Bush's Shrinking Safety Zone

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Who do you work for - the people or for a political agenda? These questions are again being asked in Washington as more people in government are found working for a political agenda rather than for America. From the Washington Post of 19 Sept 2007:

State IG Accused of Averting Probes
Howard J. Krongard, the State Department's inspector general, has repeatedly thwarted investigations into contracting fraud in Iraq and Afghanistan, including construction of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, and censored reports that might prove politically embarrassing to the Bush administration, the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform charged yesterday in a 13-page letter.

The letter, addressed to Krongard and signed by the committee chairman, Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), who released it yesterday, said the allegations were based on the testimony of seven current and former officials on Krongard's staff, including two former senior officials who allowed their names to be used, and private e-mail exchanges obtained by the committee. The letter said the allegations concerned all three major divisions of Krongard's office -- investigations, audits and inspections.

Two former senior officials who allowed their names to be used.

Waxman accused Howard Krongard of:
_ Refusing to send investigators to Iraq and Afghanistan to investigate $3 billion worth of State Department contracts.
_ Preventing his investigators from cooperating with a Justice Department probe into waste and fraud in the construction of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.
_ Using "highly irregular" procedures to personally exonerate the embassy's prime contractor of labor abuses.
_ Interfering in the investigation of a close friend of former White House adviser Karl Rove.
_ Censoring reports on embassies to prevent full disclosure to Congress.
_ Refusing to publish critical audits of State's financial statements.