War Profiteering

Ret'd. Gen. & still practicing douchebag Barry McCaffrey has always rubbed the entire editorial staff here the wrong way, doubtlessly stemming from his service as "drug czar" in Clinton's cabinet, and now The New York Times has run a long article on how B. M. has backed his truck up to the mint & is shoveling it right in. You guessed it: "Consulting."

The consulting company he started after leaving the government in 2001, BR McCaffrey Associates, promises to “build linkages” between government officials and contractors like Defense Solutions for up to $10,000 a month. He has also earned at least $500,000 from his work for Veritas Capital, a private equity firm in New York that has grown into a defense industry powerhouse by buying contractors whose profits soared from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. In addition, he is the chairman of HNTB Federal Services, an engineering and construction management company that often competes for national security contracts.

Nice work if you can get it.

On NBC and in other public forums, General McCaffrey has consistently advocated wartime policies and spending priorities that are in line with his corporate interests. But those interests are not described to NBC’s viewers. He is held out as a dispassionate expert, not someone who helps companies win contracts related to the wars he discusses on television.

We always assumed he was full of shit. Thanks to the Liberal Bible for giving us reason for our assumption. Now we're going to scan the rest of the piece.