21 November 2007

Should Supporters of the Iraq Mission Badmouth Military Contracting?

If it involves shameless war profiteering, you bet your arse! Thanks for the tip from Gold Star Mom Speaks Out on the former CEO of DHB Industries, David Brooks. They now go by Point Blank and they have a contract for body armor components. Apparently, Mr. Brooks is under grand jury indictment for insider trading, fraud, and tax evasion (see NY Times story here). I read some of the indictment report found here. It's a got a bunch of mumbo-jumbo that I don't understand cause I'm no lawyer, but it's pretty clear he was involved in some pretty sleazy practices. He spent exorbitant amounts of money on his racehorses and his kid's Bat Mitzvah and charged it to the corporate account, unbeknownst to the shareholders. To include such consumer items crucial to survival as:

$101,190 on a Belt Buckle Studded with Diamonds, Rubies and Sapphires and $106,062 on Horse Vitamins.

Just those two items alone beat out GEN Petraeus' base pay for a year (the most senior ranking man in Iraq, ergo the most paid) which can be found here (at O-10 over 26). $14508.60/month * 12 = $174,103.20.

That's not to include the $10M Bat Mitvah in 2005 for his daughter. Seems like an awful lot to be reading from the Torah and doing the electric slide, but, hey, I'm no expert on the matter.
Makes you wonder what type of system we have established where the taxpayers reward these shameless profiteer types. I don't even want to look into who this guy was in bed with in Washington. Military contracting is important to the war effort, as a matter of fact I work with some swell civilians who are contractors and support the mission here. But, we need to keep apprised of these hijinx as its taxpayers dollars at stake ultimately, and this type of poor ethical standards among a companies top staff will reflect on their product.

I just checked the vest portion of my IBA (Body Armor) and guess who manufactured it, Point Blank, D'oh! How's that for some irony.

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