Sunday Reading Assignment
Kos Diarist occams hatchet provides the introduction.
(D)on’t let any rightwinger try to tell you that Iraq is an experiment in “pure laissez-faire capitalism”; it is far from that. Iraq is, purely and simply, the theft of billions and billions of tax dollars, aided and abetted by the criminal conspirators of the
BushCheney administration at nearly every level. In contrast to pure laissez-faire capitalism, which eschews the involvement of government, the thievery in Iraq – and its concomitant Croesus-like enrichment of scores of big corporations – would not be possible without the direct and illegal participation of the BushCheney administration.
In short, Iraq is a huge profit center for Global Corporation, Inc., and George Bush and Dick Cheney are the Senior Vice Presidents of the United States Government Division of that money-making concern.
An article in the current issue of Rolling Stone does the best job I have ever seen anywhere in laying out in nauseating detail the workings of this criminal money-laundering scheme that some people have called “the Iraq War.” In it, Matt Taibbi descends into – quite literally – the fecal underbelly of the world of Iraq war profiteering. Giving example after infuriating example, Taibbi relentlessly pushes the needle on his readers’ Outrage Meters harder and harder against the peg, until finally one cannot read anymore without leaping up from one’s chair and screaming out in sheer, visceral, well, outrage.
Having read that intro do you dare to click on this link and read the story? Can you take it? Are you ready to have all your worst fears confirmed.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/16076312/the_great_iraq_swindle
Editor’s note: WordPress is flakey these days. You’ll need to paste that link into your browser thingy.
dude, you did not provide the link that I dare to read.
D’oh.
Fixed,
You were not kidding, Jason. That article (or more accurately, the subjects of it) was utterly nauseating. But this shameless and disgusting war profiteering is not simply a creature of the Bush administration (although it has certainly ridden herd over these greedy bureaucrat-cum-pirate jackals).
It is very much the result of an almost totally unaccountable federal government inhabited for decades by soul-less “lifers” who were eager to cash in on the opportunities they saw, knowing full well how to work the rigged system that has long been put in place by their treacherous ilk. (The ex-Air Force profiteer had been in government for 34 years before cashing in.) There is no question in my mind that these people are absolutely traitors to the United States and should be treated as such.
The military-industrial establishment and the nexus of its narrow interests with unchecked federal power, of which Ike so ominously warned as he departed the presidency, has come to full fruition with this Iraq misadventure. The profiteers of this variety have always been around, but Bush’s war has been perhaps the greatest free-for-all bonanza for them.
Considering Bush-Cheney-Rove’s systematic politicization of every corner of government power, it really sheds light on the true motives behind the obstinate mania to keep the war machine going as long as possible. The long-shattered propaganda endlessly regurgitated with empty platitudes and horse shit rhetoric is simply a thin facade behind which lies pure greed and criminal self-interest.
Bush might actually believe his own twisted view of reality but his buddies at Carlyle Group, and countless other war profiteering outfits in league with them, have no illusions about the disaster Bush daily blesses and perpetuates. It is their bread and butter. Certainly they love that they have a president with such delusional self-assurance that they are guaranteed to bleed the American people (most not even alive yet) for every last drop of blood money they can extract, as long as he remains in office (and certainly a good while beyond, even with a Democrat in the WH).
Having said all that, my question is : where is the Democratic Congress? Surely they can read too. We know they write the budgets. We know their votes can stop all this. I ask this not as a Republican who knows how wrong most of my party is on this war. I ask it as an American citizen.
Having said all that, my question is : where is the Democratic Congress?
Easy, their caucus on the whole is rendered impotent due to just enough (not all) of the individual parts becoming too chicken shit to act as promised, PROBABLY (I didn’t conduct a poll) because they want either: -a) their constituents to re-elect them, or -b) their congressional counterparts to allow them time on the open floor for pet projects. I say that starts with the two biggest talking heads in charge of their caucus.
It happens on both sides, too. Some people can talk the good talk, but when it comes time to go against the grain, they look like a shaking Chihuahua backed into a corner. Too many exceptions, not enough mavericks.
We know their votes can stop all this.
*
Tyler, help us get 60 votes in the senate, dear.
You know what kind of games are being played with the GOPers down in DC even though they don’t have a majority, they have been extremely effective at manipulating the votes.
I would say that the resignations of Rove and the Attorney General have everything to do with the DEM leadership’s investigatory committee work.