Reservist Arrested on Iraqi Bribe Charges

[Judi Lynn]

Reservist Arrested on Iraqi Bribe Charges
By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer

Thursday, December 15, 2005

(12-15) 13:02 PST WASHINGTON, (AP) --

An Army Reserve lieutenant colonel was arrested Thursday on charges she was part of a conspiracy to steer Iraqi reconstruction contracts to a businessman in exchange for money and gifts, including a Cadillac SUV.

Debra Harrison, 47, of Trenton, N.J., is the second Army Reserve officer facing charges of conspiracy, money laundering and weapons violations, according to the criminal complaint against her that was made public in Washington by the Justice Department.

Harrison served in Iraq in 2003 and 2004, assigned to Coalition Provisional Authority office in Hillah that awarded reconstruction contracts. A second Army Reserve lieutenant colonel, Michael Brian Wheeler of Amherst Junction, Wis., and a former occupation official, Robert J. Stein Jr., 50, of Fayetteville, N.C., were arrested last month.

Also arrested in November was Philip H. Bloom, a U.S. businessman who has lived in Romania for many years. Prosecutors say Bloom paid the kickbacks in return for more than $13 million in CPA contracts for companies that Bloom controls.
(snip/...)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/12/15/national/w130228S42.DTL

[Barrett808]

1. Just a few bad apples...certainly not a culture of corruption. n/t

[Solly Mack]

2. and Cheney/Halliburton? Rumsfeld/Betchel?

Exxon-Mobil/Bush family?

Yeah, that's what I thought.

[Eugene]

3. $160,000 down, $7,999,840,000 to go.

I feel so good knowing how our government protects
taxpayer money from such small time graft. /sarcasm

So when do they go after Halliburton, Chalabi,
and the rest of the CPA crooks?

[pocket]

4. yay, support our embezzlers!

.

[saigon68]

5. Military Thugs

[salin]

6. I just ran across this story... wonder how much of this goes on?

here is a link from Friday - http://www.nj.com/news/times/index.ssf?/base/news-0/113472423654900.xml&coll=5&thispage=1