Airforce colonel accused of corruption - reconstruction of Iraq

[kpete]

A Bright Career Unravels in Iraq
The Pentagon says an officer known for her integrity used her post for personal gain.
By T. Christian Miller, Times Staff Writer
April 19, 2006


WASHINGTON — When Jay Garner arrived as the first U.S. administrator in Iraq after the 2003 invasion, he chose a highly decorated Air Force colonel named Kimberly D. Olson as his right arm because he considered her among the best America had to offer.

One of the first female pilots in the Air Force, she was a hard-charger with an unblemished reputation for honesty, a high profile in the Pentagon and a commitment to the U.S. goal of creating a democracy in the Middle East.

Today, Olson is at the center of accusations of audacious impropriety in the corruption-plagued reconstruction of Iraq.

She is accused of profiting from the post-invasion chaos by using her position to benefit a private security firm that she helped operate, according to interviews and government documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times.

Pentagon investigators allege that while on active duty as one of the most powerful figures in Iraq, Olson established a U.S. branch of a South African security firm after helping it win more than $3 million in contracts to provide protection for senior U.S. and British officials, as well as for KBR, a subsidiary of Halliburton Co.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-meteoric19apr19,0,2873574.story?coll=la-home-headlines
via: http://www.rawstory.com/

[Wickerman]

1. she must have annoyed someone at KBR

as this crime sounds like small potatoes compared to other "over billing" going on over there.

[tanyev]

2. By those standards, Big Dick should also be at the center

of accusations of audacious impropriety. (By people other than us, I mean.)