Guerrillero

Baghdad G.I. to “Car Talk”: Help!

Or: U.S. Military Gets the Shaft in Iraq

Sgt. Jason Young of the 4th Infantry Division called NPR’s “Car Talk” guys Tom and Ray from Baghdad for advice on how to keep heavily armored Humvees operating in a hostile environment.

Sgt. Young: With the "op tempo" and the roads around here, we frequently go through ball joints, shocks, springs, a-arms, tie-rod ends, and we change them out every 30 to 60 days.

I gather the "op tempo" Sgt. Young refers to is "fast and furious."

Tom and Ray’s advice: Grease the ball joints daily. Keep lots of spare parts on hand. And replace parts before they wear out.

The segment was lighthearted and heartbreaking at the same time, another reminder that, after three and a half years in Iraq, our soldiers are still struggling with inadequate equipment and equipment shortages.Makes you wonder where all the money is going.

All the best to Sgt. Young. Stay safe. As for Tom and Ray, their days on Armed Forces Radio might be numbered.

Did Mercenary Kill for "Sport" in Iraq?

UPDATE: Good stuff in comments on Daily Kos crosspost. Nickle points to a Guardian story about private security contractors working the "Iraqi bubble." No one knows how many there are (possibly as many as 48,000), how many have been killed (more than 800), or who they're accountable to.

Sam Wise Gingy recommends this not-to-be-missed clip of President Bush taking a question on private security contractors earlier this year. He's laughing; we're not.

Help, indeed.

________

WaPo reporting on a lawsuit by two former employees Herndon, VA, security contractor who charge that a fellow employee shot without provocation into an Iraqi vehicle, “possibly killing at least one person.”

All three worked for Triple Canopy, a security corp. formed in 2003 to provide security for the U.S. government and private companies, like Halliburton subsidiary KBR, in the Middle East. Triple Canopy earned more than $90 million from the U.S. government last year.

Grisly details after the flip.

Go Ducks!

Lame duck Congress restores some sanity and accountability. From AP:

The Senate approved an amendment Tuesday to extend an investigative office that unearthed millions of dollars in waste and fraud associated with the rebuilding of Iraq.

The amendment, passed by voice vote as part of the military construction and veterans' spending bill, would keep the inspector general's office running through October 2008. Under current law, it will expire in October 2007.

The amendment was offered by Republican Susan Collins, the chairwoman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Wisconsin Democrat Russ Feingold.

Remember that Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee slipped a midnight rider into the spending bill to shut down the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.