The Cowboys of Kabul

Mother Jones by Daniel Schulman | Jul. 28, 2009 (Special Report)

Although their circumstances looked dire, the Spiers were about to become millionaires. By May, Barbara Spier had filed the paperwork to form a new corporation called US Protection and Investigations. Soon, thanks to the contracting sweepstakes that was the war in Afghanistan, she was signing an $8.4 million deal with the Louis Berger Group. The multinational construction and engineering company had landed a $214 million contract to rebuild Afghanistan's ... Full Story »

Posted by Derek Hawkins - via Mother Jones

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Chris Finnie
4.9
 by Chris Finnie - Jul. 30, 2009

A true OMG story. Well researched and written.

“If the Spiers, along with Bill Dupre, are found guilty of fraud, it’s likely their case represents one small chapter in a much larger story of reconstruction-related corruption in Afghanistan. Almost everyone I spoke with for this story told of a culture of graft so pervasive in the country that payoffs and kickbacks are considered part of doing business.” “Even members of the military have attempted to parlay the absence of oversight into a payday.” “The fact that opportunists have enriched themselves off projects that were intended to lay the foundation for a stable Afghan society makes this all the more tragic, he says.”

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