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WASHINGTON (AP) — The brother of embattled State Department Inspector General Howard (Cookie) Krongard quit as an adviser to Blackwater Worldwide on Friday, two days after the relationship with the security contractor was sharply criticized by a congressional oversight committee.

Erik Prince, Blackwater’s top executive, said the conflict of interest questions raised by the connection prompted Alvin “Buzzy” Krongard to submit his resignation.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The State Department’s top investigator and his brother will both be asked to testify to a committee of Congress about the brother’s link to the Blackwater security firm, the committee announced on Friday.

Rep. Henry Waxman decided to call State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard and his brother A.B. “Buzzy” to the same hearing after they separately gave the committee conflicting accounts about Buzzy Krongard’s ties with Blackwater, which protects U.S. diplomats and other State Department officials in Iraq.

“Yesterday, in response to a letter from the committee, Buzzy Krongard called the Committee staff and said that contrary to Howard Krongard’s testimony, he did tell his brother about his relationship with Blackwater,” Waxman said in the memo sent to his committee members.

“The information from Buzzy Krongard raises serious questions about the veracity of Howard Krongard’s testimony before the committee. To help answer these questions, I expect the committee to hold a hearing immediately after the Thanksgiving recess at which Howard Krongard and Buzzy Krongard will be invited to testify.”

Waxman’s committee is examining allegations by current and former officials in Krongard’s office that the inspector general thwarted probes into waste, fraud and abuse in Iraq, including alleged arms smuggling by Blackwater.

Blackwater’s Brothers Revelations by Jeremy Scahill

Every day, new revelations emerge in the mounting scandal rocking the Bush Administration and the mercenary company Blackwater Worldwide.

The State Department also offered to facilitate the payment of what amounted to hush money to victims of the shooting, which it has done on numerous occasions for Blackwater and other companies when they kill Iraqis.

On Wednesday the State Department Inspector General, Howard “Cookie” Krongard, was in the hot seat on Capitol Hill, where he found himself being grilled by Representative Henry Waxman’s Oversight and Government Affairs Committee. Krongard is the top State Department official charged with investigating allegations of waste, fraud and abuse. In addition to all of the questionable actions by the State Department in the Blackwater investigation, Krongard has faced charges that he impeded a Justice Department investigation into Blackwater over allegations the company was illegally smuggling weapons into Iraq. But the bombshell at the hearing was the revelation that Krongard’s brother, Alvin “Buzzy” Krongard, recently accepted a position as a paid consultant for Blackwater, where he serves on the company’s advisory board. Until his resignation in 2004, Buzzy was the number-three man at the Central Intelligence Agency. Waxman’s committee broke the news of Buzzy’s Blackwater position as part of what can only be described as a masterful ambush of the Inspector General.

Hat Tip to our new Superman, Henry Waxman. The man with the balls to unravel another devious scam this administration has enjoyed too long.

“We have now learned that Mr. Krongard’s brother, Buzzy Krongard, serves on Blackwater’s advisory board,” Representative Henry A. Waxman declared, saying the inspector general had “concealed this apparent conflict of interest.”

The Krongard brothers — who have carried childhood nicknames, Buzzy and Cookie, through long careers — are tied up in the tangled story of Blackwater,

Alvin Krongard, 71, who left a $4 million-a-year job in investment banking to serve in top posts at the Central Intelligence Agency from 1998 to 2004, played what he describes as a routine role as an intermediary in helping Blackwater get its first big security contract from the agency for guards in Afghanistan in 2002.

Howard Krongard, 66, a former general counsel at the accounting firm of Deloitte & Touche who took the State Department job in 2005, was grilled this week by House Democrats. They accused Mr. Krongard (who does not use his nickname professionally, as his brother does) of alienating his staff and improperly interfering in investigations, including a Justice Department inquiry into allegations of weapons smuggling by Blackwater employees.

What a bunch of crooks, liars and ‘dividers’ we have elected, appointed and suffered through. The unquestioning, 30 second sound bite voter has been duped for the last time! I am wishful. Voter negligence has given away the most precious thing we have. A nation of laws protecting the first lines of our Constitution.

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

Shame on us. The lesson: Causality or causation denotes the relationship between one event (called cause) and another event (called effect) which is the consequence (result) of the first. ^{[1] …} We call this ‘cause and effect’. I see it as consequences of negligence.

Posted by bosskitty November 17th, 2007 | Category: Blackwater, Constitution, Krongard, Scandal, War Czar, Waxman, betrayal, big brother, consequences, conspiracy, profiteers, responsibility, scams | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL