Iraq. War Criminals at work.

The Washington District Court was treated to the squalid money grabbing, uncontrolled excesses of the Iraqi CPA (led , remember by the ex MD of war criminal Henry Kissinger’s International Consultancy business) last week. A tale of incompetence, venality, lack of controls and sheer greed.

Robert Stein held a senior position in the Iraq Coalition Provisional Authority, which administered Iraq after American and allied forces invaded in 2003. He was in charge of overseeing money for the rebuilding of shattered infrastructure in south-central Iraq in 2003 and 2004, he was also a convicted felon.

A convicted felon inexplicably put in charge of $82 million in contracts, he pleaded guilty last Thursday to charges included conspiracy, bribery, money laundering, unlawful possession of machine guns and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

In a Washington court, he has admitted to stealing more than $2m and taking bribes in return for contracts. The former U.S. Defense Department official who arranged to bilk millions in Iraqi reconstruction money said a U.S./ Romanian businessman Philip H. Bloom, who won construction contracts in 2003 and 2004 after allegedly he and Stein rigged the bids,told Washington District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly was how the con started,

According to the New York Times, 2 senior Army Officials (said to be
Lt. Col. Debra Harrison and Lt. Col. Michael Wheeler), have also been arrested in the investigation and more arrests are forthcoming. Up to 7 more reservist officers are said to be implicated.

Stein has admitted in court to conspiring to give out contracts worth $8m to a certain company in return for bribes and also to receiving gifts and sexual favours from women at his luxury Baghdad villa. "He essentially funnelled contracts to his cronies and received bribes," said Stuart W. Bowen, Jr., the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.

E-mails cited in court records indicate that some unnamed U.S. officials even demanded specific cars: a white SUV and an electric blue sports car.
And what about the projects that were supposed to be built or refurbished in Iraq? A series of audits found major problems.

"There were millions of dollars in grants and contracts that simply went for no work at all." Bowen says cash was sloppily handled.

"The management of cash in Hilla was haphazard at best. We found that it was kept in footlockers of the trailers that people that lived there," he says. "There was a safe that wasn't locked in the bathroom of the office."

Some of the work that was done was shoddy, according to one audit. For example, a recently repaired elevator at Hilla General Hospital collapsed, killing three Iraqis.

"The reconstruction efforts during the CPA, in the South Central Region, around Hilla, failed," says Bowen. "It failed because we had a person of significant responsibility, the person in charge of that money, the controller, simply committed repeated criminal wrongdoing."

Stein admitted to stealing $2m from reconstruction funds some of it was, he admitted, smuggled onto aircraft and flown back to the United States in suitcases. As part of a plea bargain he has offered restitution of some funds.

A report from the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction on how the authority went about its business is expected in the coming weeks. Watch this space.
Don’t worry Dubya says we are winning the war. On terrorism that is … the one on crime is taking just a bit longer.

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