A Corps of Engineers Colonel with His Dick in His Mouth
U.S. Pays Millions In Cost Overruns For Security in Iraq
Washington Post Foreign Service Sunday, August 12, 2007; Page A01
BAGHDAD -- The U.S. military has paid $548 million over the past three years to two British security firms that protect the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on reconstruction projects, more than $200 million over the original budget, according to previously undisclosed data that show how the cost of private security in Iraq has mushroomed.
The two companies, Aegis Defence Services and Erinys Iraq, signed their original Defense Department contracts in May 2004. By July of this year, the contracts supported a private force that had grown to about 2,000 employees serving the Corps of Engineers. The force is about the size of three military battalions . . .
"To pay a man or a woman to come over here, put the vest on every day and escort military and civilians around the theater, knowing that people want to blow them up and kill them, you gotta pay to get that level of dedication," said Col. Douglas P. Gorgoni, senior finance officer for the Corps of Engineers in Iraq. _____________________________________________________________________ Unless of course you merely call them up from the Reserves and give them standard military pay for their dedication. It's no wonder Col. Gorgoni is a finance officer. No regular officer with command responsibility would make such a stupid comment--at least not within earshot of his troops. Let's just call it a "Rumsfeld" moment.