[RenegadeRick]

One more article explaining the incredible waste the war in Iraq really is.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/16076312/the_great_iraq_swindle

Operation Iraqi Freedom, it turns out, was never a war against Saddam Hussein's Iraq. It was an invasion of the federal budget, and no occupying force in history has ever been this efficient. George W. Bush's war in the Mesopotamian desert was an experiment of sorts, a crude first take at his vision of a fully privatized American government. In Iraq the lines between essential government services and for-profit enterprises have been blurred to the point of absurdity -- to the point where wounded soldiers have to pay retail prices for fresh underwear, where modern-day chattel are imported from the Third World at slave wages to peel the potatoes we once assigned to grunts in KP, where private companies are guaranteed huge profits no matter how badly they **** things up.

...

The deal charged Custer Battles with the responsibility to perform airport security for civilian flights. But there were never any civilian flights into Baghdad's airport during the life of their contract, so the CPA gave them a job managing an airport checkpoint, which they failed miserably. They were also given scads of money to buy expensive X-ray equipment and set up an advanced canine bomb-sniffing system, but they never bought the equipment. As for the dog, Ballard reported, "I eventually saw one dog. The dog did not appear to be a certified, trained dog." When the dog was brought to the checkpoint, he added, it would lie down and "refuse to sniff the vehicles" -- as outstanding a metaphor for U.S. contractor performance in Iraq as has yet been produced.

Like most contractors, Custer Battles was on a cost-plus arrangement, which means its profits were guaranteed to rise with its spending. But according to testimony by officials and former employees, the partners also charged the government millions by making out phony invoices to shell companies they controlled. In another stroke of genius, they found a bunch of abandoned Iraqi Airways forklifts on airport property, repainted them to disguise the company markings and billed them to U.S. taxpayers as new equipment. Every time they scratched their asses, they earned; there was so much money around for contractors, officials literally used $100,000 wads of cash as toys. "Yes -- $100 bills in plastic wrap," Frank Willis, a former CPA official, acknowledged in Senate testimony about Custer Battles. "We played football with the plastic-wrapped bricks for a little while."

...

But even being the clumsiest war profiteers of all time was not enough to bring swift justice upon the heads of Mr. Custer and Mr. Battles -- and this is where the story of America's reconstruction effort gets really interesting. The Bush administration not only refused to prosecute the pair -- it actually tried to stop a lawsuit filed against the contractors by whistle-blowers hoping to recover the stolen money.

In my opinion there is no more important issue than bringing an end to this pointless waste of money and lives.

 

[LordOpie]

It amazes me that people think the primary motivation for the war was money or oil.

They can believe greed, but a grab at raw and disturbing amounts of power is inconceivable.

Anybody want a peanut?

 

[1453]

It amazes me that people think the primary motivation for the war was money or oil.

They can believe greed, but a grab at raw and disturbing amounts of power is inconceivable.

Anybody want a peanut?

we are not alone.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6958030.stm

should be a fine decade to come

 

[RenegadeRick]

It amazes me that people think the primary motivation for the war was money or oil.

They can believe greed, but a grab at raw and disturbing amounts of power is inconceivable.

Money is power.

My big problem is I am sick of paying for it. We all should be.

 

[LordOpie]

Money is power.

Not even close. Can Bill Gates invade another country?

This is POWER...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6958030.stm

how much money does Castro have? Or Columbian drug cartels? Of course they have a lot of money, but they have power that Warren Buffet can't fathom.


PS: I would totally vote for Bill Gates as PotUS, but ironically, the kind of power* he wields would be stripped if he got into office.

* power to do good through charity.

 

[RenegadeRick]

Not even close. Can Bill Gates invade another country?

This is POWER...

Gates did even better. He invaded THE WORLD.
Invasions don't necessarily have to be guys with guns.

Now let's get this back OT before this thread gets moved to the Comp & Tech forum.

Support the troops! Bring them home now!
My wallet thanks you!

 

[rockwool]

The Bush administration not only refused to prosecute the pair -- it actually tried to stop a lawsuit

Did anybody say corruption? Immagine if all that money being poured into this war were given to the US citizens in form of a 2h reduction of the 8h working day. You would be a whole lot healthier people and you would finaly have sufficient time to spend helping your kids with their home work and improve their chanses in life.