US soldiers arrested in Afghanistan

[Liberty Star]

Is it responsible journalism to publish this kinda news in the middle of tax payers funded war?



JULY 27, 2010

Soldiers Charged With Fuel Theft

By MARIA ABI-HABIB And ALAN CULLISON

KABUL—U.S. investigators arrested two U.S. soldiers and suspended a pair of Afghan trucking companies on suspicions they helped the soldiers steal $1.6 million in fuel from a military base in eastern Afghanistan.

The arrests and suspensions come amid rising scrutiny of the $2.16 billion trucking contract system that has successfully supplied coalition troops but, critics say, also fueled corruption and anticoalition violence during the nine-year-old war.

Suspicions about the soldiers were raised after colleagues, while going through files in their offices, discovered more than $160,000 in cash stuffed into pasteboard boxes at the outpost in Logar province, south of Kabul.



http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703700904575391241417997202.html

[Vessol]

People act so surprised when corruption is found on the higher or lower levels of governmental positions..

[Bman]

People act so surprised when corruption is found on the higher or lower levels of governmental positions..

Yup, only good Americans with no desire to do anything but serve faithfully get government jobs!;)

[michaelwise]

I don't see why the soldiers shouldn't be allowed to profit like Goldman Sachs and others. It's not their fault they are stuck on a dirty battlefield instead of in an ivory tower. They deserve some of that $8.7 bill missing over there.

[oyarde]

I will guess that this may be 400,000.00 gallons ?

[Bruno]

I will guess that this may be 400,000.00 gallons ?

More like 4,000. Gas is about $400/gallon with all costs considered.

[oyarde]

Pretty sure it would be diesel.Does anyone knowthe logistics of the fuel we are using there ? The ammo and food would be transported from the US , but I suppose the fuel could be coming from somewhere near theater.

[qh4dotcom]

I am tired of soldiers like these being hailed as heroes by the folks who claim ALL soldiers are heroes.

[Acala]

I don't see why the soldiers shouldn't be allowed to profit like Goldman Sachs and others. It's not their fault they are stuck on a dirty battlefield instead of in an ivory tower. They deserve some of that $8.7 bill missing over there.

Exactly. Someone sent me an article recently about corruption in Russia - cops demanding bribes. My thought was that our corruption makes theirs look petty. Our corruption deals in hundreds of billions at a shot.

[oyarde]

My first thought was how did these guys expect to get away with that. Read this twice and it appears if the cash was not stashed in the filing cabinet that they still would not be caught yet .

[heavenlyboy34]

Is it responsible journalism to publish this kinda news in the middle of tax payers funded war?




http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703700904575391241417997202.html

It's an invasion/occupation, not a war. Yes, this is responsible journalism. (see the famous RP speech entitled "The War that is not a war", or something like that)

[djdellisanti4]

Not all soldiers are heros as we all know, but everyone is innocent til proven guilty, so lets not be too quick to throw'em in jail!

[oyarde]

Fuel, weapons, vehicles and ammo are things that usually have a high degree of accountability in the military.Food does not. I forget though sometimes that things like the fuel are now contracted out.If you have a couple of guys running that all it takes is one corrupt civilian and for them to be corrupt.Previously , all these logistical jobs were done by military people.In this case , these two guys would have had someone outranking them that they reported to who would have noticed something was up much sooner than 1.6 million dollars later.The level and layers of accountability were higher and this would be prevented.

[oyarde]

I agree , but a box of cash of 160,000.00 does not look to "innocent"

[Bruno]

I agree , but a box of cash of 160,000.00 does not look to "innocent"

fyi - you can click the "Quote" button next to a post, if you weren't aware of that.

[oyarde]

fyi - you can click the "Quote" button next to a post, if you weren't aware of that.

I got it now.