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posted by CoolHand on Thursday May 07 2015, @01:32PM   Printer-friendly
from the tip-of-the-iceberg dept.

Soldiers were selling the U.S. military’s fuel to Afghan locals on the side, and pocketing the proceeds. When Hightower suggested they start doing the same, Charboneau said, she agreed.

In so doing, Charboneau contributed to thefts by U.S. military personnel of at least $15 million worth of fuel since the start of the U.S. war in Afghanistan. And eventually she became one of at least 115 enlisted personnel and military officers convicted since 2005 of committing theft, bribery, and contract rigging crimes valued at $52 million during their deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to a comprehensive tally of court records by the Center for Public Integrity.

Many of these crimes grew out of shortcomings in the military’s management of the deployments that experts say are still present: A heavy dependence on cash transactions, a hasty award process for high-value contracts, loose and harried oversight within the ranks, and a regional culture of corruption that proved seductive to the American troops transplanted there.

[Related]: http://www.militarycorruption.com/nguyen.htm

[Also Covered By]: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2015/05/u_s_troops_have_stolen_tens_of_millions_in_iraq_and_afghanistan_center_for.single.html

Of course, stealing from the military is not strictly limited to overseas. It wasn't that long ago that a single guy was convicted of the largest domestic kickback and bribery scheme at a cool $32.5Million

 
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  • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday May 07 2015, @04:32PM

    by bob_super (1357) on Thursday May 07 2015, @04:32PM (#179974)

    I'm pretty sure Basic Training includes lots of stuff that blows up and how to make sure it blows up your intended target.
    Policing an occupied area and dealing ethically with daily population needs (esp. in the midst of an insurgency) wasn't in the curriculum until they realized they were stuck for longer than expected. Bush's are the longest wars the US has ever been deployed in, there was little need for that stuff before.

    Policing is hard, as we might have noticed.

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