Waste, fraud and cronyism

A study released by the Center for Public Integrity points out that the companies that were handed the contracts in Iraq without having to go through competitive bids were ... guess what .. major Bush campaign contributors! No news to me, but it's good to see an official report come out. Now let's see if this report gets any coverage in the major media.

Oct. 30, 2003 | WASHINGTON (AP) -- Companies awarded $8 billion in contracts to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan have been major campaign donors to President Bush, and their executives have had important political and military connections, according to a study released Thursday.

The study of more than 70 U.S. companies and individual contractors turned up more than $500,000 in donations to the president's 2000 campaign, more than they gave collectively to any other politician over the past dozen years.

...

The Center concluded that most of the 10 largest contracts went to companies that employed former high-ranking government officials, or executives with close ties to members of Congress and even the agencies awarding their contracts.

Major contracts for Iraq and Afghanistan were awarded by the Bush administration without competitive bids, because agencies said competition would have taken too much time to meet urgent needs in both countries.

"No single agency supervised the contracting process for the government," Center executive director Charles Lewis said. "This situation alone shows how susceptible the contracting system is to waste, fraud and cronyism."

Now, that would make a great 2004 Bush campaign slogan:

Bush/Cheney 2004 - Waste, fraud and cronyism.

Iraq Media coverage

I understand the fires in Southern California are tragic, but do they compare to the recent ongoing tragedies in Iraq? Cable news media seems to be overshadowing the Iraq bombings with these fires, is there no reason why they should not *at least* get equal attention? Maybe Bush's (unfounded) criticisms of the media are making them shy away from the coverage.

Reality Check

The Bush Administration is failing miserably in their attempt to launch a PR campaign in defense of this war. As Wolfowitz makes a visit to Iraq, a Black Hawk went down, and his hotel is targeted by the resistance. All of this after Bush blames the media for hyping the problems there, which was also followed by a leaked memo from Rumsfeld admitting the failures.

There's a good editorial in the Toronto Star.

"Once we strip away the now-debunked U.S. justifications for entering Iraq, what we're left with is an old-fashioned invasion of a foreign country."

Rumsfeld defends Top Generals Anti-Muslim angle on the Iraq war

Army Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin spoke in uniform in front of church audiences, proclaiming the war on terrorism as a Judeo-Christian war against Muslims .

Pentagon leaders on Thursday spoke up in support of a top general who has told church audiences that the war on terrorism is a battle with Satan and that Muslims worship idols.

Army Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin has made several speeches some in uniform at evangelical Christian churches in which he cast the war on terrorism in religious terms. Boykin said of a 1993 battle with a Muslim militia leader in Somalia: "I knew that my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God, and his was an idol."

. . .

Appearing in dress uniform before a religious group in Oregon in June, Boykin said Islamic extremists hate the United States "because we're a Christian nation, because our foundation and our roots are Judeo-Christian. ... And the enemy is a guy named Satan."
Rumsfeld defended his comments

Rumsfeld shamelessly defended these comments by proclaiming him as an outstanding general:

"He is an officer that has an outstanding record in the United States armed forces," Rumsfeld said at a news conference.

Rumsfeld will overlook Boydens extremist views as just good American freedom of speech, after he has continually blasted people (including Generals) for open comments in dissent of the war.

"There are a lot of things that are said by people that are their views," he said, "and that's the way we live. We are free people and that's the wonderful thing about our country, and I think for anyone to run around and think that can be managed or controlled is probably wrong."

Rumsfeld will continually attack freedom of speech with the exception of a religious zealot in the military who proclaims a religious war against Muslims.

And, you ask, why again do they hate us?

FEAR!

Cheney tries to defend the Iraq War by going back to earlier tactics, instilling fear in the American people.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Vice President Dick Cheney said Friday that terrorists are "doing everything they can" to get weapons of mass destruction that could kill hundreds of thousands of Americans "in a single day of horror."

Cheney uses the Kay report, which found no evidence of WMD to justify the fear:

He pointed to elements of a recent report on the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, led by Washington's chief weapons inspector David Kay. While Kay's team has not found any such weapons in the country, Cheney stressed that it did find "WMD-related program activities" and equipment concealed from U.N. weapons inspector through extensive efforts.

And Bush continues to use 9-11 as a justification for the war even after admitting Iraq had no connection to 9-11.

President George Bush has vigorously defended US policy in Iraq, telling Americans that US security cannot be achieved by "timid measures".

He described Iraq as the "central front" in the US-led war on terror, in a speech to National Guard members in New Hampshire, exactly six months after Saddam Hussein's regime was toppled.

Mr Bush's speech was part of a new White House public relations offensive aimed at countering growing criticism of US policy in post-war Iraq, where US forces are coming under fire daily and suffering mounting casualties.

"America must not forget the lessons of 11 September," Mr Bush said.

Clear your name

Moveon.org has an affidavit you can sign to clear your name of the CIA leak. Expert from the Email I received:

Clear your name. Sign an affidavit that you're not involved with outing CIA agent Valerie Plame, and send it to the President to show him how easy it could be to get to the bottom of this.

...

Today we're giving you a chance to clear your name. We're asking you and tens of thousands of other MoveOn members to sign an affidavit affirming that you didn't leak the identity of an undercover CIA agent to the press last July.

Here's why:

President Bush told the press on Tuesday that he doesn't "have any idea" whether the senior administration officials who blew a CIA operative's cover will ever be found. But if he just asked his staff to sign a legally binding affidavit confirming that they weren't involved, and referred anyone who wouldn't to the FBI, it's possible he could flush out the perpetrators in a day. To date, the President hasn't even discussed this matter with his staff.

Bush to U.N.: Drop Dead .. again

The Bush administration will soon decide whether or not to blow off the U.N. again, when it came to diplomacy they just couldn't get their way:

New York Times: WASHINGTON, Oct. 7 --Two weeks after President Bush appealed at the United Nations for help in securing and reconstructing Iraq, administration officials said, his top aides will decide soon whether it is worth the effort to get a United Nations endorsement.

Originally, the administration said United Nations approval of American plans for the next phase of postwar Iraq would encourage other countries to contribute money or troops. Now the tone has shifted to one of living without such help, if necessary.

scandal that sticks!

I've been busy at work lately, so I haven't had time to post anything.
Traitor dot US has a good posting about the current scandal.

Things are looking up, Bush's chances of re-election look more and more grim every day.

And the BBC agrees it's about time.

It has taken nearly three months for the "outing" of a CIA agent to become headline news, and it seems as if the US media is seeking to make up for lost time.