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November 20, 2004

Official Malfeasance in the Pentagon

The champion of fiscal responsibility, Senator John McCain, released internal Pentagon communications which reveal "systemic Air Force failure in procurement oversight, willful blindness or rank corruption."

At issue is the Air Force/Boeing deal to lease Boeing tankers for refueling purposes which Congress finally blocked earlier this year. The contract was criticized from the start as being too costly. But, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and his staff consistently defended the contract. McCain consistently criticized it as a waste of the taxpayers money. He and others argued that buying the tankers outright would save billions of dollars, but that they aren't needed in the first place.

The Washington Post write up says,

McCain said top Air Force officials have recently been trying to "delude the American people" into believing that a single person is responsible for misconduct in the $30 billion leasing plan -- namely, Darleen A. Druyun, the Air Force contracting official who pleaded guilty two months ago to overpricing the tankers as a "parting gift" to Boeing before she became one of the firm's executives.

"I simply cannot believe that one person, acting alone, can rip off taxpayers out of billions of dollars," said McCain, who said he will keep pursuing internal Defense Department and Bush administration communications until "all the stewards of taxpayers' funds who committed wrongdoing are held accountable."

In fact the internal Pentagon communications which McCain released show that Air Force Secretary James G. Roche and Marvin R. Sambur, the Air Force's top acquisitions manager, were actively involved with Druyun in trying to ram the Boeing contract thru and to silence any and all critics.

The reality of the situation is that Air Force Secretary Roche was actively advocating for Boeing's interests and against the American taxpayer's interests.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld issued a statement hailing Roche for serving "our country capably and with honor." Which is nothing less than what I expected from him. He doesn't care and he never has. Nor does President Bush, for that matter. Else he'd be holding Rumsfeld accountable.

Posted by Kevin at November 20, 2004 02:52 PM