GonzoToday
  • Pages
    • Front Page
    • Featured content
    • The GonzoToday Interview
    • Commentary
    • Poetry
    • ART
    • News
    • Travel
  • Music
    • Music videos
    • Music Reviews
  • Columns
    • The Publisher Pontificates
    • Greetings from Scranton
    • The Vinyl Vault
  • Fiction
    • Flying Trees Publishing
    • Books
    • Short Stories
    • FAN Fiction
  • Flying Trees Publishing
  • About
    • Our staff
    • About GonzoToday.com
    • Mission Statement
  • Submissions
  • Log In

WAR WASTE

December 6, 2015 Joe Coleman Front page, News 0

Tweet

War-Waste

by Joe Coleman 

A new inspector general’s investigation found a Pentagon business advocacy agency spent almost $150 million on private “villas” and security for a very small contingent of staff and visitors in Afghanistan. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction presented his findings in a letter to Defense Secretary Ash Carter and insisted on more transparency about the program.

Inspector General John Sopko said, “If employees had instead lived at [Pentagon] facilities in Afghanistan, where housing, security, and food service are routinely provided at little or no extra charge to [Pentagon] organizations, it appears the taxpayers would have saved tens of millions of dollars.” Sopko questioned the need for the “western-style hotel accommodations” that included flat-screen TVs, private bodyguards and “three-star” dining services for attendees. There are questions about who exactly stayed at the villas and who approved the expenditures.

Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri is an important member of the Armed Services Committee. She is calling on the Pentagon for more transparency as well. She said, “This letter raises troubling questions that have become all too familiar when we’re talking about how taxpayer money is spent on projects in Afghanistan.” Lt. Colonel Joe Sowers, the Pentagon spokesman, said, “We have received the recent letter from SIGAR [Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction] and will respond.”

The military agency under scrutiny, the Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, spent more than $800 million in Afghanistan from the years 2009 to 2014 and received previous accusations of mismanagement. The inspector’s report found that 20% of the task force’s budget went to providing luxury housing and security for “no more than five to 10” staff.

If our politicians keeping throwing billions of tax dollars at the Pentagon with a sense of belligerent abandon it’s evident we’re going to see more reports just like this one. William S. Burroughs once said that politicians are the stupidest breed of American there is. It is also the military’s entitled sense of privilege to secrecy that enables the conditions for just this type of financial mismanagement and waste.

Related

Previous

Curious Alice: Unsuk Chin’s Ralph STEADman inspired “Alice in Wonderland”

Next

Night Walk

SUBSCRIBE TO GONZOTODAY.COM

SEARCH OUR ARCHIVES

Support GonzoToday.com by buying our books... thanks!

or purchase directly through Amazon.com

Music video vibe

“Blackbird” by Sir Paul McCartney

Featured Content

  • 5 Irish Beers That Are Better Than Guinness This Saint Patty’s Day

    March 17, 2023 0
  • Put Warren Zevon in the HOF NOW

    March 6, 2023 0
  • The News Mainstream Media Doesn’t Want You to See

    March 6, 2023 0
  • An Early Parade

    March 6, 2023 0
  • Grammys 2023 Brings Out the Best in Journalism

    February 12, 2023 0
  • A Trip Through Ocean City

    January 29, 2023 0
  • Martin Luther King Jr Died Twice

    January 19, 2023 0
  • So, about Sierra Drummond’s new song “Signs”

    December 14, 2022 0
  • Death of The Killer: Jerry Lee Lewis

    October 30, 2022 0
  • amethyst crystals

    A Sparkling Amethyst Tour in Uruguay

    September 15, 2022 0
  • Traveling Light in a Heavy World

    Todo esta muy tranquilo en Uruguay

    September 8, 2022 0
  • We Need More Gays

    August 8, 2022 0
  • Chapter 1 from The Community Garden … more than tomatoes are dying

    July 21, 2022 0
  • Corrupt

    July 18, 2022 0
  • Armageddon

    Glory to the Heroes

    July 14, 2022 0
  • Remembering Ryan Leone: Author, Filmmaker, and My Friend

    July 13, 2022 0
  • Don’t Run Again, Joe – Greetings from Scranton

    July 6, 2022 0
  • The Relevance of Elvis

    June 29, 2022 0
  • Knock Out Racism 

    June 27, 2022 0
  • Gonzo News Update – Sunday, June 26, 2020

    June 27, 2022 0

Hunter S. Thompson 1937-2005

Art
  • ART | How to paint like Ralph STEADman

    September 19, 2017 0
  • The Great Red Shark by Joey Feldman

    July 7, 2017 0
  • “People’s Fears” by Joey Feldman

    November 15, 2016 0

SUBSCRIBE TO GONZOTODAY.COM

Shorts
  • My Encounter with Hunter

    December 21, 2017 0
  • Drug Run | Chapters 1-10

    November 15, 2017 0
  • God’s Grace: An Abortion Story

    September 2, 2015 0
Music
  • Celebrating a Half Century of the Music of Frank Zappa

    June 5, 2017 0
  • Album Review: The Damn Truth’s Devilish Folk

    April 10, 2017 0
  • The Doors First Album and Mary Werbelow: 50 Years on

    December 30, 2016 0
Read more from our writers
The GonzoToday Interview
  • An Interview with Heathcote Williams

    July 7, 2017 0
  • A Quick Talk with Benicio Del Toro

    April 22, 2016 0
  • CIA Whistleblower John C. Kiriakou: the Gonzo Today Interview

    April 2, 2015 0

Copyright © 2023 | WordPress Theme by MH Themes

 

Loading Comments...
 

You must be logged in to post a comment.