wow.

can imagine that..major general so and so active duty in the 5th textile complex lol...

With the civil services running after money and being corrupt, Army is left to handle these things.WAPDA,PR,IESCO,PTCL...damn ARMY is looking after everything!

Only decent institution we have are the Armed Forces, where the people actually do some work.

Good to know they are running well these companies and contributing towards Pakistani economy.

well, most pakistanis will tell you that the Army should not look to be making money by running businesses. thats not the most ethical thing. it discourages private competition and domestic investment. the Army should realize this. i am surprised it doesnt. they cant be the only viable institution in the country. pakistan will face very difficult times ahead if the army doesnt learn to be just the army.

U give it back to civil services and they will eat the assets like termites...have a better choice?

they need the mony. for the faujis. should the army rather take a greater cut from the budget?

thats not true actually. the army has a reasonable share of the budget. but thats besides the point. the army knows this. i hope it realizes that it should not be involved in private enterprise. thats the point. no other professional armies in the world run fauji foundations that are above the law.

nor are these. they are bound by law. and create jobs for the people.
they are militry owned organistaions and UK has loads of these.

also the non militry related businesses owned by the militry are not bad either. they are civillian businesses, civilliaans work for them, civilians run them. militry only overseas them. say CEO is a militry person. the marketing director, finance director, etc etc would be civillian. as the militry does not teach marketting. management how ever it does very well. just as the goverment is run. musharaf merely overseas the work and in what ever he can lends a hand. the ministers RUN the goverment.

everyone knows the army is the best form of govt in pakistan...compare the few millions stolen by army personal in corruption and the billions stolen by BB and NS and their like.

NS ran the country into the ground before nearly sending mushy into india to be arresseted.

The army should be protected from getting corrupt as power/money does corrput but so far so good, mashallah.

Pak army does not run WAPDA, KESC so forth. They are mere supervisors and will soon be replaced by civilians, if not privatized.

Very Right...

In fact, the practice of dragging army into such ventures is making the forces 'more' corrupt.

Why is it that only in Pakistan civilians can't manage ANYTHING, and anything that can yield profits is taken up in 'Mehfooz Haath'....

Why doesn't army goes after Ghost schools, helps in plantation and other such things (now i am not talking about a mock up... I mean doing it to their true potential, they can make a big difference, if they are sincere) BUT generals are more comfortable managing commercial enterprises, reaping salaries and benefits that they can't even imagine in an armed forces career.... all this while prmie land is allotted and their 'Askari' Housing colonies are built with PUBLIC MONEY... yes, I can prove it... its not just that the land is not paid for by the officers... but also that the construction is done with public money (Nowadays, cement and Steel prices have gone up very high... and you know what these items being used in Askari Hoousing schemes are being provided by the MILITARY STORES!!)

Its just as shameful as it gets!

the problem is that the army isnt even willing to accept this problem exists. i would've liked musharraf, being rather ethical, to have atleast addressed this problem somewhat. the army is too professional an institution to be indulging in activities like this. its really a black spot on an army that has had a rather glorious tradition of austerity and service to the nation. the army must stop its stupidity. its going to drive pakistan into the ground someday.

Petition To: The White House and Congress

More than $1.1 trillion of federal government money is missing. Our government leaders say they will not account for it. However finding this money could solve all of our federal, state and local budget crises.

Where is the Money?

The Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of the Inspector General has reported that HUD has not and will not account for $59 billion of "undocumentable adjustments."

The Department of Defense Office of the Inspector General has reported that DOD has not and will not account for $1.1 trillion of "undocumentable adjustments."

The "undocumentable adjustments" made by these government agencies are much like the balance adjustments many of us make when reconciling our checkbooks. Except that the amounts are staggering: California's share of the "undocumented adjustments" is $128 billion -- more than three times its current $35 billion budget deficit. The average American's share of the "undocumented adjustments" is almost $4,000 per person.

Where is the Money?

The fictional New Jersey mob family of The Sopranos television program has shown how some people make money by defaulting and foreclosing on HUD homes and destroying communities. Are the episodes of TV mobsters more informative about HUD operations than HUD financial statements?

A General Accounting Office report found that the U.S. Army lost track of 56 airplanes, 32 tanks, and 36 Javelin missile command launch-units. Are planes, tanks and missiles running away from home?

We, the undersigned, are being asked to pay for government corruption and fraud. We are paying with taxes, unemployment, foreclosures and bankruptcies. We are paying with cutbacks in services, deteriorating public infrastructure, and declining quality of life in our neighborhoods. We are paying with reduced health care and retirement benefits.

We worry about the effect of the federal government's deteriorating financial condition on our children and grandchildren's financial security and education and on our environment. Such significant financial corruption is a national security issue.

US Citizens provide financial reports and supporting documentation to the IRS annually, as required by law. We insist that the US government be held to the same standard.

Where is the Money?

We demand a complete and accurate balancing of the books of all US government agencies.

We want a full audited accounting of the real cash and assets that should be in our national bank accounts and inventories.

Furthermore, we demand that all government financial data on the expenditure of our tax revenues, the management of federal credit, and all agency contractor budgets be made publicly available via open website access.

With citizen access to our financial data, we will find our money.

Where is the Money?

http://www.ipetitions.com/campaigns/missing_money/

the US less corrupt than Pakistan..I think not!

The Boeing Corporation and Military-Industrial Corruption

Sometime in the late 1990’s during those blue skies of economic growth and Clintonian soothsaying the American people and Press forgot about that internal threat to democracy and peace: the military-industrial complex.

Forgotten was the power and influence wielded in the halls of government by those wealthy weapons makers. The corrupting influence of corporate wealth went unrecognized as the wasteful spending and lost opportunities made through sweetheart deals and revolving door relationships between the military industrial machine and its patron in the Department of Defense supposedly became things of the cold war past.

But it was an illusion. Just as recession and unemployment have made a comeback in 2003, so too has the ugly cerebrum of the military establishment, replete with all its vices and viciousness.

The Boeing Corporation is the posterchild of this arms buildup for America’s newest necessary concoction of a permanent war, the “War on Terror.” Just as the war against communism during the latter half of the 20th Century led to a political mentality and economic atmosphere in favor of feeding the black hole of the military industrial complex, the war on terror has brought back all the trappings of that system on a new, indeed larger scale.

Take the militarization of the American economy as an example. As society is told to mobilize for another permanent war, more and more institutions and entities become increasingly dependent upon that war for their own well being. Education becomes a lamb of sacrafice to pay for war; military service is pushed on the lives of more men and women; universities are told to take up research and recruitment for the purposes of “defense”; communities are told to bend over backward for the military machine; the environment is subjected to toxins and treatment of the warfare economy; and of course, corporations assume increasing activities in support of war. Boeing, for instance, prior to September 11 was primarily a manufacturer of commercial jet aircraft. Since that time Boeing has become more dependent on military contracts to support its operations. Military contracts now account for the majority of Boeing’s income. Boeing is an example of the dependence on a kind of weapons welfare that many businesses succumb to in the militarized economy.

The pork barrel politics and pet projects of a congress addicted to military-industrial money applies just as easily to our Boeing example, and the new war on terror. The weapons economy of the cold war had a distinct geographical dispersion in the US that related to the lobbying and influence of military-industrial corporations and their worker’s unions in the Congress. US Representatives have often gone to bat for those weapons makers whose operations were to be cited in their district, favoring them with tax breaks, handouts, and favors throughout the legislative process. Boeing is currently wielding its economic power to run a virtual bidding war of tax breaks in each respective state where it is considering production of its next generation 7E7 civilian jetliner. In this instance, a military-industrial corporation is using its time tested weapons economy tactics to win $3.2 billion in aerospace industry tax breaks from Washington State to build its only remaining significant civilian product.

When it comes to the cost over-runs and wasteful spending that have always been characteristic of the military-industrial complex, the new weapons economy is performing well above par. Boeing Corporation’s ill-fated tanker deal with the US Air Force is a prime example. The company’s $26 billion contract to supply 100 modified 767 aerial refueling craft was nearly a done deal before it was blown out of the skies by the revelations that Boeing might have succeeded in winning the contract through corrupt dealings and access to proprietary competitor information. But had the deal proceeded without such over the top scandalous behavior on the part of Boeing’s executives, the contract would have gone through with little scrutiny and fanfare. Awarding contracts for billions more than their actual worth is common with the Department of Defense. The practice of cost maximization and over-runs is distinctive of a warfare driven economy. During the cold war an infamous example of wasting US taxpayer dollars to help keep weapons manufacturers afloat was General Dynamics’ F-111 Airplane. The F-111 began as a $3.9 million per plane contract. By the end of the program each jet costs the Air Force $12.7 million, $8.2 million in over-runs. The jet was eventually scrapped before being fielded, but General Dynamics accomplished its financial goals and the DoD successfully supported one of its dependent corporations all in the name of “national defense”.

Boeing’s tanker contract is similar, but surely the Air Force did expect a product in addition to its goal of lending corporate welfare to Boeing from this vexed wasteful spending spree. The key is that most military industrial corporations, and those that become increasingly dependent on the militarized economy act as parasites on the market economy of civilian goods.

Perhaps more akin to Boeing’s most recent attempt to bilk the taxpayers for billions of dollars is the emerging news that Halliburton, the largest contractor in Iraq has been overcharging the US military for gasoline and fuels in the war torn nation. Halliburton which has the exclusive contract to import fuel into Iraq has been selling the fuel at $2.64 a gallon, a markup of $1.40 which according to the New York Times has cost American taxpayers an additional $61 million. Price gouging in Iraq is only the most recent of Halliburton’s cost maximizing practices. The Associated Press reports that; “Last year, the firm paid $2 million in fines to settle charges it inflated prices for repairs and maintenance at Fort Ord, Calif.” And that, “Congress' General Accounting Office found in 1997 and 2000 that KBR had billed the Army for questionable expenses on its support contracts for operations in the Balkans. Those reviews cited instances such as charging $85.98 per sheet of plywood which cost $14.06 and billing the Army for cleaning some offices up to four times per day.” (3). Unlike Boeing which is now facing the whip of government regulation and public scrutiny, it is unclear that the more politically connected Halliburton will receive a similar treatment. In this instance the status quo is likely to roll on.

Boeing’s position as the poster child of the new militarized economy shows for us the most characteristic practice within the military-industrial complex; the corruption of government, and the revolving doors of “public service” and “corporate greed”. Boeing’s tanker deal with the Air Force has become a major political scandal primarily because of the behavior of former Air Force contract negotiator Darleen Druyun and Boeing CFO Mike Sears. Druyun, who negotiated the deal on the behalf of the Air Force apparently did so with the intentions of getting Boeing the best deal possible, while raking the taxpayer’s for billions in inflated costs. Druyun supplied Boeing with information of rival bids form European Aeronautic Defense and Space, and used her power to win the inflated deal for Boeing. In return Boeing hired Druyun on as an executive shortly after the deal. Druyun had talked about the job at Boeing with Mike Sears during her time negotiating contracts for the DoD.

Speaking about the corrupt tanker deal and the conduct of Druyun, Sears, and Boeing, Lawrence Korb of the Center for American Progress (also a former DoD official) commented that; “This confirms the worst stereotypes of the military-industrial complex… The military and industry get together to generate requirements that may or may not be valid, and they award contracts in the best interest of the company as opposed to the country.” (1.) Unfortunately Korb’s description of Boeing’s conspiratorial dealings with the military miss the relevance entirely by saying the episode confirms a “stereotype”. The episode confirms a rarely revealed reality within the military-industrial complex, one that has spread to the upper echelons of the mainstream economy in recent years in the form of financial scandals and corruption in every sector from energy to communications, the stock exchange to mutual funds.

The foreign press has been much more truthful in its admission that the United States indeed continues to foster a military-industrial economy, wasting trillions in the process and eroding its own democratic institutions and ideals. The Straits Times of Singapore describes the situation with more honesty saying that, “the latest Boeing scandal has thrown light on the tight relations, lobbying and conflicts of interest between US arms builders and their top client, the Pentagon. Shady hiring of government officials, political and financial ties, fat contracts – the Boeing affair has only begun to reveal this sector’s ethical practices.” (2).

The ties between industry and the military are by far too vast and complex to explain here, but certainly with a swelling military budget, and an arms buildup surpassing even the Reagan administration, the American people are going to become familiar once again with the social and economic ills associated with the military-industrial complex. Boeing is the poster child and the prelude.

http://www.corporateswine.net/boeing.html

Indian Army says will act against Tehelka scandal offenders

>From Indo-Asian News Service

New Delhi, July 2 (IANS) The Indian Army Tuesday said it will soon complete
disciplinary action against officers indicted for "culpability" in a defence
scandal uncovered by investigative reporters of a Web site last year.

The alleged irregularities in arms purchases uncovered by reporters from
tehelka.com created a storm and resulted in Defence Minister George
Fernandes stepping down for a period of seven months.

The reporters, posing as arms dealers, videotaped military officers and
civilian bureaucrats of the defence ministry accepting wads of cash or
discussing how they could influence defence deals.

The army launched a court of inquiry against five senior officers, including
two major generals, captured on videotape two days after it broke on March
13 last year.

Though the court of inquiry submitted its report a year ago, the army is yet
to begin disciplinary action against the five officers as a separate
judicial inquiry ordered by the government is yet to complete its work.

The judicial probe, headed by retired judge K. Venkataswami, began its
hearings in June last year and is still questioning political leaders and
military officers linked to the scandal.

An army spokesman said Tuesday "administrative action against indicted
officers will be finalised shortly." Such action would "commence on
conclusion of the inquiry" by the Venkataswami commission.

The spokesman said the army's court of inquiry had established the
"culpability" of some army officers. Disciplinary action against these
officers, started at the end of June last year, is yet to be completed.

One of the five army officers linked to the scandal -- Major General P.S.K.
Chaudhary, former additional director general of the weapons and equipment
directorate -- has already been suspended.

The others -- Major General M.S. Ahluwalia, former additional director
general of ordnance and supply, Brigadier Iqbal Singh, Colonel Anil Sehgal
and Lt. Col. B.B. Sharma - were last year withdrawn from active duty and
attached to the army headquarters here.

The defence ministry also suspended three civilian officials linked to the
scandal - H.C. Pant, former staff officer in the Ordnance Factory Board,
Narendra Singh, former additional financial adviser in the defence ministry
and P. Sasi, an assistant at army headquarters.

Army sources told IANS the top brass were reluctant to proceed with
disciplinary action against these officers till the judicial probe submitted
its findings. "There would be legal problems if any of the officers was
cleared by the judicial probe after we had acted against them," said an army
officer who did not want to be named.

The Venkataswami commission has also begun questioning the five army
officers linked to the Tehelka scandal.

"The delay that has taken place in finalising disciplinary proceedings
against the indicted officers is due to their non-availability to army
authorities because of their pre-occupation with the Venkataswami commission
which is a statutory body and is hence accorded priority," the army
spokesman said.

-Indo-Asian News Service
http://puggy.symonds.net/pipermail/corrupt...uly/000102.html

All smelling of roses in India !