THE PEACOCK REPORT (TPR)

'Free' Wireless Internet Project Underway

The deployment of wireless Internet infrastructure -- and the subsequent provision of free access to the world wide web to all Americans -- is an idea that's been circulating in technology policy circles for years. Indeed, the Federal Communications Commission only recently revisited the prospect of free wireless Internet access this past month. And now the U.S. government is taking firm action on the matter -- the only problem, however, is that it is not taking action here in the U.S.

On the contrary, the U.S. (unrelated to the above-mentioned FCC proceeding) is handing over nearly a half-million dollars to a Palestinian company to accomplish that task in the West Bank. Specifically, the U.S. Trade & Development Agency (USTDA) will pay for a "technical assistance" contract that will be outsourced to an unidentified vendor; the vendor -- which must be a U.S. company -- in turn will map out the necessary steps for Ramallah-based BCI Communications & Advanced Technologies, Ltd. to carry out the infrastructure project, according to a procurement document dated June 9 that The Peacock Report has located.

Ultimately, the U.S. taxpayer-funded endeavor will pad the pockets of Schaumburg, Ill.-based Motorola, whose equipment BCI would use for the project.

 

Energy Dept. Step Closer to Oil Reserve Expansion

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) could get a $36 million face lift over the next five years, during which time the Dept. of Energy (DoE)-operated facility would undergo modernization of petrochemical storage facilities and connecting pipelines. According to a "sources sought" notice that The Peacock Report (TPR) has located, the DoE is reviewing "capability statements" that companies submitted to the department by the June 13 submission deadline. 

The SPR is a crude-oil stockpile that the federal government created in response to the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973, which severely impeded U.S.-bound oil shipments during that era. Congress authorized creation of the reserve to serve "as a hedge against disruptions in the oil market," according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

A contentious debate has raged in the Congress in recent years over whether to release oil from the reserve into global energy markets -- a move that some members of Congress say would drive down record gasoline prices, a claim that the White House and other policymakers dispute and continue to resist.

DoE anticipates awarding an architectural and engineering contract for the project by May 2009. The reserve, which currently holds about 700 million gallons of crude, would be expanded to reach a one-billion gallon capacity, as spelled out by the Energy Act of 2005.

Solicitation #DE-RP96-08PO92990

Senate Report Condemns Bush Falsification of Iraq 'Evidence'

Summing up its Phase II Final Report on Prewar Iraqi Intelligence,U.S.Senate Intelligence Committee Chmn. Jay Rockefeller [D.-W.Va.) today said:

"Before taking the country to war, this Administration owed it to the American people to give them a 100 percent accurate picture of the threat we faced. Unfortunately, our Committee has concluded that the Administration made significant claims that were not supported by the intelligence.

"In making the case for war, the Administration repeatedly presented intelligence as fact when in reality it was unsubstantiated, contradicted, or even non-existent. As a result, the American people were led to believe that the threat from Iraq as much greater than actually existed."

A bipartisan 10-5 majority voted in favor of the report. The panel said that intelligence was unable to substantiate "statements and implications by the President and Secretary of State" suggesting that Iraq and al-Qa’ida had a partnership, or that Iraq had provided al-Qa’ida with weapons training,

The committee also rejected:

1) "Statements by the President and the Vice President indicating that Saddam Hussein was prepared to give weapons of mass destruction to terrorist groups for attacks against the United States were contradicted by available intelligence information;

2) Statements by President Bush and Vice President Cheney regarding the postwar situation in Iraq, in terms of the political, security, and economic, did not reflect the concerns and uncertainties expressed in the intelligence products;

3) Statements by the President and Vice President prior to the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate regarding Iraq’s chemical weapons production capability and activities did not reflect the intelligence community’s uncertainties as to whether such production was ongoing:

4) The Secretary of Defense’s statement that the Iraqi government operated underground WMD facilities that were not vulnerable to conventional airstrikes because they were underground and deeply buried was not substantiated by available intelligence information.

5) The Intelligence Community did not confirm that Muhammad Atta met an Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague in 2001 as the Vice President repeatedly claimed.

U.S. Propaganda Blitz to Unfold in Pakistan

A propaganda blitz aimed at swaying Pakistani citizens' views on U.S. involvement in the region is about to unfold, The Peacock Report (TPR) has discovered. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) yesterday commenced its search for a contractor capable of carrying out the euphemistically titled "USAID/Pakistan Outreach Campaign," as the project officially is known. According to a "presolicitation notice" dated June 5 that TPR has located, the agency envisions a multi-language delivery of U.S. government messages in urban as well as rural areas of Pakistan. The contractor will execute the campaign in English, Urdu, Pashtu, Punjabi, and other regonal languages. This USAID endeavor will place messages in newspapers, magazines, and billboards as well as radio and television broadcasts, according to the document. The agency will make available a formal and more detailed solicitation later this month. USAID hopes to launch the Pakistani campaign by summer's end.

USAID May Outsource Global Cash-Distribution Function

The multi-billion dollar distribution of U.S.-based international aid grants might be handed over to private contractors, whom the federal government would hire to deliver the funds on its behalf. According to a "sources-sought" document that The Peacock Report (TPR) has located, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is assessing the availability of private companies capable of performing such tasks on a global scale. A former State Dept. staffer, who agreed to be interviewed on condition of anonymity, expressed skepticism that State -- which has jurisdiction over USAID -- had any true intention of competitively awarding such a contract. 

"Someone in the State Department or at USAID likely already is planning to leave government service and enter the private sector to get that contract," the source said. "That's just how things are at State. You can be sure that there's an official or a group of officials who are currently making plans to start their own company, use their inside connections to secure the contract, and become millionaires at the expense of the average working stiff."

Washington Finally Takes Action on High Gas Prices

Rising fuel prices and truck-based shipping expenses are spelling trouble for U.S. policymakers, who now are exploring ways to strengthen, as an alternative, new highways, commercial railways and ports. Specifically, the federal government is taking action through an endeavor known as... the Sub-Saharan Africa Trade Corridor Transportation Initiative.

Yes, you read correctly. The Washington, D.C.-sponsored Sub-Saharan Africa initiative.

Conflict stemming from elections in Kenya -- and the increased time its takes to transport goods in and out of neighboring countries -- purportedly has caused the governments of nearby Uganda and Rwanda to begin rationing fuel, according to a federal planning document that The Peacock Report has located. Consequently, for [Kenyan, Rwandan, and Ugandan] national security reasons, the U.S. must take action. 

"[T]he cost of shipping to the Port of Mombasa has increased 25% since the political stalemate," according to the original solicitation document. "Costs are expected to continue to rise until the power sharing accord has been reached. The cost implications for Uganda and Rwanda are tremendous and will constrain these fragile economies even more [emphasis added]. Therefore, alternative transport corridors are a necessary investment for the region."

In order to alleviate these fuel shortages while addressing the concomitant impact on the [Sub Saharan African] economy, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) recently awarded a $94,000 contract to a private firm to assess the situation -- and to report back to USAID on whether U.S. taxpayers should bear the brunt of more significant "investments" into that region.

Interdisciplinary Research Consultants (IdRC), an international consulting firm with offices in Jordan and the U.S., will develop a preliminary plan to help modernize, among other possibilities, the East African Central Corridor. The original plan for the corridor, which links Tanzania and Rwanda, was to facilitate the transport of gold and nickel from inland mining operations to main ports. The corridor still may be expanded to Burundi, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the document says.

Feds Plan to Build National 'Teacher Training' Site

Teacher accountability and professional development are among the many target areas that the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, hypothetically, seeks to strengthen. Despite claims that the Act oversteps constitutional boundaries --arguably interfering with state and local control of education policy -- the federal government continues to exhibit leadership in preparing aspiring teachers for public service. Specifically, the Bush Administration is planning to build a national Teacher Training Facility as part of a larger program of assisting in the "rehabilitation, livelihood, and rebuilding of economic and social infrastructure" of the nation, according to procurement documents that Exhortations to the Oblivious has obtained.

Whether fortunately or unfortunately for American educators, administrators, and students, the above-mentioned nation to reap the fruits of such a government compound is not the United States. Rather, the U.S. Agency for International Development will fund construction of the facility in the Aceh province of Indonesia.

It remains unknown whether the school will offer the existing popular course of study "Educating Students in Jihadist Techniques for Slaughtering Christians." The class clearly has come in handy for local Indonesians who in recent years participated in attacks on missionaries and other relief workers during international post-tsunami recovery efforts.

No Book Left Behind

It's no secret that many, though certainly not all, schools and public libraries across the U.S. have substandard book collections and infrastructure. Some municipalities, sadly, have even closed their local libraries for budgetary reasons. Recognizing this tragedy, the federal government is extending a contract with a private firm responsible for selecting book titles, applying "quality assurance to printed books," and overseeing their "timely delivery to schools" as part of this ongoing educational endeavor of the Bush Administration, Exhortations has learned.

Unfortunately for American kids, all the books from this particular project are going to schools in Egypt.

According to a contracting document located via a routine search of the FedBizOpps database, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) on July 26 extended for another year an existing "task order" with the Washington, D.C.-based Academy for Educational Development (AED). AED will continue to select and deliver "high quality books" to "libraries in public preparatory and secondary schools" in Egypt, the document said.

The value of this, and the previous, contract is unknown. The original task order to which the July 26 document refers could not be found, despite an extensive search of FedBizOpps by Exhortations.

U.S. To Bestow Beneficence Upon Nigeria

The White House and the U.S. Congress, having cleaned up their act, have begun booting all of the bribers, thieves, and other evildoers out of Washington, D.C., right? That's why we (The U.S. of A) are taking our show on the road to.... you guessed it: Nigeria! The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is looking for an adviser to guide what the agency is referring to as the "Governing Justly and Democratically" program in that nation. USAID hopes to fill this slot as soon as possible, as it is eager to invest a proposed federal infusion of $750,000,000 of U.S. taxpayer dollars toward anticorruption efforts wordlwide.

As previously reported here at Exhortations and at sister-site The Peacock Report, the U.S. thus far has begun "routing corruption in... Tanzania. We have brought 'good governance' initiatives to... Afghanistan. We are changing the culture of governmental corruption in... Armenia. Likewise, we're gonna show a thing or two to those corrupt bastards in... Moldova." And don't forget Uganda, too.

And now, ladies and gents, the "Beacon of Light" roadshow is tripping on over to Africa, where a privately contracted adviser will help the U.S. become a Shining Star for all to see; according to a contracting document that Exhortations recently obtained, the star will glow most brightly in Nigeria!

U.S. Needs Uganda's Help -- Write Now, Before It's Too Late!

Exhortations to the Oblivious recently reported on the astounding prospect of Washington, D.C., leading international efforts to rid the world of governmental corruption, with Uganda being the latest recipient of our beneficence and, um, ethical leadership [If you have just vomited or laughed so abruptly that mucus accidentally flew out of your nostrils, it's understandable; people rarely utter the phrases "ethical leadership" and "Washington, D.C.," in the same sentence, so, seeing them paired together must have come as a shock.]  Anyhow, Exhortations has gotten its hands on a list of folks and organizations -- replete with e-mail addresses -- whom on May 30 attended a USAID/Kampala "Confrerence" [sic] on this particular segment of the Strengthening Capacity to Fight Corruption initiative.

In light of the rampant corruption of the U.S. federal government (and the corruption of state governments such as the one here in New Jersey), we think its time to ask these Ugandans and the contractors seeking to secure a piece of the action to return the favor: help us fight corruption in Washington, D.C. and elsewhere in the United States, because we sure as hell can't do it on our own, as you all may have already suspected.

Please utilize this e-mail list -- do it now! -- and contact the "confrerence" [sic] attendees to enlist their assistance.

Save us from ourselves, Uganda! Save us!