House Stages Sham Hearings on Iraq Contracts as Heat Rises on War Profiteers

READ MORE: Iraq, Halliburton, Laura Bush, Dick Cheney, 2006, George W. Bush

After being AWOL for over two years, the House Committee on Government Reform finally held a hearing about the botched Iraq reconstruction contracts on Thursday.

Although the hearing put some light on a few serious issues, given the context, the hearing was basically a sham, a last-ditch effort to muffle the growing outrage over war profiteering stirred up by Senator Dorgan's series of ten hearings, the recent debut of Iraq for Sale, the mainstream media's growing interest in the Halliburton convoy attacks and daily war profiteering outrages like the recent report that the Lincoln Group received another contract after getting caught paying Iraqi newspapers to plant propaganda.

So much for Bushco's respect for freedom of the press in their ongoing effort to democratize Iraq.)

So why was the hearing a sham? Because it came too late in the session to result in any significant legislative reforms.

Also, ask yourself why Bechtel and Blackwater were happy to come testify without having to be subpoenae'd, unless they knew they'd be treated with velvet gloves.

This was the first hearing the committee has held since July of 2004! In the last two years the news has been saturated with story after story about botched reconstruction projects, incompetence, cronyism and corruption at the CPA, a court decision that threatens to gut the nation's principal anti-fraud law (the judge's decision in the Custer Battles case), and an endless whistle-blower driven trail of waste, bribery, fraud and human rights abuses. >>>>cont

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