Man Bush Chose To Lead Pentagon Contracting Probes Left Under Fire To Become Blackwater COO

[Hissyspit]

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Blackwater_USA_linked_to_Bush_administration_1002.html

Man Bush chose to lead Pentagon contracting probes left under fire to become Blackwater COO
Jason Rhyne and Nick Juliano
Published: Tuesday October 2, 2007

The private security firm Blackwater USA, which has faced mounting criticism following an incident earlier this month in which armed guards from the group purportedly killed 11 unarmed Iraqi civilians, has numerous links to the White House as well as many current and former Republicans.

The connections include the firm's chief operating officer Joseph Schmitz, who was tapped by President Bush in 2002 to "oversee and police the Pentagon's military contracts as the Defense Department's Inspector General."

The relevation was first reported by Ben Van Heuvelen in Salon.

Serving until 2005, Schmitz went on to preside over "the largest increase of military-contracting spending in history" and joined Blackwater just a month after his departure from the Pentagon, according to Van Heuvelen.

"The resignation comes after Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) sent Schmitz several letters this summer informing him that he was the focus of a congressional inquiry into whether he had blocked two criminal investigations last year," according to a 2005 article in the LA Times.

Then-Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Grassley "accused Schmitz of fabricating an official Pentagon news release, planning an expensive junket to Germany and hiding information from Congress. Schmitz is the senior Pentagon official charged with investigating waste, fraud and abuse."

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[EVDebs]

1. Schmitz is a Knight of Malta and his real loyalties are to the uber-goals of THAT group

Tied to the BFEE worldwide; US national interests are an afterthought.