Army Will Not Suspend Contracts with Al Qaeda-Tied Companies, Citing "Due Process Rights"

As amazing at it may seem, the US army will not suspend contracts with Al Qaeda-Tied Companies if the ties are based on classified information.

Here are the key paragraphs straight from the SIGAR Special Inspector General Afghanistan Reconstruction Report for July 2013.

A continuing problem is the Army’s refusal to act on SIGAR’s recommendations to suspend or debar individuals who are supporters of the insurgency, including the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, and al-Qaeda. The Army suspension and debarment official has taken the position that suspension or debarment of such individuals and entities would be a violation of their due process rights if based on classified information or if based on findings by the Department of Commerce which placed them on the Entities List.

SIGAR has referred 43 such cases to the Army, and all have been rejected, despite detailed supporting information demonstrating that these individuals and entities are providing material support to the insurgency in Afghanistan. In other words, they may be enemies of the United States, but that is not enough to keep them from getting government contracts.

The above link is from the Fox News story Army won’t suspend contracts with Al Qaeda-tied companies, citing 'due process rights'

In a scathing passage of his latest report to Congress, Special Inspector General John Sopko said his office has urged the Army to suspend or debar 43 contractors over concerns about ties to the Afghanistan insurgency, "including supporters of the Taliban, the Haqqani network and al Qaeda."

Sopko wrote that the Army "rejected" every single case.

Sopko pointed out the apparent disconnect between one part of the Army that is killing insurgents and the other part that allegedly is doing business with them.

"I am deeply troubled that the U.S. military can pursue, attack, and even kill terrorists and their supporters, but that some in the U.S. government believe we cannot prevent these same people from receiving a government contract," he wrote in a letter attached to the report.

In the wake of the report, a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a bill aimed at restricting U.S. agencies from awarding contracts to supporters of extremist groups in Afghanistan. The bill would give the inspector general's office the authority to suspend Afghanistan contractors when agencies fail to review companies the office has flagged.

Pressure Cooker Threats

I invite the reader to compare what the US Army can or cannot do regarding military contracts with the targeting of journalists, and how an innocuous online search for a pressure cooker can lead to a knock on the door from the terrorism police.

In case you missed the above story, please consider NSA tool collects "Nearly Everything You Do On the Internet"; Targeting Journalists; What Google Knows About You; Warrantless Cellphone Tracking Upheld .

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com