Blackwater and contract oversight

I recently received an e-mail from a friend who is a freelance editor at a major daily newspaper. She wanted to relate a conversation that occurred at her office.

One of the editorial writers at this paper was blasting Blackwater and its actions in Iraq.

While not cutting any slack for Blackwater, my friend made this point:

"I think it's disingenuous for us to complain about what these guys did and not take our fair share of the blame," she said. "Everybody was applauding when we were reinventing government and downsizing all those 'government shoppers,' which incidentally included killing funding for the acquisition personnel to monitor the execution of contracts, such as, oh-let-me-think, someone to be on-site with these Blackwater guys as they fulfill their contract."

It's a great point - the allegations against Blackwater need to be investigated. Reforms likely will be passed. But the money spent to clean up the mess will surely far exceed the cost of hiring procurement managers to more proactively monitor contractors. It goes back to what Benjamin Franklin said, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."