Editor's Note: This piece was selected for my Karita Hummer's Silver Pen Award because it so well captured the essence of John Edwards' great mission for and vision of One America.
Recipient of Karita Hummer's Silver Pen Award
Cross-posted from John Edwards for 2008 Blog
http://blog.johnedwards.com/story/2007/11/13/125010/13
11/13/2007 at 5:12 PM EST
Yesterday, I read two blog stories that provide the missing pieces to my wondering why body armor was not forthcoming for so long: (http://www.alternet.org/story/66182) and (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-louise -slaughter/a-story-ignored-body-arm_b_71 524.html?load=1&page=3)
The name David H. Brooks belongs in the same category as Ken Lay. His story has the double-crossing drama of Ken Lay's Enron and Gary Winnick's Global Crossing, the fraud of Bernie Ebbers' Worldcom, and the over-the-top spectacle of Dennis Kozlowski's parties paid for by Tyco. Plus, people may have died...our precious troops who are laying their lives on the line in Iraq.
On October 25, 2007, FBI agents arrested David H. Brooks, founder and ex-CEO of Point Blank Solutions, Inc., and its COO Sandra Hatfield. Charges included insider trading, fraud, obstruction of justice, and evading almost $200 million dollars in taxes.
The Oct. 25 indictment alleges Hatfield and Brooks cashed in tens of millions of dollars in stock during the period testers were warning the company about vest failures. It also alleges that Brooks called a Point Blank employee who brought erroneous body armor inventory data to his attention a "[expletive] snake," and threatened to scuttle any further employment opportunities after the whistleblower resigned. (http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13 319,154813,00.html?ESRC=eb.nl)
According to the story in alternet.org, (http://www.alternet.org/story/66182)
Whether U.S. soldiers have been injured or killed as a result of the quality control problems with DHB vests is not known. The Pentagon has not even been forthcoming about whether there's been an investigation. However, according to Jim Magee, a retired Marine colonel and former head of DHB's Point Blank subsidiary, DHB did play a role in delaying the provision of state-of-the-art body armor to the troops. A June 2006 Washington Post story quotes Magee explaining that in the lead-up to the Iraq War, Brooks successfully lobbied for an exclusive contract to make the vests for the body armor now issued to every U.S. soldier in Iraq. Magee claims that DHB's monopoly prevented many troops in Iraq from having proper body armor until nine months after the war began.
A sampling of the charges authorities say Brooks concealed from shareholders and the IRS:
* $7,900 for a facelift for Brooks' wife
* more than $1 million for expenses related to his 100 trotting and breeding horses
* $101,190 for a belt buckle studded with diamonds, rubies and sapphires
* $101,500 for an armored vehicle for his family's use
* more than $1 million for numerous family vacations, including frequent stays at the Bellagio in Las Vegas and various Caribbean and European villas
* $31,802 to transport one of his daughters and her college friends to Halloween parties in Madison, Wisconsin, using a private jet
* hundreds of thousands of dollars in bonus checks drawn on a DHB bank account handed out by Brooks at a company Christmas party to non-DHB personnel, including his horse trainer
* and of course the predictable $10,000 here, $5,000 there for purchases at Luis Vuitton, Gucci, Gianni Versace, and Prada boutiques around the world
What makes Brooks' greed particularly obscene is that the bullet-proof vests that boosted his fortunes in the first place turned out to be not so bulletproof after all. In May 2005, the U.S. Marines recalled more than 5,000 DHB armored vests after they failed ballistics tests for stopping 9 mm bullets. As reported in a previous story for AlterNet (http://www.alternet.org/story/38867), the Marine Corps Times revealed that Pentagon officials had dismissed repeated warnings by inspectors about deficiencies in DHB's vests.
In November 2005, the Marines and Army announced a recall of an additional 18,000 DHB vests. But even this news didn't dampen the mood at Brooks' infamous $10 million party a few weeks later. While ostensibly in honor of his 13-year-old daughter, the event was packed with 80s nostalgia acts Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, Tom Petty, the Eagles' Don Henley and Joe Walsh, Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks, and Kenny G. According to the indictment, Brooks billed the company $122,000 for video iPods and digital cameras given as party favors....
A debate continues to rage over whether the type of body armor produced by DHB, called Interceptor, is the most effective. According to a special report by NewsHour [(http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/military/ july-dec07/armor_09-21.html)] in September, some experts argue that a newer technology, called Dragon Skin, is safer (but more expensive). Magee told the NewsHour that given this controversy and all the other problems with DHB, it's "bewildering" to see the company continue to get military contracts, including one in June for another $50 million.
In any case, according to the New York Times...(http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/22/busine ss/22vests.html)
The rapid growth in military spending has fattened the wallets of C.E.O.'s running major defense contractors, according to the Institute for Policy Studies, a left-leaning research group in Washington. The group, which labeled Mr. Brooks a "body armor profiteer" in a report it prepared last summer, noted that the average compensation for C.E.O.'s at 34 leading military contractors tripled from 2001 to 2004, to $3.9 million. That meant that C.E.O.'s pay packages were 23 times larger than generals' salaries and 160 times the size of an average soldier's pay.
Yes, corrupt people choose money over country and lives. Corrupt people in the arms business also have strong incentives to encourage politicians to own their stock and start wars. Corrupt broadcast news media will be AWOL if their CEOs/owners are politically biased. Such stories also explain how Blackwater and other private security forces might be better equipped than America's armed forces. There's not just two Americas, there's also two militaries.
No comments:
Post a Comment