A bigger problem than Blackwater: DynCorp (Updated)

You want a bigger and deeper problem than Blackwater? Consider DynCorp, a much larger private military firm "providing" a range of services that impact Iraqis and the U.S. mission in far greater ways than Blackwater. From David Phinney:

The State Department so badly managed a $1.2 billion contract for Iraqi police training that it can’t tell what it got for the money spent, a new report says.

Because of disarray in invoices and records on the project — and because the government is trying to recoup money paid inappropriately to contractor DynCorp International, LLC — auditors have temporarily suspended their effort to review the contract’s implementation, said Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart W. Bowen Jr.

Maybe investigators should look into DynCorp’s relationship with its prime subcontractor, Corporate Bank, aka, The Sandi Group, aka, TSG.

See: Marking Up the Reconstruction

You could play the What If? that Blackwater’s profile (and profits) wouldn’t be what it was if DynCorp (and others) had done their part in training the police, building the infrastructure, and creating jobs for Iraqis as they had been charged with doing.

Oh, and by the way, when the U.S. sends police on U.N. peacekeeping missions, they aren’t employed by the U.S. Nope, they’re DynCorp-paid cops. Blackwater? They’re just the whipping boy for the emotional. Blackwater is small change compared to DynCorp.

Also see Phinney’s more recent post on State’s IG here.

Update: see the NY Times article on State contracting.

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