Sweetheart Scam Stole Our Taxpayer Dollars Under The Cover Of Law, Handed Them Over To Build Useless Gas Station In Afghanistan
Tom Vanden Brook writes at USA Today of a gas station built in Afghanistan for $43 million. A similar gas station built in Pakistan cost $500K.
Best of all the gas station has no value for any but the wealthiest handful of Afghans, as it's a compressed natural gas station:
The Pentagon's own contractor stated that converting a car to compressed natural gas costs $700 in Afghanistan. The average annual income there is $690....[Sen. Claire] McCaskill, in a letter to the Pentagon, demanded to know how the money was spent and whether the filling station is still open for business. She noted that the contractor responsible for keeping the pumps running failed to renew its operating license only six months after it opened.
The company that did this? Central Asian Engineering, of CADG.
It's "a multi-national construction firm that describes itself as doing 'the hardest jobs' in 'the toughest places' with 'the best people.'"
Their website.
I dunno. Separating our money from politicians seems pretty damn easy.
Let's see who got what out of this deal. And let's see some sleazebags go to jail.
Here are those who run the company.
The purpose of building a $43 Million gas station in Afghanistan isn't to make fuel available to someone in Afghanistan. It's to transfer (i.e. embezzle) $43 Million from U.S. taxpayers to someone else. Once that takes place of course there's no reason to renew the operating license and continue operating the gas station. It's kind of like the $$Billions spent on all the short lived green energy companies that came and went a few years back. Their purpose wasn't to develop green energy. They were just vehicles for moving money from one party (taxpayers) to another (supporters of the prevailing political party)
Ken R at November 3, 2015 4:13 AM
Exactly, Ken R, on wealth transfer.
"The purpose of building a $43 Million gas station in Afghanistan isn't to make fuel available to someone in Afghanistan. It's to transfer (i.e. embezzle) $43 Million from U.S. taxpayers to someone else."
Amy Alkon at November 3, 2015 5:41 AM
Business as usual.
"As for the missing $6.6 billion Bowen did not tell the Times whom he believed might have made off with the tremendous sum of neatly packaged blocks of $100 dollar bills." -- June 11, 2011
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at November 3, 2015 6:55 AM
Ken and GMg are spot on. But apparently we are just to hush up and keep paying taxes.
Canvasback at November 3, 2015 9:12 AM
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