Think Progress

ETHICS -- KBR EMPLOYEES STOLE MONEY, ARTWORK, AND GOLD FROM IRAQ: On Monday, two former KBR employees told a Senate panel that some of their colleagues working for the contractor in Iraq stole weapons, artwork, and gold. Linda Warren, a former laundry foreman and recreation director for KBR in Iraq, told the panel "that some of her American colleagues doing construction work in Iraqi palaces and municipal buildings took woodcarvings, tapestries and crystal 'and even melted down gold to make spurs for cowboy boots.'" When Warren first leveled these allegations in 2004, her supervisor "reminded her that she had signed a confidentiality agreement and then threatened her by saying an American woman 'wouldn't last very long on the streets of Baghdad.'" A second former employee told the panel that "a KBR foreman tried to take military equipment, including two rocket launchers." Just two weeks ago, the firm won a $150 billion, 10-year contract to work with the U.S. Army in Iraq. A dozen former KBR employees have also come forward in recent months alleging that they were raped by coworkers while working in Iraq.

IRAQ -- WOLFOWITZ CONCEDES HE WAS 'CLUELESS' ON POST-WAR IRAQ: During a recent discussion of Iraq war architect Douglas Feith's new book "War and Decision," former deputy defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz acknowledged he was "clueless on counterinsurgency" regarding troops levels after the fall of Baghdad. However, he still maintains that retired Army Gen. Eric Shinseki -- who stated before the war that the United States would need "several hundred thousand soldiers" to secure Iraq -- was wrong, saying that a "sensible counterinsurgency strategy" would have involved "build[ing] up Iraqi forces," not using American troops. Wolfowitz ignores the fact that Iraqi forces were already in Iraq but were disbanded by viceroy L. Paul Bremer. Indeed, Shinseki -- whom Gen. John Abizaid said "was right" on postwar troop levels -- specifically noted that the number of troops he recommended would be used to prevent an insurgency and civil war. 

ENVIRONMENT -- FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERS BUSH ADMINISTRATION TO DECIDE ENDANGERED LISTING OF POLAR BEARS: A federal judge on Tuesday found the Bush administration "guilty of violating the Endangered Species Act (ESA)" by continually delaying a final listing decision on global warming's threat to the polar bear. The U.S. District Court of Northern California has given the Interior Department until May 15 to publish the "final listing determination" on whether to classify the polar bear as endangered. The Bush administration "was required by law" to make a decision by Jan. 9, but it instead asked for an extension until the end of June.  The court denied the extension, stating that the Interior Department "offers no specific facts that would justify the existing delay, much less further delay." The judge also insisted the listing be made immediately by waiving a 30-day notice period on the ruling. The judge cited "a pending proposal to permit oil industry operations" in Arctic seas and the failure of the Department to prove that a thirty-day notice period will not "pose a threat to the polar bear." Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) called the Interior Department's delay a "serious breach of the Department's duty to follow the law and protect the magnificent polar bear from the threat of extinction."

Army officials yesterday said that they are "inspecting every barracks building worldwide to see whether plumbing and other problems revealed at Fort Bragg, N.C., last week are widespread." "We let our soldiers down," said Brig. Gen. Dennis Rogers, who is responsible for maintaining Army barracks. A video shot by the father of a soldier showed problems such as a "bathroom drain plugged with sewage."

Two U.S. soldiers were killed in Baghdad today, "taking the American troop death toll in Iraq for April to 46." April is the "deadliest month since September, when 65 U.S. soldiers died in Iraq, according to figures compiled by icasualties.org."

A report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq predicts today that "Iraq's oil revenue will top a record $70 billion this year, adding fuel to a congressional push to force the Iraqi government to assume more responsibility for rebuilding the country." "The cost of a barrel of Iraqi oil has increased by 250% since 2003."

Yesterday, the Senate Intelligence Committee voted to "limit CIA interrogators to techniques approved by the military, which would effectively bar them from waterboarding prisoners." The secret vote was taken on an amendment by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), marking "at least the second attempt by intelligence overseers in Congress to regulate CIA questioning of detainees."

The Interior Department inspector general is investigating "whether federal money was inappropriately used to pay for a celebration" of the Alaska Volcano Observatory "that recognized its chief patron, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK)." The event, which was coordinated by a lobbyist for the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, may have received federal funds either directly through an organizer or indirectly from earmarks.

"The Supreme Court's recent rulings upholding Indiana's voter ID law and Kentucky's use of lethal injections" exemplify a shift in the court's approach to deciding constitutional questions. By rejecting broad legal challenges, the court is sending the message that legal advocates need to "produce evidence that a law has actually violated someone's rights" rather than asserting that rights could be violated.

Employer-based health insurance premiums have "skyrocketed at a pace that far exceeds the rate of American wage increases since 2000," according to a new study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The average dollar amount employees must pay per year for family health coverage went up by 30 percent from 2001 to 2005.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, "[f]ederal, state and local governments are hiring new workers at the fastest pace in six years, helping offset job losses in the private sector," adding "76,800 jobs in the first three months of 2008." By contrast, "private companies collectively shed 286,000 workers in the first three months of 2008″ leading "many economists to declare the country is in a recession."

The director of the Government Accountability Office's (GAO) natural resource programs said yesterday that the White House Office of Budget Management "is 'actually dictating' which chemicals the Environmental Protection Agency can assess for health impacts." A GAO report released yesterday found that the OMB is increasingly interfering with the EPA's work.

And finally: Over the weekend, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) challenged Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) to a "Lincoln-Douglas" style debate. Of course, Clinton was referring to the 1858 debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas. Fox News, however, needs to brush up on its history. An image on the network showed a picture of Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, the former slave and Lincoln ally who spent his life fighting for the abolition of slavery.