Lack of KBR investigation has Truman rolling in his grave

So I am sitting at my favorite breakfast bistro when I read today's Associated Press story about the ongoing Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR) investigation by a Congressional subcommittee about the electrocution deaths of 18 military and contractors.   At the same time, the Defense Department has authorized $35 million in funding for the Houston firm.

As I have noted in this blog before, it's time for Defense Secretary Dr. Robert Gates to shake things up among the contracting community not to mention the military leadership who manages what we former military troops call base management.

In a letter sent to Secretary Gates, Rep. Carol Shea-Porter noted: "Threats to the safety and lives of soldiers or others because of known hazards and negligent performance of work are not acceptable."

Amen.

However, the Texas Bovine Scat of the Month award has to go to Heather Brown, a KBR spokesperson, who responded to the AP that the "company denies wrong doing in any of the deaths."

Congress has formed the Commission on Wartime Contracting, and it held its first meeting in the same room where President Harry S. Truman conducted similar investigations into fraudulent military profiteering during World War II.

Noted Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill: "Harry Truman has been rolling in his grave for the last five years. He, in fact, has been in constant motion in his grave. He is astounded that we allowed this problem to get this far out of control. This has been a massive failure. We have failed our military, and we have failed the American people."