State Dept. Inspector General Appears to Have Perjured Himself Before House Committee Yesterday

Guest blogged by Jon Ponder, Pensito Review.

The White House is probably busy right now dusting off a Medal of Freedom — as well as complete and full pardon — for Howard “Cookie” Krongard, their inspector general (IG) at the State Dept. It appears that in Krongard’s testimony before the House Oversight and Government Reform yesterday, he made false statements under oath about the membership of his brother, Buzzy Krongard, on an advisory board for Blackwater, the controversial paramilitary security contractor based in North Carolina’s Dismal Swamp.

Blackwater has close ties with Howard Krongard’s bosses in the Bush administration, who have awarded over $100 million in contracts to the company since the invasion and occupation of Iraq began. The fact that the brother of the Bush State Dept.’s chief investigator into Blackwater’s activities in Iraq is on Blackwater’s payroll would appear to be a conflict of interest, to put it mildly.

Early in the hearings, Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) laid out a series of allegations from officials in the State and Justice departments that Krongard has been stonewalling investigations into corruption and illegal activities by Blackwater and other U.S. personnel and companies in Iraq.

Here is video of Waxman’s questioning and Krongard’s evasive responses:

Laters, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) asked Krongard if his brother was a member of the Blackwater advisory board:

Howard Krongard responded, under oath, with a flat denial:

But during the break, Howard Krongard called his brother and found out that Buzzy did, indeed, sit on a Blackwater board:

Krongard recanted his earlier statements and immediately recused himself from future Blackwater investigations:

But when exactly did Krongard learn that Buzzy had taken a seat on the board? Under questioning from Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA), the IG insisted that he learned about Buzzy’s ties to Blackwater during the phone call just minutes beforehand, and that in a conversation “five or six weeks ago,” Buzzy told him he had no ties to Blackwater.

And yet after the hearings yesterday, Buzzy Krongard told TPM Muckraker that he had informed his brother “Cookie” that he was accepting the seat on the Blackwater advisory board quite recently:

After Howard Krongard recanted his testimony at the hearing yesterday, he made a telling statement:

“I am not my brother’s keeper,” he said.

Of course, I was joking about the pardon. What we have learned in the Bush era is that perjury is only a crime when Democrats do it, and only a serious crime if the lie under oath is about sex.