The US , while fighting terrorism, may actually be funding it, a Report reveals.
This is apart from the unknown Funds diverted by The CIA, whose Budget is tucked away neatly under innocuous Heads in such unexpected places like The Agriculture,Social Security ,Immigration Departments.
In the shadowy world of Counter terrorism, one can not trust any one, yet, trust one has to ,at times, and the result ,in some cases, is that the funds are used to fight the Donor!
Read On.
The U.S. government may accidentally be funneling millions of dollars to the very terrorists and insurgents it’s fighting in Afghanistan through sloppy contracting regulations, according to a new government report.
The report, called “Contracting With the Enemy” and published Thursday by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), examined the system designed to make sure that the U.S. reconstruction is not providing business for any individuals or groups associated with terrorist or insurgent organizations.
SIGAR said that due to “several weaknesses” in the long and complicated process, “millions of contracting dollars could be diverted to forces seeking to harm U.S. military and civilian personnel in Afghanistan and derail the multi-billion dollar reconstruction effort.”..
The report centered on what’s known as Section 841, part of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act that describes how the U.S. government is supposed to identify individuals or companies with suspected ties to insurgents, confirm that information, pass it along to the head of the contracting activity, then to the primary contractor and finally to the targeted subcontractors whose business deals would then be voided or restricted based on guidance from higher up.
SIGAR said Section 841 was part of a “variety of efforts” undertaken by the government to keep American contracting money out of terrorists’ hands in the wake of incidents like the $2.16 billion Host Nation Trucking contract. In that instance, SIGAR said, the U.S. government paid several companies to ship more than 70 percent of food and materiel to American troops in Afghanistan, only to realize that some of those funds were “widely believed to have been funneled to insurgents.”..
US Funds in Taliban .
A military-led investigation has found that US taxpayer money from trucking contracts in Afghanistan has indirectly found its way into Taliban coffers, the Pentagon confirmed today.
An internal assessment by Task Force 2010, established to examine allegations of corruption in contracting, has found the problem to be even greater than previously reported. According to reports it determined that funds from a $2.16 billion trucking contract eventually found their way to the Taliban through a payment form a subcontractor to a corrupt local official, who then paid money and guns to the Taliban.
Col Dave Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman, confirmed the broad findings of the investigation, which was completed in May but has yet to be released to the public, but would not go into specifics. He was unable to confirm how much American money ended up in Taliban hands.
According to the Washington Post, which first reported details of the investigation, in one case millions of dollars were traced through a web of subcontractors and eventually into the bank account of an Afghan National Police commander. Investigators then found that money was in turn used to provide weapons, explosives, and cash to insurgents.
Details of the report sparked outrage on Capitol Hill. Rep John Tierney, D-MA and the Ranking Member of the House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, called for immediate oversight hearings to investigate the matter.
“One year after Congress first demanded attention to these issues, we continue to hear from Pentagon officials that they are aggressively increasing oversight over these contracts and taxpayer money. But so far it has been all talk and no action,” Tierney said in a statement.
“It defeats all of our purposes to be funding the enemy in Afghanistan,” he added…(ABC News)
DOWNLOAD: SIGAR’s ‘Contracting With the Enemy’ (PDF)
US Funds Terrorism In Syria.
Syrian authorities accused the United States on Saturday of financing terrorist groups in Syria and interfering with the country’s domestic affairs, diplomats said.
In its statement, the Syrian Foreign Ministry referred to State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland who “recommended that terrorists do not surrender to Syrian authorities” on Friday.
The Foreign Ministry called on the international community “to come out against such a policy that contradicts the international law and UN Security Council resolutions on the fight against terrorism and its funding.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20111105/168437593.html