Paul Bremer and friends brought $20 Billion dollars into Iraq (343 Tons of C-Notes!), and basically let it be looted. Kind of like the arms depots that the US cracked open and left to the mobs.
But, it wasn’t our money, so, really “what difference does it make?”
It is really hard to fathom these people. What difference does it make that $20 billion dollars disappeared into the quagmire? To be picked up by insurgents and warlords, to finance the killing of civilians and American troops? That the money didn’t help rebuild the infrastructure of the country? About the same difference that tons and tons of explosives and weaponry was left out for grabs, and ended up in the same place. Geezus, you just want to slap someone. Someone needs to go to jail.
I’m sure dozens of investigative reporters will be all over this story. That’s right, there are no investgative reporters anymore. Just a bunch of bloated talking heads and preening poodles paid to read the news and kiss ass questions.
I couldn’t even find anything about this in the NYT. Just this article about contractors.
Just what, exactly, has to happen before people get seriously pissed? I see this, and my head is about to explode; I’m so angry and freaked out… I had to pace around the room for awhile this morning. But I feel like most people, they see this, and it doesn’t even register. What is going to have to happen before the American people, and Congress, reach the point of no return, and throw these assholes to the curb?
I just ask, because it probably already happened, and maybe we should start talking about it, to speed the process along.
Lea DeLaria tried out that idea in an earlier conflict:
“I don’t think there should be gays in the military, I don’t think there should be straights in the military, I DON’T THINK THERE SHOULD BE A MILITARY! I think we should take all the money we spend on defence and just buy Bosnia! Just buy it! Send three queens in to gentrify! ‘Let’s do Bosnia in a desert motif! Lawrence of Olivier - it’ll be fabulous.’”
I feel the exactly the same way. What’s it going to take for people to get so fed up that they throw all of these amoral assholes to the curb? Lying about a war didn’t do it. Dead bodies of young American soldiers didn’t do it. The fact that Bush’s cronies are profiting from the war didn’t do it.
Then you read about the homeless vets
"– Veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts are now showing up in the nation’s homeless shelters…While the numbers are still small, they’re steadily rising, and raising alarms in both the homeless and veterans’ communities. The concern is that these returning veterans - some of whom can’t find jobs after leaving the military, others of whom are still struggling psychologically with the war - may be just the beginning of an influx of new veterans in need…
“It’s horrible to put your life on the line and then come back home to nothing, that’s what I came home to: nothing. I didn’t know where to go or where to turn,” says Mr. Noel. “I thought I was alone, but I found out there are a whole lot of other soldiers in the same situation. Now I want people to know what’s really going on.”
I disagree. These gentlemen have added a new dimension to our understanding of criminal negligence, malfeasance in fiduciary duty, and other “white collar” crimes.
They deserve to be sentenced in accord with the prevailing standard for people who have lost the money of others through lack of diligence:
Lock them up. In an Iraqi jail – Al Ghraib might be appropriate. On a civil charge: to remain incarcerated until they make restitution.
Non-sarcastic answer? A Democrat to do it. Seriously. Why do I say this?
The Republicans spent 25 years investing in and building a noise machine that does nothing but blare how Anything Bad Comes From Liberals Who Want To Take Your Money and Anything Bad That Comes From Republicans Is Actually Caused By Liberals Making Us Do It.
Remember Rush Limbaugh’s Speech Of Contrition after the 2006 Elections? It wasn’t, “Oh, we fucked up one too many times and got pasted for it”, no, it was “I have been carrying water for far too many of these guys for too long when they didn’t deserve it. They weren’t Right-Wing enough for this country so they got voted out.”
Take a poll. Ask people how many Billions of money would have to disappear (not be wasted, not sunk into pork, but DISAPPEAR) from government coffers before they get outraged. I’ll bet the number will be far below $20B.
But, if nobody (compared to the whole population) knows about it? If enough noise is broadcast to drown out the facts? Then facts don’t matter.
It’s one thing not to know about it, but another to give it a pass. And the people that are the first to scream about an increase in minimum wage or another social program seem perfectly fine with the idea that we’re paying for the billions and billions of dollars that are being thrown away or fed into this war.
and the silence from Republicans, conservatives & right-wingers both on and off this Board is deafening, but typical. Why do they hate America and our troops?