Pallet load's of shrinkwrapped $100 bill's (USD) enter Iraq after invasion ... billion's to this day still missing and unaccounted for
This posting will also serve both the "Funding and Stupidity are NOT Compatible" and "Jumping for Joy in America" series both ... showing what basically our reconstruction effort's in Iraq amounted to over time. Some video and read below, and Thank You to PBS for digging into this as well, then a few word's I wanted to add on this, since it IS AN issue that I have pounded since the first invasion of Iraq. I also have a nephew that served in Iraq with 3 tour's as a US Marine Sgt., who is home and well now with his familia.
Iraq Reconstruction Effort Fraught With 'Fraud, Waste, and Abuse' ... Thanx to MACHUBANJU
***** THE ATLANTIC: The Failed Reconstruction of Iraq ... (newsread)
A decade has passed, yet I can remember the invasion of Iraq as if only been a few month's. I was strongly opposed to this invasion from day one, questioning the "motive" behind it. I voted for Bush/ Cheney even back in 2000, because pretty much before 2000, I have been a straight voting Republican over the year's, and they and move's like this, was the key to me being such a strong opponent these dayz of the conservative parties ... because I am so pro- business actually ... meaning I am strongly opposed to too big to fail monopolies, restricted and manipulated trade, and what I consider as corporate communism ... all of which the conservative's were supporting and promoting in recent year's stronger than ever, yet disguising and cloaking it as being pro- business ... IT IS NOT.
So many folk's coast to coast were jumping for joy as the first strike's went down, feeling heroic, patriotic, feeling like we were extinguishing evil, freeing people, shedding tear's of joy, and much other nonsense ... I even met folk's that actually thought that the invasion was about retaliation to the 9/ 11 attack's in New York ... yet I havent a clue how that assessment could have been made, and to me is strictly again ... letting your emotion's get in the way and controlling your thought's and action's, which is not psychologically healthy. My first reaction was ... how much is this going to cost us, eh? ... is there not another way to dethrone this so called dictator? ... maybe at a better price, eh? after all, I'm a tad conservative when it come's to spending. Even if Saddam is the evil tyrant he is labeled as, and we have justified to take him down with reason, can we not do something a lil more covert?, after all ... our nation has done this time and again over the year's ... why this sudden attack and talk of WMD (weapon's of mass destruction), when so many nation's have WMD's to begin with? But I myself thought that Saddam had WMD, so much, that even when they didnt find any, I actually thought that they missed something in their search ... Why did I think this? ... simply because I knew that he had chemical weapon's expert's on the payroll for year's, and sure as Hell didnt think they were designing chemistry lab test's for school's ... he didnt trust his neighbour's either, friend or foe ... but later it appeared that he done that as a bluff of some sort. But you can see ... I had alot of question's.
My suspicion's also were up when recent technologies confirmed that Iraq was possibly sitting on 30% of some of the world's best oil, knew that Saddam was dealing much of his oil on the blackmarket, he wasnt a team player and the large oil giant's hated him with a passion because of such ... not sharing the pie in other word's ... it's business. I also knew that if we invade a country ... since were the saintly heroes we think we are ... yep ... were going to have to rebuild the SOB too (me personally ... if a nation attack's us and fuck's us over and bomb's us, then I/ we bomb them in "war" ... I sure as Hell WILL NOT PAY to rebuild your nation ... in other word's "fuck ya'll", you rebuild your own goddamn nation, you started conflict with us, etc ... this nation didnt attack us though). Which tell's me to take on such a reconstruction effort, you would have to have a huge company to lead the effort's ... Halliburton/ Brown & Root (Houston) of course is large enough, and to top that off, the only company that was (and guess who won government contracting for these type job's when they need getting done,back in 2001? ... yep ... you got it! {: ) ... see below link from BBC News), and the way that we do these thing's ... we alwayz let the main company/ corporation lead it, and they do all the contract's to get the sub- contractor's, etc ... meaning most of the leg and paper work ... it's just the way we alwayz done thing's, and I personally knew of many companies over the year's that dreamed of government contract's, because they pay the best, alwayz pay in full and on time ... you can charge any price, and they WILL PAY IT too. So I knew that this would be a contractor's haven galore to take this on ... and alot of folk's would milk this cow for every ounce it's worth, believe me, laying also a foundation for a rampant free for all fraud zone.
***** BBC NEWS (2003): Halliburton Iraq contract queried
I also knew of the significant surplus this country had from the previous Clinton/ Gore administration, and folk's just dont like money to sit idle, when it can be invested and make money off good business, etc ... which make's sense ... and an effort like this would be an enormous expense, and generating a Hell of alot of business. Cheney had alot of interest as well in Halliburton too, regardless of the bullshit portrait he has painted of himself ... and he's slicker than owl's shit when it come's to business too, Bush was not nearly as business savvy as Cheney. Even billion's in shrinkwrapped US currency sent into Iraq when their bank's were inoperable ended up missing and till this day unaccounted for, this was so disorganized and just such a sudden jump ... now were broke as Hell, whining about who need's to be cut next of the very financial freedom we have built in our nation over decade's of hard work and investing, the entitlement's that we ourselves have built and sustained, for us, that we fully deserve. I basically smelled alot of illegal shit going down it got so heavy, and at the time told folk's that Halliburton would have to use their international flexibility if the heat started getting too heavy on them, and folk's start to investigate, because if I was figuring all this shit out with my 8th grade education level ... you know damn well, that real mind's in this would have this shit all figured out in a heartbeat! Sure enough, what happened a few year's later? ... you got it ... Halliburton relocated their company from their original and only homebase in Houston to Dubai ... heh, heh, heh, heh, heh {: ) ... and I sure as Hell dont need to tell ya'll what that was about, eh? Which is why I was saying about a year after the invasion of Iraq, that alot of folk's were going to be investigated behind this, once folk's start putting two and two together, and see this was all a scam to make a buck ... and rightfully so ... this is what you see now.
But understand as well, that this sort of thing is so difficult to pursue as far as criminal or even civil liability, accountability, or even recovery of fund's ... this all has to do with this corporate manufactured "globalization" shit we get smothered with, and making us think we do this for love and humanitarian reason's, etc, etc ... and all the other nauseating mush- headed bullshit. This type of globalization we see, is manufactured so that no huge international company can get held accountable for what it does in another country ... which will come to an end in time, trust me as well there. They're internationally flexible and free ... but try for us to be ... and see the restriction's they have for our smaller independent companies, eh? The sad thing is ... despite the progress that has been made in Iraq ... you still have crime and new poverty level's rising out the ass ... many Iraqi's lining the street's begging ... and trying to just get "day labour", because of all the immigrant's from other countries for cheap labour and wage's, etc by contractor's that took Iraqi citizen's job's that would have otherwise went to them. A new democracy now in Iraq, that gun's down their own citizen's and kill's them in the street's for simply protesting, and all called westernized democracy and constructed solely by us and our allies ... imagine that!
That's the REALITY! .... Word Out ....
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***** PD/ RCJ: "FUNDING & STUPIDITY ARE NOT COMPATIBLE" PART'S 3, 2 & 1
***** PD/ RCJ: "JUMPING FOR JOY IN AMERICA" PART'S 5 THRU 1
***** PD/ RCJ: "DEFENSE CONTRACTING FRAUD & SYSTEMIC FRAUDULENT BEHAVIOUR" **** related posting 02 december 2011
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***** RANCH CHIMP JOURNAL "WELCOME" POST
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Not funny but I remember that about the missing $100 bills.
ReplyDeleteU.S. Wasted Billions of Dollars on Iraqi Reconstruction: Despite the intervening decade, the report concluded that “the U.S. government is not much better prepared for the next stabilization operation than it was in 2003,” according to the report, The failure of hundreds of projects to achieve their potential – or in some cases to even be completed – has left “a legacy of bitter dissatisfaction among many Iraqis,” according to the 184-page report.
“With the all the money the U.S. has spent, you can go into any city in Iraq and you cannot find one building or project (built by the U.S. government,” Acting Interior Minister Adnan al-Asadi is quoted as saying in the report.
“You can fly in a helicopter around Baghdad or other cities, but you cannot point a finger at a single project that was built and completed by the United States.”
Aint that some shit Jim? .... wonder how much it would cost us to actually see our completion and goal's, eh? ... half paid? ... or half assed job? ... heh, heh, heh, heh, heh {: )
ReplyDeleteThanx for your input here Jim ....