Parts supplier dupes Pentagon into paying them $20.5 million

Only under this Administration would trucks full of ice for hurricane victims drive around the country for two years, and end up being thrown out.  Only under this leadership would we overthrow a dictator and not have a postwar plan.  Only under this incompetent guidance would we nominate an Attorney General that as a candidate one year earlier lost to a dead man, or install the president of the Arabian Horse Association as the head FEMA.

So now we can add something else to the list:

A small South Carolina parts supplier collected about $20.5 millionover six years from the Pentagon for fraudulent shipping costs,including $998,798 for sending two 19-cent washers to a military basein Texas, federal officials said Thursday.

The company also billed and was paid $455,009 to ship three machinescrews costing $1.31 each to Marines in Habbaniyah, Iraq, and $293,451to ship an 89-cent split washer to Patrick Air Force Base in CapeCanaveral, Fla., Pentagon records show.

The owners of C&D Distributors in Lexington, S.C. -- twin sisters-- exploited a flaw in an automated Defense Department purchasingsystem: bills for shipping to combat areas or U.S. bases labeledpriority usually were paid automatically, said Cynthia Stroot, aPentagon investigator.

Nice oversight.  This comes from a Republican Party that sought to eliminate the Inspector General in charge of monitoring how US tax money is being spent in Iraq.

Comments

[Robt]

This more serious than we know.

The cases for privatizing Government and military have been made and concluded by the Republicans. Its about exclusive private sector profiteering and War (defense) contractor profiteering.
It would not surprise me that this contractor was registered republican, a donating ranger to Bush, and doesn't provide any health care to his employees. But I would take odds the contractor himself has health care?

Its like the repubs brought back the two drinking fountains again. This time there is one fountain for the wealthy and and the fountain that doesn't work is for the others.

In Cheney's case its about his own profiting through Haliburton as well. Figure why Haliburton move its Corporate HQ to Dubai?

Corporate welfare is OK because only the little investors and working shmucks lose not the (no) risk takers, CEO's etc.
They took the risk out of "risk takers". now their just takers.
But public assistance for bootstraps? Despicable.