Contractor accused of giving Iraqi girlfriend, others access to Green Zone

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/iraq/20050920-1805-iraqibadgefraud.html

Contractor accused of giving Iraqi girlfriend, others access to Baghdad's 'Green Zone'

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A former government contractor was charged with fraud Tuesday for handing out top access ID badges in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone to an Iraqi girlfriend and others not entitled to have them.

Thomas N. Barnes III, 48, of Fort Worth, Texas, a former employee of contractor DynCorp, was arrested Tuesday morning at Dulles International Airport.

Barnes was freed on his own recognizance following a brief initial appearance in federal court. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Thursday. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison.

Attempts to reach Barnes were not immediately successful Tuesday.

[efhmc]

1. Meanwhile billions have disappeared. What a catch!

[NNN0LHI]

2. Wonder how old his "girlfriend" is? Some DynCorp boys like 'em real young

http://www.insightmag.com/main.cfm/include/detail/storyid/163052.html

DynCorp Disgrace

Middle-aged men having sex with 12- to 15-year-olds was too much for Ben Johnston, a hulking 6-foot-5-inch Texan, and more than a year ago he blew the whistle on his employer, DynCorp, a U.S. contracting company doing business in Bosnia.

According to the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization Act (RICO) lawsuit filed in Texas on behalf of the former DynCorp aircraft mechanic, "in the latter part of 1999 Johnston learned that employees and supervisors from DynCorp were engaging in perverse, illegal and inhumane behavior were purchasing illegal weapons, women, forged passports and other immoral acts. Johnston witnessed coworkers and supervisors literally buying and selling women for their own personal enjoyment, and employees would brag about the various ages and talents of the individual slaves they had purchased."

Rather than acknowledge and reward Johnston's effort to get this behavior stopped, DynCorp fired him, forcing him into protective custody by the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID) until the investigators could get him safely out of Kosovo and returned to the United States. That departure from the war-torn country was a far cry from what Johnston imagined a year earlier when he arrived in Bosnia to begin a three-year U.S. Air Force contract with DynCorp as an aircraft-maintenance technician for Apache and Blackhawk helicopters.

For more than 50 years DynCorp, based in Reston, Va., has been a worldwide force providing maintenance support to the U.S. military through contract field teams (CFTs). As one of the federal government's top 25 contractors, DynCorp has received nearly $1 billion since 1995 for these services and has deployed 181 personnel to Bosnia during the last six years. Although DynCorp long has been respected for such work, according to Johnston and internal DynCorp communications it appears that extracurricular sexcapades on the part of its employees were tolerated by some as part of its business in Bosnia.