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Sen. Levin seeks to block $1 bln Blackwater deal
WASHINGTON - The Pentagon should consider blocking a potential $1 billion contract with the company formerly known as Blackwater to train Afghan police because of questions about its conduct in Afghanistan, a top U.S. senator said.In letters to Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Attorney General Eric Holder, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin said there was evidence of misconduct in a previous subcontract awarded to a Blackwater affiliate to conduct weapons training for the Afghan National Army. Levin, of course. Too bad he doesn't have enough to do in saving GM and Chrysler ... There was evidence, the Democratic senator wrote, that Blackwater may have used a front company for the contract, made false official statements and misled Department of Defense officials in its proposal documents. There was also evidence Blackwater may have misappropriated government weapons, carried weapons without authorization and hired unqualified personnel with backgrounds that included assault and battery, as well as drug and alcohol abuse, Levin said in the letter dated Feb. 25. Blackwater Worldwide has since changed its name to Xe. Levin said the Pentagon should consider Blackwater's past "deficiencies" in deciding whether to award the new contract worth as much as $1 billion to the company to provide Afghan national police training. This is just another attack by the progressive Left on private security forces that contract with our military. The Left understands that they can't attack our military directly -- average Americans won't stand for it -- so they're using 'Blackwater' as a surrogate. The Pentagon had no immediate comment on the contracts involved. "The department is required to follow the law with a certain degree of transparency with respect to awarding contracts," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. But he said: "I don't know of of any prohibitions with respect that particular company (being) banned from being able to compete for U.S. government contracts." Posted by: Steve White 2010-03-06 |
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