This report, by Sharyl Attkisson, was originally broadcast on CBS News, July 18, 2008
The number one killer of troops in the Iraq war is the infamous roadside bomb called an IED, short for improvised explosive device. By 2004 the US command's most urgent request was for help in targeting the enemy networks that built and planted the bombs. Congress poured in tens of millions of dollars, including a giant contract to a company called MZM. But deaths and injuries continued to soar. It was the job of intelligence officer Major Eric Egland to find out why.
Major ERIC EGLAND (United States Air Force): It was my job to do a field evaluation on this program.
ATTKISSON: In an exclusive interview, Egland told us he discovered stunning lapses on the part of the contractor MZM, which only hired a third of the people they were paid for. And even they lacked experience in targeting terrorists.
What you're hoping for is that fewer IED injuries...
Maj. EGLAND: Right.
ATTKISSON: ...more IEDs targeted and found.
Maj. EGLAND: Yeah, help the combat units go after the networks that are using IEDs against us.
ATTKISSON: But in reality what was happening?
Maj. EGLAND: The capability that was being funded was given to unqualified contractors who failed at even the most basic level to provide the right people, the right resources and the right capability to help our troops deal with the number one threat in Iraq.
ATTKISSON: With American lives at stake, Egland couldn't imagine how a company like MZM got such a crucial contract. His next assignment took him to a place where he could find the answer, the Pentagon.
There, Egland did some digging and found MZM had gotten millions of defense contracts courtesy of Congressman Duke Cunningham in the form of earmarks, grants of money without the normal public review. As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, Cunningham was able to keep the earmarks even more secret than most by making them classified.
Maj. EGLAND: It was not a merit-based process. It was based on sneaking a large contract to a company that had given millions of dollars in bribes and hundreds of thousands of dollars in political contributions to powerful members of Congress.
ATTKISSON: That's right. To get the sweetheart deals, MZM owner Mitchell Wade had bribed Congressman Cunningham with a yacht, antiques and fancy property. Details revealed when both were prosecuted in a wide-ranging corruption scandal.
Egland is convinced that the classified earmarks didn't just waste your tax dollars, they cost American lives.
People died because of this program being done the way it was.
Maj. EGLAND: I really believe so, absolutely. I mean, the troops wanted to target these networks. But without this critical capability that was given to unqualified people, they weren't able to.
ATTKISSON: He says the real shame is it could happen again. Today there's nothing to stop members of Congress from making secret classified earmarks to favored companies.
Maj. EGLAND: Nothing has changed that would preclude this from happening again.
ATTKISSON: Taxpayers bore the cost, but Egland says the price that soldiers paid was even higher. Sharyl Attkisson, CBS News, Washington.
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