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| leonard78sp at (no spam) gmail.com... |
 Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 8:26 am |
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October 31, 2009
US politicians face inquiry into arms deals
Up to 20 more F22 fighters could be built next year at $145 million
Giles Whittell in Washington
with the story NY Times missed and then buried
More than 30 US politicians, among them seven members of a defence
procurement committee, are being investigated in congressional ethics
inquiries into influence-peddling, according to a document leaked
accidentally on to the internet.
The disclosure sheds light on a process by which billions of dollars a
year are spent on defence projects that the Pentagon does not want and
which limits funds available for US military operations in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6897493.ece
House Representatives named in the document include John Murtha, the
chairman of the House Defence Appropriations Sub-committee, who added
so-called “earmarks” worth more than $100 million to last year’s
defence budget and received $743,000 in campaign contributions from
defence contractors. The contributions were funnelled through the PMA
Group, a lobbying company set up by a former aide to Mr Murtha which
closed after being raided by the FBI this year.
Five of the seven members named in the leaked document are Democrats,
which is an embarrassment for Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, who
pledged to “drain the swamp” of corruption and excessive corporate
influence on Capitol Hill.
This week President Obama signed a Defence Authorisation Bill
providing $680 billion in military spending for the coming year,
including $2.5 billion for ten transport aircraft even though the
Pentagon said that it has enough of them. The Bill authorises funding
for an alternative engine for the F35 joint strike fighter that the
Air Force says it does not need and a destroyer that the Navy says is
obsolete.
Mr Obama noted that the Bill scrapped a presidential helicopter and an
unproven airborne laser but he admitted: “There’s still more waste we
need to cut.” He pointed to $296 billion of cost over-runs.
The practice of earmarked military spending is based on the right of
congressional representatives to award no-bid contracts to defence
companies, usually in their own states, whether or not the Department
of Defence approves them.
That entitlement has fostered a culture of mutual dependence between
lobbyists and politicians that has proved impossible to eradicate.
No specific wrongdoing is alleged in the 22-page report of the Ethics
Committee but it revealed an inquiry of House members suspected of
“accepting contributions or other items of value in exchange for an
official act”.
Six members received contributions of $6.2 million and sponsored
earmarks worth $200 million for PMA clients, according to the
Congressional Quarterly and Taxpayers for Common Sense, a watchdog.
The PMA was set up by Paul Magliochetti. James Moran, who is also on
the subcommittee, told The Washington Post: “When you wanted to raise
money for the Democratic campaign committee he was always the first
one you went to.” The smell of Sleaze is the last thing that Mr Obama
or Mrs Pelosi want lingering in the corridors of in Congress as they
try to coax Republicans to back their health reforms. A series of
corruption scandals destroyed what remained of the Republican
majority’s credibility in the waning months of the Bush era, but
conservatives pounced on the PMA affair yesterday. “Clearly the
Democrats were not serious when they said they would clean up the
House of Representatives,” one said.
Surplus to requirement
Up to 20 more F22 fighters could be built next year at $145 million
apiece even though they were designed for dogfights against Russian
MiGs and, as one expert noted, “the Taleban doesn’t have an air
force”. The US will also build a $2.7 billion DDG1000 destroyer that
its Navy does not want. In all, taxpayers will fund nearly 800 defence
or defence-related projects that the Pentagon has not requested
The most egregious example of unwanted hardware that Congress will
still fund is the C17 transport. The Pentagon says it has enough of
its newest heavylift aircraft but Boeing has spread its manufacturing
across 43 states and lobbyists claim that 30,000 jobs depend on it. A
total of $2.5 billion has been earmarked to build up to ten more |
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