Det danske Fredsakademi

Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 25. september 2006 / Timeline September 25, 2006

24. September 2006, 26. September 2006

09/25/2006
"Irish Catholic Worker" affinity group-UPDATE-Toward the Demilitarisation of Shannon with NVDA
This is a weekly posting is from the "Irish Catholic Worker" affinity group preparing with 100 folks commited to nonviolent resistance until arrested at Shannon Airport, should the government fail to demilitarise the airport. The "Irish Catholic Worker" affinity group includes Catholic Workers from Dublin & Cork, friends and fellow travellers.
Although the initiative came out of the acquittal of the Pit Stop Ploughshares www.peaceontrial.com The process for the next step of nonviolent resistance at Shannon Airport is now much broader than the Ploughshares and Catholic Worker movements.
Other affinity groups will be putting out their own postings in the lead up to the nonviolent direct action to demilitarise Shannon.
TOWARD THE DEMILITARISATION OF SHANNON AIRPORT IN THE WAKE OF THE ACQUITTAL OF THE PIT STOP PLOUGHSHARES
*Initial History of the Initiative to Demilitarise Shannon Airport with Non Violent Direct Action '06
Pit Stop Ploughshares: Deirdre Clancy, Nuin Dunlop, Karen Fallon, Damien Moran & Ciaron O'Reilly were acquitted, at Dublin's Four Courts on July 25th., of $US2.5 million criminal damage to a U.S. Navy war plane at Shannon Airport - due to jury concluding that the five had a reasonable excuse in the build up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The jury concluded that the PIt Stop Ploughshares acted to save life and property in Iraq by disabling a U.S. Navy war plane at Shannon Airport on Feb 3rd. 2003.
www.peaceontrial.com
A call was made at the press conference following their acquittal for the Irish Government to demilitarise Shannnon Airport. Failing to do this another call was made for 100 people to commit until arrested to nonviolent resistance to close the airport.
In response, the Irish Army and now 40 Garda have been deployed to secure the airport in its role as serving the U.S. war machine, some politicians are calling for Ciaron's immediate arrest, for the first time in three years there is palpable tension in the air over Irish complicity in the US/UK war on Iraq
Action affinity have formed, more are forming. Support collectives - legal, first aid, transport, fundraising, media outreach, Limerick/local support post arrest have formed, more are forming. Preeceding the mass nonviolent action, Anti War Ireland have called the a prepublicised demonstration at Shannon Airport on Saturday, October 28th. This will be the first time the anti war movement in Ireland has been down to Shannon in numbers in 2006. I
Saturday October is preceeds "All Souls Day" a traditional focus on the dead in Ireland. It also falls on the 2nd. anniversary of the U.S. military's destruction of the Iraqi town of Fallujah. We will be joined by members of Iraq Veterans Against the War (USA) at Shannon Airport on October 28th. There will be an emphasis on remembering the dead of Iraq and the young Americans who passed through Shannon Airport to their deaths in Iraq.
Other friends in London will be blockading Northwood, HQ for all British Forces Deployed Overseas on this day, Saturday October 28th.
Contact info for the "Irish Catholic Worker" action affinity group c/-
ploughsharesireland@yahoo.ie
134 Phibsborough Rd. Phibsborough Dublin 7, Ireland
Ph. 087 918 4552 (mobile)
+353 87 918 4552 (international)
1) UPDATE ON PROPOSITION TO DEMILITARISE SHANNON
Dear Friends,
You may have heard of our proposition to demilitarise Shannon Airport with nonviolent direct action (see below)
This proposal comes out of the nonviolent direct resistance of the Pit Stop Ploughshares, the recent unanimous affirmation/mandate given by a Dublin jury and a resolve to return to Shannon to demilitarise the airport as the war both escalates and expands with every passing day.
At present there are Irish Catholic Worker, Anti War Ireland, English Catholic Worker, Swedish, an Irish Language and a Dublin Anarchist affinity action groups, There are the beginnings of a Buddhist, Irish Language, Derry, Belfast and Cork affinity groups.
There are also first aid, media outreach, local knowledge, legal aid, post arrest solidarity collectives in formation. We have also been offered hospitality house with discretion between the airport and Dublin. A fund rasing benefit is being organised for late October in Dublin. The gig will be primarily to finance bringing five U.S. veterans to Ireland in lead up to the initial publicised demonstration on Saturday Oct 28th. - the eve of "All Souls" and the 2nd. anniversary of U.S. destruction of Fallujah. We will be consuting artists to make this demonstration as fresh, creative and visual as possible.
There are presently 40 activists commited to nonviolent resistance (no property damage, rather blockading, occupying etc). There are 25 folks who can't be arrested but wish to do pro-active solidarity work to make this nonviolent resistance happen.Many more from various counties and countries have expressed initial interest and are still discerning their commitment.
We have been doing outreach in Belfast, Derry, Cork, Galway, Limerick, London, Anti Authoritarian Assembly (Dublin) Electric Picnic & Greenbelt festivals over the past few weeks.
2) "MAKE PAR NOT WAR!"-U.S. SECRET SERVICE,
GEORGE BUSH SR. & BILL CLINTON IN IRELAND FOR RYDERS CUP (GOLF)
See link below..... http://www.indymedia.ie/article/78445
3) CIARON INTERVIEWED ON GALWAY BAY FM ON FURTHER NVDA TO DEMILITARISE SHANNON AIRPORT
Interview, see link below http://www.indymedia.ie/article/78575
4) PETER DE MOTT RELEASED, "ST. PATRICKS FOUR REUNITED"
Peter Demott, Vietnam Vet, father, peace activist and member of the Ithaca Catholic Worker (NY) Community was released last week from U.S.Federal custody. He is the last of the "St. Patricks Four" www.stpatricksfour.org to complete their prison sentences.
The St. Patricks Four occupied their local military recruitment centre (Ithaca, NY, USA) on St. Patrick's Day '03, days before the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Their initial trial ended in a hung jury, the FBI charged them again days before three of their members and family were leaving for Ireland for the first Pit Stop Ploughshares trial (March '05). They went to trial in Binghammton (N.Y.) Oct '05. They were acquitted of the most serious felony, but sentenced on other charges.
Link to newspaper article on Peter's release
http://www.theithacajournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?A.../1002
5) LIZZIE JONES JAILED AND RELEASED FOR ALDERMASTON '05, "VINE & FIG TREE" PLANTING"
Website for "Vine & Fig Tree Planters" http://ickevald.net/vineandfigtreeplanters/
Jail Time for Lizzie Jones - Planter Artist http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/09/351100.html
6) BRITISH MILITARY FAMILES AGAINST THE IRAQ WAR STAND FAST AND WIN THE RIGHT TO PROTEST OUTSIDE MANCHESTER LABOUR PARTY CONFERENCE.
More info , link below.... http://www.mfaw.org.uk/index.html
7) PRISON ADDRESSES FOR ANTI-WAR PRISONERS
http://www.jonahhouse.org/prisoner_addresses.htm
8) OCT 3RD.-"CHRISTIANS AGAINST ALL TERRORISM"
FACE TRIAL IN ALICE SPRINGS FOR CITIZENS INSPECTION OF PINE GAP (NORTHERN TERRITORY, AUSTRALIA)
Jim Dowling, Adele Goldie, Bryan Law and Donna Mulhearn go to trial in Alice Springs Oct 3rd. They face charges under the defence act drawn up int he 1950's and never used before as consequence of their nonviolent citizen;s inspection of the warfighting Pine Gap Base near Alice Springs (Northern Territory/Australia) in december '05.
More info. link below... www.pinegap6.org
9) OCT 2ND. "B52 TWO" GO TO TRIAL AT BRISTOL CROWN COURTS (ENGLAND)
On the eve of the U.S. "Shock & Awe" bombing campaign over Iraq, Toby & Phil went to disarm U.S. B52 Bombers at RAF Fairford, England that were ready to drop napalm and cluster bombs on the Iraqi people. They spent several months imprisoned on remand and a three year journey to the House of Lords in serach of a fair trial, they go to trial on October 2nd. at Bristol Crown Courts.
10) OCT 28TH. ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT RETURNS TO SHANNON AIRPORT
On the weekend preceeding "All Souls" and the 2nd.anniversary of the U.S. destruction of the Iraqi town of Fallujah, members of Iraq Veterans Against the War (U.S.), the recently acquitted "Pit Stop Ploughshares, Anti-War Ireland and others will return to Shannon Airport. They will remember the dead, both Iraqi and the young Americans who passed through Shannon to their deaths in Iraq. They willd demand the Irish Government demilitarise Shannon Airport immediately. This will be the first major anti-war demonstration at Shannon Airport this year.
Check link for updates & info over the coming weeks http://www.indymedia.ie/article/78441
11) LONDON-Oct 28TH. "NO MORE FALLUJAHS" NONVIOLENT BLOCKADE OF NORTHWOOD
UPDATE
A. Fifty anti-war and peace groups from around the country - including CND, Iraq Occupation Focus, JNV, Stop the War and Voices UK - have now joined the list of supporters for the "No More Fallujahs" weekend of mass civil disobedience against the occupation of Iraq on 28-29 Oct (see [C] below). To add your group's name contact Voices: voices@voicesuk.org or 0845 458 2564.
B. Among those taking part in the weekend will be:
- MAYA EVANS (who last December became the first person to be convicted of taking part in an "unauthorised" demonstration within 1km of Parliament, provoking a blaze of media coverage)
- Former UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator for Iraq, DENIS HALLIDAY - who resigned his position in 1998 in protest over the UN sanctions on Iraq.
* Author and activist MILAN RAI (Chomsky's Politics; War Plan Iraq; 7/7: The London Bombings, Islam and the Iraq War), who earlier this year became the first person to be convicted of organising an "unauthorised" demonstration within 1km of Parliament.
* Nobel Peace Prize laureate - and long-time anti-war and anti-sanctions activist - MAIREAD CORRIGAN MAGUIRE
* Iraqi artist and Guardian columnist HAIFA ZANGANA
12) FULLER NVDA PROPOSAL FOR DEMILITARISATION OF SHANNON
Dear Friends,
You may have heard of our proposition to demilitarise Shannon Airport with nonviolent direct action
This proposal comes out of the nonviolent direct resistance of the Pit Stop Ploughshares, the recent unanimous affirmation/mandate given by a Dublin jury and a resolve to return to Shannon to demilitarise the airport as the war both escalates and expands with every passing day.
At present there are Irish Catholic Worker, Anti War Ireland, Irish Language and English, Swedish and Dublin Anarchist affinity groups, there are the beginnings of a Buddhist, Derry, Belfast and Cork affinity groups.
There is also first aid, media outreach, local knowledge, Limericl post arrest solidarity legal aid, media and public outreach collectives in formation. We have also been offered hospitality house with discretion between the airport and Dublin. A public legal demonstration at Shannon Airport demanding its demilitarisation for Saturday October 28th. - the eve of All Souls, the 2nd. anniversary of the U.S. military's destruction of the Iraqi town of Fallujah. A fund rasing benefit is being organised for late October in Dublin to finance the travel of five members of "Iraq Veterans Against the War" (U.S.) to join us at Shannon on October 28th. Artists are being consulted to make this demonstration as fresh, visual and creative as possible
Presently there are 40 people commited to nonviolent resistance (no property damage this time, rather occupring, blockading etc). There are 25 folks who can't be arrested but wish to do pro-active solidarity work to make this nonviolent resistance happen.Many more from various counties and countries have expressed initial interest and are still discerning their commitment.
We have been doing outreach in Belfast, Derry, Cork, Galway, Limerick, London, Anti-Authoritarian Assembly (Dublin), Electric Picnic & Greenbelt Festivals over the past few weeks
We are wondering if you would take time to read the propositon below and indicate your reponse to it in the following ways......
RESPONSES
-VERY INTERESTED IN BEING A MEMBER OF AN AFFINITY GROUP willing to nonviolently resist at Shannon and be arrested in the pocess (the commitment would be to keep on going, regrouping and acting again and again until arrested)
-CANNOT BE ARRESTED BUT WILLING TO DO NONARRESTABLE SUPPORT/SOLIDARITY WORK TO MAKE IT HAPPEN
-INTERESTED IN THE ARRESTABLE ACTION BUT CANNOT COMMIT AT THIS STAGE
-NOT INTERESTED OR UNAVAILABLE TO DO ARRESTABLE ACTION OR SUPPORT WORK
Your response will help us assess where we stand.
THE PROPOSITION TO SHUT DOWN SHANNON AIRPORT WITH NONVIOLENT RESISTANCE, IF THE GOVERNMENT FAILS TO DEMILITARISE THE AIRPORT
Within a few weeks the Catholic Worker and other anti-war groups & activists in Ireland, will hold a press conference setting a date by which the government should demilitarise Shannon Airport. If the Irish government continues to ignore the mass public opinion against this war and Irish participation in it and the recent unanimous decision by the conscience of the community - the jury in the Ploughshares case - we will close Shannon Airport entirely with nonviolent resistance until it is demilitarised.
We will act in the nonviolent direct tradition of Ghandi & Martin Luther King, inspired by our past victories of evicting the U.S. Navy from Vieques, closing the Jabiluka uranium mine site in Australia etc.
We will not be doing property destruction actions will be more occupation, blockading, locking on.
The action will be unnanounced. Folks participating will be informed of the date 2 weeks in advance.
*What We Need to Launch the Demand & Promise to Demilitarise or Shut Down the Airport
We initially need 100 people who are commited to nonviolently resist and shut Shannon down until arrested. This 100 will be commited to nonviolence for the action. The 100 will organise in affinity groups of ten. If one is arrested, all will continue to regroup and resist warmaking business as usual at the airport until we are all are arrested (No hokey pokey here!)
Interest in participation has been strong and widespread since the announcement at the press conference. catholic workers, punks, war vets, irish language speakers, feminists, artists/musicians, socialists, anarchists, greens, republicans, social democrats and folks from Galway, Cork, Dublin, Derry, Belfast, Sweden, England & U.S. have expressed interest. Affinity groups may form around locality or other communities of identity.
We expect our initial 100 will come 50% from the island of Ireland and the other 50% from the Irish diaspora in England, Scotland, Australia & the U.S.
If you are living in Europe, you should seriously consider nonviolent resistance at Shannon. Shannon Airport is America's European gateway to their war in Iraq.
If you live in North America, you should seriously consider nonviolent reistance at Shannon. Shannon Airport is the bottleneck, the last transit lounge for young U.S. men and women being sent off to kill and be killed in Iraq.
If you live in Ireland, you should consider nonviolent resistance at Shannon. Shannon Airport is the major pit stop for the U.S. war machine. It has made us complicit in the deaths of 2,500 U.S. military personel who have been kiled and the 150,000 Iraqis who have been slain. It has ratcheted up the scale of likely terrorist payback target since the withdrawl of Spain & Italy form the UK/US war effort.
If you are interested in joining a nonviolent resistance affinity group for the purpose of shutting Shannon Airport down if the government fails to demilitarise the airport in the next few months- write a letter to Ploughshares 134 Phibsborough Rd. Phibsborough, Dublin 7 IRELAND for more information. As much as possible we will organise off the phone & internet and on a need to know basis.
If you are unable to resist to the point of arrest and wish to be involved, make contact for anti-war activities around the nonviolent resistance. Some activities suggested so far include..
- Peace Walk from Anywhere to Shannon Airport
- Outreach to the Irish Army, police and workers at Shannon to consider the implications of servicing and defending U.S. war machine.
- Exploring an international "Boycott Shannon Airport" campaign directed at tourists.
- Fundraising / Benefit Gigs
- Legal Solidarity
- First Aid
- Exploring contact with church leaders to set up a fund for workers to denounce Irish participation in the war, leave their jobs at Shannon and be supported during a time of unemployment.
-Transport
We ask groups and individuals opposed to the war and who cannot commit to the nonviolent discipline or the objective of this resistance not to impede or try to undermine us.
Since making the call much has happened in response. Troop deployment through Shannon Airport has dropped 2/3, a U.S. military plane carrying munitions for the Israelis to drop on the Lebanese was diverted away from Shannon by the Irish government, two FF Senators have called for the immediate arrest of Ciaron O'Reilly on the basis of incitement, the Irish Army & 40 Garda have been deployed to Shannon Airport, there has been much mainstream media coverage, there has been further nonviolent resistnce at Prestwick Airport/Scotland and Raytheon in Derry. For the first time in three years there is a palpable tension around the issue of Irish complicity in the U.S./U.K war on Iraq.
13) PLEASE CONSIDER MAKING A DONATION TOWARDS THE PROJECT TO NONVIOLENTLY SHUTDOWN SHANNON WARPORT WITH NONVIOLENT DIRECT ACTION - IF THE GOVERNMENT FAILS TO DEMILITARISE THE AIRPORT
Dublin Catholic Worker email: dublincatholicworker@yahoo.co.uk
"comforting the afflicted, afflicting the comforted"

09/25/2006
Disarmament is a Two-Way Street
By Lawrence S. Wittner
The Bush administration’s current confrontation with Iran over what it claims is that nation’s nuclear weapons development program raises the question: Can the disarmament of one country occur in isolation from the disarmament of others?
That question seemed to be answered by the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) of 1968. Signed by almost all countries of the world, including the United States, it provided that the non-nuclear nations would forgo building nuclear weapons, while the nuclear nations would divest themselves of their own nuclear weapons.
But, upon taking office, the Bush administration quickly abandoned the U.S. commitment to the NPT. It withdrew the United States from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, moved forward with the deployment of a national missile defense system (a revised version of the Reagan administration’s “Star Wars” program), and opposed ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (negotiated and signed by President Clinton). Furthermore, it dropped negotiations for nuclear arms control and disarmament and, instead, pressed Congress to authorize the building of new U.S. nuclear weapons—for example, the nuclear “bunker buster” and “mini-nukes.”
Nor are the Bush administration’s more recent actions in line with the U.S. government’s alleged commitment to nuclear disarmament.
This past March, President Bush traveled to India, where he cemented a nuclear deal with the Indian government. India, of course, recently became a nuclear weapons nation, having spurned the NPT, conducted nuclear tests in 1998, and developed its own nuclear arsenal. Yet the agreement rewards India for its defiance of international norms. By supplying U.S. nuclear fuel and technology to India, the agreement facilitates a substantial expansion of that nation’s nuclear weapons complex. At the same time, it does not require India to stop producing nuclear material for weapons or to place Indian nuclear reactors under international inspection. As this U.S.-India agreement flies in the face of U.S. legislation that bans nuclear exports to nations that have not signed the NPT, the Bush administration is now pressing Congress to revoke such legislation. The Republican-led Congress seems likely to do so.
In addition, the Bush administration is promoting legislation in Congress that will fund the development of what is called the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW), as well as a sweeping modernization of U.S. nuclear weapons labs and factories. Although the RRW is billed as an item that would merely update existing U.S. nuclear weapons and ensure their reliability, it seems more likely to serve as a means of designing new nuclear weapons. And the quest for new nuclear weapons seems likely to lead to the resumption of U.S. nuclear testing and the final breakdown of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
Furthermore, the Bush administration has come out in opposition to a pathbreaking treaty to create a nuclear weapons-free zone in Central Asia. Signed earlier this month by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, the agreement commits the signatory countries not to produce, buy, or allow the deployment of nuclear weapons on their soil. According to Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, the U.S. government’s opposition to the Central Asia treaty is based upon its reluctance “to give up the option of deploying nuclear weapons in this region.”
Another sign of the Bush administration’s double standard when it comes nuclear weapons is its unwillingness to consider the idea of a nuclear weapons-free zone for the Middle East. Israel, after all, has developed a substantial nuclear arsenal, but the Bush administration has studiously ignored it. The contrast with the administration’s reaction to Iraq’s possible development of nuclear weapons is quite striking.
In a letter published in the Washington Post on September 7, Kevin Martin, executive director of Peace Action—the largest peace organization in the United States--observed that the Bush administration’s nuclear nonproliferation policies were “incoherent and contradictory.” The administration, he charged, “is rewarding India’s nuclear weapons program with a deal to share technology; doing next to nothing about Pakistan’s veritable nuclear Wal-Mart; winking at Israel’s nuclear arsenal; unilaterally dropping out of arms control treaties . . . ; and ignoring our own obligations to pursue nuclear disarmament under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.”
Certainly, the Bush administration has been quite selective about which nations should have nuclear weapons and which should not. And most nations—including Iran--know it.
The U.S. government would be far more convincing—and perhaps more effective with respect to diplomacy for creating a nuclear-free Iran—if it recognized that nuclear disarmament is a two-way street.

09/25/2006
CONTRACTS from the United States Department of Defense
Nico-Pyrotechnik Hanns-Jurgen Diederichs GmbH & Co, Trittau, Germany, is being awarded a $29,218,021 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the production, testing, and delivery of 40mm MK281 Mod 0 and Mod 1 Training Cartridges.The base year is for a maximum quantity of 1,200,000 training cartridges, first article testing, technical data support, and inert models.This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $65,000,000.Work will be performed in Trittau, Germany (21 percent) and West Springfield, Mass. (20 percent); East Camden, Ariz. (17 percent); Windham, Maine (15 percent); Verona, Va. (15 percent), Clinton, Mass. (7 percent); and Stafford, Va. (5 percent), and is expected to be completed by September 2007.Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.This contract was a sole-source follow-on procurement via publication on the Federal Business Opportunities and Navy Electronic Commerce On-line, with one offer received.The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Va., is the contracting activity (M67854-06-D-1027).

09/25/2006
United States Government Accountability Office GAO Report to Congressional Committees
IRAQ CONTRACT COSTS
DOD Consideration of Defense Contract Audit Agency’s Findings
September 2006
GAO-06-1132
The government has hired private contractors to provide billions of dollars worth of goods and services to support U.S. efforts in Iraq. Faced with the uncertainty as to the full extent of rebuilding Iraq, the government authorized contractors to begin work before key terms and conditions were defined. This approach allows the government to initiate needed work quickly, but can result in additional costs and risks being imposed on the government. Helping to oversee their work is the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA), which examined many Iraq contracts and identified costs they consider to be questioned or unsupported.
The Conference Report on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006 directed GAO to report on audit findings regarding contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan. As agreed with the congressional defense committees, GAO focused on Iraq contract audit findings and determined (1) the costs identified by DCAA as questioned or unsupported; and (2) what actions DOD has taken to address DCAA audit findings, including the extent funds were withheld from contractors. To identify DOD actions in response to the audit findings, GAO selected 18 audit reports representing about 50 percent of DCAA’s questioned and unsupported costs on Iraq contracts.
GAO requested comments from DOD on a draft of this report, but none were provided.
Defense Contract Audit Agency audit reports issued between February 2003 and February 2006 identified $2.1 billion in questioned costs and $1.4 billion in unsupported costs on Iraq contracts. DCAA defines questioned costs as costs that are unacceptable for negotiating reasonable contract prices, and unsupported costs as costs for which the contractor has not provided sufficient documentation. This information is provided to DOD for its negotiations with contractors. Based on information provided by DCAA, DOD contracting officials have taken actions to address $1.4 billion in questioned costs. As a result, DOD contracting officials negotiated contract cost reductions of $386 million according to DCAA. Based on the information provided by DCAA, as of July 2006, the remaining $700 million in questioned costs is still in process. Because unsupported costs indicate a lack of contractor information that is needed to assess costs, DCAA cannot and does not render an opinion on those costs. Therefore, DCAA does not track the resolution of unsupported costs.
For the 18 audit reports selected for this review, GAO found that DOD contracting officials took a variety of actions to address DCAA’s audit findings, including not allowing some contractor costs. In the contract documentation GAO reviewed, DOD contracting officials generally considered DCAA’s questioned and unsupported cost findings when negotiating with the contractor. GAO found DOD contracting officials were more likely to use DCAA’s advice when negotiations were timely and occurred before contractors had incurred substantial costs. For example, in three audit reports related to a logistics support task order negotiated prior to the onset of work, DCAA questioned $204 million. According to DCAA’s calculations, $120 million of these questioned costs was removed from the contractor’s proposal as a result of its audit findings. In contrast, DOD officials were less likely to remove questioned costs from a contract proposal when the contractor had already incurred these costs. For example, in five audit reports comprising about $600 million of questioned costs reviewed, GAO found that the DOD contracting officials determined that the contractor should be paid for all but $38 million of the questioned costs, but reduced the base used to calculate the contractor’s fee by $205 million. By reducing the base, the DOD contracting official reduced the contractor’s fee by approximately $6 million. In addition to identifying questioned and unsupported costs, DCAA has the option of withholding funds from the contractor and chose to withhold a total of $236 million for eight cases included in this review.
The United States is spending billions of dollars to achieve U.S. political, security, and economic goals in Iraq. Between fiscal years 2003 and 2006, the U.S. government has allocated about $311 billion to support U.S. stabilization and reconstruction efforts in Iraq. The United States has relied heavily on private-sector contractors to provide the goods and services needed to support both the military and reconstruction efforts in Iraq. Faced with the uncertainty as to the full extent of rebuilding Iraq, the government authorized contractors to begin work before key terms and conditions were defined. This approach allows the government to initiate needed work quickly, but can result in additional costs and risks being imposed on the government. Given the dollar amounts involved, it is essential that these acquisitions be handled in an efficient, effective, and accountable manner to mitigate the government’s risk.

09/25/2006

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