VIDEOS: House Oversight Hearing with State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard

[L. Coyote]

YouTube Higlights thanks to TPM's had working staff = http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/cats/iraq/iraq_corruption/

Krongard's Conflict of Interest with Blackwater = http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x69702
Krongard: I Was Trying to 'Deconflict' Investigations on Arm = http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x69700
Prince Invited 'Buzzy' Krongard to Join Blackwater Adivsory = http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x69697
Krongard Recuses Himself from Blackwater Investigations = http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x69696
Rep. Shays on "Cookie" Krongard's Family Ties to Blackwater = http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x69695

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C-SPAN should have the hearing as a recent program soon at http://c-span.org/

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House Oversight Committee should have this also, in due time.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Assessing the State Department Inspector General

Today at 10:00 a.m. the Committee will hold a hearing to assess the performance of State Department Inspector General Howard J. Krongard following a series of allegations that the Inspector General halted investigations, censored reports, and refused to cooperate with law enforcement agencies. This hearing will be webcast live. = http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1620

Assessing the State Department Inspector General
Chairman Waxman's Opening Statement = http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1622

This year our Committee has given a special focus to two areas: finding waste, fraud, and abuse and examining how to make government effective again.

Today’s hearing on the performance of Howard Krongard, the State Department’s Inspector General, bridges both of those fundamental issues.

The origins of this hearing begin with the Committee’s oversight of the State Department’s actions in Iraq. As we examined the construction of the new Baghdad Embassy, the oversight of Blackwater, and corruption in the Iraqi government, seven current and former officials in the Inspector General’s office expressed concerns about Mr. Krongard’s own oversight of the State Department. These officials — and others who spoke with the Committee during our investigation — raised fundamental questions about Mr. Krongard’s judgment, actions, and effectiveness.

They described their serious concern about his inadequate oversight of the construction of the Baghdad Embassy, his failure to assist a Justice Department investigation of Blackwater for arms smuggling, his refusal to pursue charges of procurement fraud implicating DynCorp, his intervention in the investigation of Kenneth Tomlinson, and his lack of independence in auditing the State Department’s financial statements. The Committee was told that due to Mr. Krongard’s abusive management style, the Office of the Inspector General is “bleeding people right and left.”

What these officials told the Committee is summarized in a staff report I am releasing today, and without objection it will be made part of the record.

One of Mr. Krongard’s key responsibilities is ......

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DU Discussions:

Official House Oversight Committee - Inspector General hearing thread I = http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2279503

Confirmed: A.B. 'Buzzy' Krongard, Brother Of State Dep't IG, Sits On Blackwater's Advisory Board = http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2280319

[L. Coyote]

1. More DU: "Cookie" Krongard is just another Brownie!!: Waxman: "reckless incompetence,"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2281156

[L. Coyote]

2. Getting Closer to the Truth about the Blackwater Incident

Getting Closer to the Truth about the Blackwater Incident
BY Scott Horton - Nov 14, 2007
http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/11/hbc-90001669


On September 16, a Blackwater USA security unit returning to base after having dropped the person it was guarding opened fire at Nisour Square, near Baghdad’s Green Zone. When the dust cleared it appears that 17 Iraqis were dead. The Iraqi Government reacted with outrage, while Blackwater and its patron, the State Department, went into overdrive trying to persuade an audience back in America that the incident was justified. To those who were familiar with the situation surrounding security contractors in Baghdad, little of the excuses offered up by Blackwater and the State Department rung true. A team of FBI investigators was dispatched to study the incident and form some recommendations as to whether the matter provides grounds for a criminal prosecution.

Today the New York Times reports that the FBI investigation is nearing its conclusion and it has concluded that serious crimes were committed by Blackwater personnel. David Johnston and John Broder report:

Federal agents investigating the Sept. 16 episode in which Blackwater security personnel shot and killed 17 Iraqi civilians have found that at least 14 of the shootings were unjustified and violated deadly-force rules in effect for security contractors in Iraq, .....

[L. Coyote]

3. visibility kick

[L. Coyote]

4. ditto, and stacking the group

[L. Coyote]

5. TPM has this Buzzy Krongard: I Told My Brother I Was Joining Blackwater's Advisory Board

Buzzy Krongard: I Told My Brother I Was Joining Blackwater's Advisory Board
By Spencer Ackerman - November 14, 2007, 5:30PM
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004711.php

Howard "Cookie" Krongard might have just perjured himself before the House Oversight Committee.

Earlier today, the State Department inspector general repeatedly told the panel that he was unaware his brother, A.B. "Buzzy" Krongard, had joined the advisory board of State Department security contractor Blackwater. Krongard said he had a single phone conversation with his brother about the issue, in October, in which Buzzy didn't tell Cookie he was joining the board.

Only Buzzy says that's not true.

In an exclusive interview with TPMmuckraker, Buzzy Krongard says that in that phone conversation, he specifically told Cookie Krongard he had agreed to join Blackwater's advisory board. "I had told my brother I was going on the advisory board," Buzzy Krongard says. "My brother says that is not the case. I stand by what I told my brother." .........