwater and other prime contractors is, point-blank, deplorable. It's time for a changing of the political guard -- in Congress and the White House -- to get our country back on a fiscally accountable, transparent and prosperous track for all.

SOURCES: Center for Responsive Politics, Congressional Budget Office, New York Times
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Welcome to GoodBiz113!

Inspiration comes from the darndest places. Take GoodBiz113, for instance. Its genesis was mounting frustration, disgust and anger re daily news about corporate gluttony and greed run amok [e.g., Enron, Halliburton], earmark spending, bungled government programs [the four-letter expletive/punchline FEMA pops to mind], corruption, multibillion-dollar no-bid contracts, cronyism, profiteering, finger-pointing, and mind-boggling, heads-in-the-sand denial about issues that threaten our very lives and/or the planet Earth [e.g., hurricanes, floods, transportation safety, homeland security, global warming].

Emboldened by Paddy Chayevsky and Anne Murray
Most days, I felt like Paddy Chayevsky's news anchor Howard Beale, portrayed by the late Peter Finch in the Oscar-winning 1976 film "Network": "Things have got to change. But first, you've gotta get mad!... You've got to say, 'I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Then we'll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it: 'I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!'"

After taking several dozen long, deep breaths, I decided an attitude adjustment was in order. My experience as an independent communications professional who's written for and about countless entrepreneurs, small-business owners and self-employed folks unearthed too many truly positive, instructive and spirit-soaring stories that are going untold. Profiles and features about small businesses that partner with public agencies, educational institutions and/or not-for-profit groups to benefit the greater good in innovative and far-reaching ways, deserve to be published -- as do stories about exemplary small-biz stakeholders, friends and champions. I'm just the pathologically optimistic wordsmith to tell those stories, I concluded.

So, here we are. Decades after Anne Murray crooned/pleaded, "We sure could use a little good news today" ["A Little Good News," 1983] -- and, frankly, three-plus years since I initially had this bright idea for a sustainable online publishing venture -- I'm finally rolling out GoodBiz113. My hope is that you'll find our content informational, enlightening and [sometimes anyway] entertaining. Beyond that, perhaps you'll even come away inspired to forge synergies in your own corner of the Universe.

1 + 1 = 3
"I get the 'GoodBiz' part. But what's up with the '113'?" you ask. Well, it's about synergy. Take one promising component and combine it with another promising component, and the end result is greater than the sum of the parts. Think Reese's peanut butter cups. In and of themselves, chocolate and peanut butter are pretty terrific elements [unless, of course, you're allergic to them]. Combine those two ingredients, though, and voilà -- scrumptious splendor!

At GoodBiz113, you can look forward to reading about diverse small-biz synergies that are well off the radars of most mainstream news editors and producers. Along the way, you'll encounter links to various entities -- including several socially responsible advertisers [rated by Business Ethics and/or Domini Social Equity Fund] with whom GoodBiz113 has chosen to partner.

For starters, we'll donate at least 10% of our pretax e-commissions to not-for-profit groups that serve the greatest possible good; e.g., Rochester, Minn.'s Diversity Council, a Charities Review Council-approved Smart Givers Network organization which, since 1989, has effectively promoted cultural understanding, tolerance, peace and respect via its Prejudice Reduction Workshops for students in grades K-12, plus diversity training for businesses.

Thanks for checking out our work-in-progress GoodBiz113. Please bookmark us and come back again soon.