Tag Archives: Department of Defense

Search for Missing $21 Trillion Comes Up Empty as Pentagon Fails First Audit in 71-Year History

It’s difficult to tally the cost in civilian lives and mass destruction of an annual budget rapidly approaching the trillion-dollar mark, and that’s something that likely won’t be analyzed in any audit the Pentagon conducts on itself.

By Randi Nord. Published 12-21-2018 by MintPress News

Image: Jared Rodriguez | Truthout | Flickr CC

Despite being legally required to conduct audits since the early 90s and holding a staggering 2.2 trillion in assets, the Pentagon held its first-ever audit this week — which it, unsurprisingly, spectacularly failed.

According to a senior official, the results were so bad that the discrepancies could take “years [to] resolve.” The Department of Defense is handed hundreds of billions of dollars annually — most of which comes from taxpayers. Continue reading →

Audit Reveals the Pentagon Doesn’t Know Where $6.5 Trillion Dollars Has Gone

Leave a reply

By Jay Syrmopoulos. Published 8-7-2016 by The Free Thought Project

Photo: Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Washington, D.C. – A new Department of Defense Inspector General’s report, released last week, has left Americans stunned at the jaw-dropping lack of accountability and oversight. The glaring report revealed the Pentagon couldn’t account for $6.5 trillion dollars worth of Army general fund transactions and data, according to a report by the Fiscal Times.

The Pentagon, which has been notoriously lax in its accounting practices, has never completed an audit, would reveal how the agency has specifically spent the trillions of dollars allocated for wars, equipment, personnel, housing, healthcare and procurements allotted to them by Congress. Continue reading →

Why Are There 12 American Generals Leading the War in Iraq That Doesn’t Exist?

Leave a reply

By Claire Bernish. Published 4-2-2016 by The Anti-Media

Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff greets the various commanding generals of U.S. Forces, Iraq in Baghdad on July 27, 2010. Photo: The U.S. Army (U.S. Generals in Iraq) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

A new report released Thursday revealed that a surprising number of military generals have been deployed to fight Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) — the very war the United States denies it’s actually fighting. As The Daily Beast explains in an exclusive report:

“There are at least 12 U.S. generals in Iraq, a stunningly high number for a war that, if you believe the White House talking points, doesn’t involve American troops in combat.”

That number doesn’t include those superior officers who oversee airstrikes against Daesh in both Syria and Iraq, nor does it include admirals in charge of maritime operations — and the number jumps to 21 when accounting for other coalition members’ senior officers. Continue reading →

Pentagon Releases 200 Photos of Bush-Era Prisoner Abuse, Thousands Kept Secret

Leave a reply

‘What the photos that the government has suppressed would show is that abuse was so widespread that it could only have resulted from policy or a climate calculated to foster abuse.’

By Lauren McCauley, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 2-6-2016

Photo relating to prisoner abuse released by DoD on February 5, 2015 in long-running ACLU lawsuit.

The Pentagon on Friday was forced to release nearly 200 photographs of bruises, lacerations, and other injuries inflicted on prisoners presumably by U.S. military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The record-dump was the result of a Freedom of Information Act request and nearly 12 years of litigation by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which fought to expose the Bush-era torture. Continue reading →

The American War Machine Finally Stopped Pretending to Care About Your Safety

Leave a reply

By Claire Bernish. Published 1-11-2016 at The Anti-Media

A sea of graves spreads across the Fort Snelling National Cemetery landscape. (Photo author's own work.)

A sea of graves spreads across the Fort Snelling National Cemetery landscape. (Photo MNgranny)

Economic opportunism, or more accurately, profit opportunism, best describes the foundation on which the war machine sustains its existence; and a recent report for ‘defense’ industry investors lays bare this callous reality.

“The Islamic State (ISIS) has become a key threat in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan and is involved in exporting terrorism to Europe, Africa, and elsewhere. The recent tragic bombings in Paris, Beirut, Mali, the Sinai Peninsula, and other places have emboldened nations to join in the fight against terrorism,” reads the report from the accounting firm Deloitte. “Several governments affected by these threats are increasing their defense budgets to combat terrorism and address sovereign security matters, including cyber-threats. For defense contractors, this represents an opportunity to sell more equipment and military weapons systems.” Continue reading →

Pentagon Deliberately Thwarting Efforts to Close Guantanamo

Leave a reply

Reuters exposes ‘pattern’ of obstructionism that has prevented or delayed the transfer of cleared detainees

By Lauren McCauley, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 12-28-2015

Camp 5 exercise yard, Guantánamo Bay. Photo: Michael Billings [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

President Obama’s repeated pledges to close the Guantánamo Bay detention center have been routinely and deliberately undermined by his own Department of Defense, according to a damning new investigation published on Monday.

Citing numerous administration officials, Reuters exposed a “pattern” of bureaucratic obstacles imposed by the U.S. Pentagon which have successfully thwarted efforts to transfer cleared detainees from the notorious offshore prison. Continue reading →

Occupy World Writes

The Movement Continues – Globally

Tag Archives: Department of Defense

Search for Missing $21 Trillion Comes Up Empty as Pentagon Fails First Audit in 71-Year History

It’s difficult to tally the cost in civilian lives and mass destruction of an annual budget rapidly approaching the trillion-dollar mark, and that’s something that likely won’t be analyzed in any audit the Pentagon conducts on itself.

Audit Reveals the Pentagon Doesn’t Know Where $6.5 Trillion Dollars Has Gone

Why Are There 12 American Generals Leading the War in Iraq That Doesn’t Exist?

The American War Machine Finally Stopped Pretending to Care About Your Safety