From NPR this morning Contractor Accused of Defrauding Occupation Authority. I especially like kicking their former employees out of the Baghdad airport unarmed (to make their way across the desert to Jordan on their own) and taking Iraq Airways forklifts (just taking them, not paying for them) repainting them blue and selling them back to the CPA.

One of the legal issues is whether "people working for the CPA were working for the US govt. at all" Which is related to the "False Claims act" dating from the Civil War to allow Whistleblowers bear witness and bring suit against a company that is defrauding the Government and get a percentage of the suit (the rest of the money goes back to the U.S. Treasury). The US Justice Dept. declined to join the suit because the Bush Administration has taken a policy decision that the CPA (and the US Military in Iraq) is not the US Govt.

A NYTimes article on it from Oct. http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11606

Another piece from the Seattle Times which had this choice quote on the company background.

"The company's founders are Scott Custer, a former Army Ranger and defense consultant, and former CIA officer Michael Battles, who ran for Congress in Rhode Island in 2002 and was defeated in the Republican primary. The Federal Election Commission fined Battles for misrepresenting campaign contributions.

Battles is a Fox News Channel commentator. " - Seattle Times

Oh, and by the way, they have a "Cost +" contract from the U.S. Govt.