From NPR this morning Contractor Accused of Defrauding Occupation Authority. I especially like kicking their former employees out of the Baghdad airport unarmed (to make their way across the desert to Jordan on their own) and taking Iraq Airways forklifts (just taking them, not paying for them) repainting them blue and selling them back to the CPA.
One of the legal issues is whether "people working for the CPA were working for the US govt. at all" Which is related to the "False Claims act" dating from the Civil War to allow Whistleblowers bear witness and bring suit against a company that is defrauding the Government and get a percentage of the suit (the rest of the money goes back to the U.S. Treasury). The US Justice Dept. declined to join the suit because the Bush Administration has taken a policy decision that the CPA (and the US Military in Iraq) is not the US Govt.
A NYTimes article on it from Oct. http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11606
Another piece from the Seattle Times which had this choice quote on the company background.
"The company's founders are Scott Custer, a former Army Ranger and defense consultant, and former CIA officer Michael Battles, who ran for Congress in Rhode Island in 2002 and was defeated in the Republican primary. The Federal Election Commission fined Battles for misrepresenting campaign contributions.
Battles is a Fox News Channel commentator. " - Seattle Times
Oh, and by the way, they have a "Cost +" contract from the U.S. Govt.
Looks like a police state to me:
Troops storm major Baghdad mosque
"…The interim Iraqi government has said it will clamp down on those who "incite violence", including clerics…"
That's our boy! and sure sounds like the way to quell a revolt Saddam style must have been what Rumsfeld approved of when he shook that man's hand. Arrest everyone who disagrees with you and throw away the key.
Robo has commented about this TV Report Says Marine Shot Prisoner* in his entry "The Liberation Continues" but I'm feeling compelled to write about this more than I could express in comments on it.
The first thing that hit me when the Marine's words and rifle report slammed me from the radio this morning was a wave of anger. Not for the Marine who had committed murder, but for the complete coward who sits in the White House smug, safe, and contemptuous of all around him. Our current president is someone who clearly had every string available pulled for him to do stateside Air National Guard service rather than go to Vietnam (nevermind the Vice President who got 5 deferments and claimed he had "other priorities") and then went AWOL during that service. This man is a coward who can talk tough from a ranch in Texas or the steps of the Army College, but if you put him in Falluja today would shit his pants and run screaming for his mother's legs.
The Marine who murdered the prisoner on the floor of the mosque will be tried by a military court and because of the PR disaster around this event, will spend the rest of his tour (and probably more) in Leavenworth and will have to live with his action the rest of his life. And on thinking about this, I remembered Martin Sheen's line from Apocalypse Now "Charging someone with murder here is like handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500." War is Murder, Rape, destruction, horror and death.
All the soldiers over in Iraq right now (Marines, Army, Natl. Guard, Reserves, Air Force, Navy) will have to live with the things they have done because they were told to (duty, following orders, or just being put in the situation they are in). To me there is no Glory in war - it is a bloody messy horrifying thing that should be avoided if at all possible. People lose their humanity through the act of murder - everytime they are forced to kill whether in self defence or not, a piece of them is changed irrevocably. Soldiers in combat are under the worst possible conditions - and guess what, we are all human and we snap - they commit murder, they commit rape, they beat people up, they humiliate people. Why? because they've been shot at, they are hated just because they are there, because someone who they trusted betrayed them, because suddenly you can't trust anyone who is of the "OTHER" - what does that do to a person?
Is the occupation of Iraq a "Christian" act Mr. President? Is murdering a people to "liberate" them a nobel act? Mr. Rumsfeld when you shook Saddam Hussein's hand after agreeing to sell him all those nice chemical weapons and high-explosives to murder Iranians did you smile inside and think "he'll do our dirty work for us?" The President has told us he sleeps well - doesn't have any moral quandaries with his actions. I wonder if the man who pulled the trigger on Saturday will be able to sleep. I wonder if his family will recognize him. I wonder about all the soldiers who have committed horrible acts to protect themselves or a friend, or because they were angry and having a bad day, or because someone shot at them so they killed someone else, or because of a simple stupid mistake will be able to sleep well once their nightmare is through. Since you are such a "Good Christian" Mr. President and you believe in Hell, I hope there is a special place for you - one more horrific than anything Dante ever imagined. (Mr. President, Dante was an Italian writer from the 13th-14th Century - maybe your wife could give you the Cliffs Notes).
I am so enraged that so many lives are being destroyed (not just killed and maimed, but psychologically destroyed) because of lies and hubris. No amount of alcohol, drugs, violence, satisfaction, "duty done," religion, or other escape will cure the soldiers when they come back. No amount of "democracy and liberation" is going to make the people in Iraq feel better about the United States as they sift through the rubble of their homes. What would any of us do if our home had been smashed by a 155mm shell or riddled with bullets, or we'd had our hands zip-tied behind us and dragged around on the floor accused of being an "illegal combatant," "militant," or "resistance fighter."
Time to get out.
*also reproduced here as an archive article since the NYT allows availability for 7 days.
Ok, I got frustrated and finally found and took the time to mirror the old Netscape Devedge sidebars. See: http://www.unc.edu/~zito/worklog/archives/2004/11/netscape_devedg.html for details..
