New Rule: Stop Saying Iraq is Another Vietnam, it's Another Enron
Iraq is Enron, and President Bush is Ken Lay. He's fighting a war with phony accounting tricks. The Bush administration fudged the numbers to get us into Iraq, and cooked the books to keep us there. "The surge" is simply another in a long series of inflated stock quotes. This past weekend Marcel Marceau passed away at age 84. Doctors say he went quietly. Thus proving that evil thrives when good men stay silent. And just like with Enron, the good men and women who are blowing the whistle on Iraq contractor fraud are being vilified, fired, demoted, and those are the lucky ones.
Last Friday morning the Senate Democratic Policy Committee held a hearing entitled "The Mistreatment of Iraq Contracting Whistleblowers," just in time to make the Friday news dump. According to the committee more than $10 billion dollars in Iraq reconstruction and military support contracts is unaccounted for. In other words, for every six dollars spent in Iraq one dollar is in question. And folks, it's a war-zone, you're dealing with a culture known for its haggling skills, so you've got factor in a little skimming, but this is ridiculous. If you stole that much money from the Mafia you'd be dead.
Vicente Fox may have called President Bush a "windshield cowboy," but Bush has certainly turned Iraq into a wild, wild, west. And here's another one from the War in Iraq's this-is going-to-make-you-vomit file. Some Iraq contract whistleblowers have been vilified and fired, others have been detained by the US military and subjected to harsh interrogation techniques.
Donald Vance, a Navy veteran, was working for an Iraqi-owned outfit called the Shield Group Security Company. Vance said he witnessed Shield Group selling guns, land mines, and rocket-launchers to Iraqi insurgents, American soldiers, State Department workers, and Iraqi embassy and ministry workers. Vance described Shield Groups as "a Wal-Mart for guns." Vance reported this to the FBI, and instead of a pat on the back, he got 97 days at Camp Cropper, a military prison outside of Baghdad. In fact, Saddam's Hussein's old crib. Vance was placed in solitary confinement, subjected to head-banging music blaring from dawn to dusk, and interrogators screaming the same questions over and over again in his face.
Also testifying at the hearing along with Vance was Barry Godfrey, a former KBR employee (KBR+Halliburton=Cheney) who claimed that he was fired after complaining to his supervisors about fraudulent overcharges.
Also testifying was Bunnatine Greenhouse. Greenhouse is the former highest-ranking civilian contracting official at the Army Corps of Engineers, so I'll dispense with the "Greenhouse having gas" joke. But Greenhouse was removed from her position when she tried to crack down on "casual and clubby contracting practices" at the Army Corps of Engineers.
Also testifying was Robert Isakson who was a co-plaintiff in a "qui tam" lawsuit (a whistleblower lawsuit) against Custer Battles. No, "qui tam" is not that stuff that Chinese people do in the park, it's shorthand for the Latin Phrase "qui tam pro domino quam pro seipso," which dates back to 13th century England, and means, "He who is as much for the King as for himself." Today, a "qui tam" lawsuit is one brought under the False Claims Act by a private plaintiff on behalf of the Federal or State Government. Isakson won the first civil verdict for Iraq reconstruction fraud against Custer Battles. However, the verdict was overturned by the judge, who ruled that because the CPA was not part of the US government, the "qui tam" statute did not apply.
Meanwhile the Bush administration has not litigated a single case against a contractor alleged to have defrauded the US Government in Iraq. Apparently, like terrorism, this isn't a law enforcement issue either.
Bill Maher is the host of HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher" which airs every Friday at 11PM.
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Bill makes sense, as usual. I wrote "Enron explains why 9/11 was allowed" ago and see Bill's point as correct in the present context. Same old, same old distractors whose greed and disregard for the rule of law make one want to toss tea into a harbor. Here and there a few beacon of light shine on the rotters; Keith O. AH and BM are among those who dare mention the emperor is wearing no clothes as Cheney chuckles all the way to the bank and our beloved country is sacked. Am about to read Dean's "Broken Government" and visit On Demand for another refreshing visit with Bill's New Rules. Otherwise, I might be tad depressed. Thanks, Bill for your astute reckonings. Molly Ivins would applaud as loudly as I do. She is
mentioned in Marvin Kitman's article in this
week's Nation about Keith O. Just bought his
book because Orally makes me ill. Keep writing
Bill, you are spot on!
Dear Bill, calling the Iraq war another Enron is right on, but what I want to know is. In light of all the questionable evidence surrounding 9/11, how can you be so adamant about the possibility, that 9/11 wasn’t an inside job? That thinking makes me wonder about you. Could it be that you don’t recognize, “controlled” demolition when you see it? Or could it be that you’re actually afraid of getting to the truth, which could not only end the controversy, but in turn end your niche? Or, could you just afraid of ending-up in Guantanamo, or even some day simply disappearing?
You are correct Bill. It is not Vietnam. Vietnam had many more casualties and deaths than IRAQ. It is not even close.
We won this war. We are loosing the police action.
Republican math, not for the faint of heart (or anyone with a reality fetish...
US casualties in Iraq don't include the mercenary force so the numbers can probably be doubled but lets just compare the troop numbers...
You may be unaware that Viet Nam lasted considerably longer than Iraq has but you shouldn't be expected to know such trivial things in order to comment on grave matters!
First 4 years US dead
Viet Nam 1,864
Iraq 3,801
Everyone with a brain can see the truth of
1,864 > 3,801
Including mercenaries it probably looks more like this
1,864 > 7,500
Anyone with eyes can see the truth that there were many more deaths in Viet Nam!
Also first 4 years US wounded
Viet Nam 7,337
Iraq 27, 753
Once again the obvious mathematical truth
7,337 > 27,753
And if you include the mercenary force probably more like
7,337 > 50,000
I would like to nominate Miamiman for the David Patraeus (sp?) chair in Republican Math at Princeton.
Seeing how you pride yourself on knowing the numbers, you failed to include the most important number. Do your comparison and include the total number of troops in the field with those numbers. Like most people that don't completely understand the complexity of these issues, you too have not given the entire story. In addition, you have not indicated the first year of the Vietnam War that you are comparing with. You need to add that to your numbers so people can see an accurate comparison.
Right on Mr. Maher! What we are watching with the "Coalition of the Contracted" is the, not so slow, death of the nation state. Multi-national corporations are out earning many smaller states while they are backing up the truck to the treasury of this one.
Whether it is Singapore or South Carolina, they are getting a free pass because they provide "jobs". Government officials are either too impudent or too busy lining their pockets to thwart the shifting of health-care, EMS and education costs to the counties and townships. They in turn are then forced to cut services because they don't have a large enough revenue base. (Even if you tax poor people they don't have a whole lot of money to contribute
We are on the verge of a neo-medieval age where these corporations will eclipse the power government and foist a global feudalism upon the citizenry.
"We are on the verge of a neo-medieval age where these corporations will eclipse the power government and foist a global feudalism upon the citizenry.
That's the best description I have heard thus far.
The Enron-Cheney/bush Iraq analogy is spot-on! But when you think about it, Cheney/bush and Enron are alike in every way. Cheney/bush in Iraq is perhaps the equivalent of only one fraudulent operating unit. Cheney/bush in Iraq is like Enron's squeezing of California energy consumers in the late '90's. But like Enron, Cheney/bush has overseen corruption well beyond their vicious war; namely tax cuts for the rich, manipulation of gas and utility prices, health care deals with "Big Pharma" and "Big Insurance," overseeing the conspiracy to usurp our civil rights, Wall Street and banking abuses, Katrina relief and the list goes-on. bush's pardon list will be a list of co-conspiring crooks that will extend to the moon and back. Yep, Cheney is Ken Lay.
"...if you stole that much from the mafia you'd be dead..."
HEY, that's an idea - let the mafia run the war!!! After all, they can do anything, they even killed KENNEDY.
Oh wait, that was the story we were force fed to take the spotlight off Nixon, GHW Bush and Hunt.
Nevermind.
We look at the trees, but forget the forest. The overall picture and what has happened to our country and the world since this "regime" came to power.
Enron's energy policy did kill many (black-outs, soaring prices that caused deaths, especially amongst the poor and elderly). Enron defrauded investors, their employees and consumers, while Lay and his friends pocketed the loot.
The Bush ties to Nazi's Third Reich, Hunt Oil (in Kurdish Iraq), the Carlisle Group, Cheney's Haliburton, etc. That the Bush family has profited off misery of others is a long-standing family tradition.
This whole mess began with the age of "GREED IS GOOD." There was no more national conscience. It is a Darwinian existence "every man for himself." Deregulation of major industries, destroying unions and limitations on individual's rights to boost profits, cut taxes for the privileged.
While Reagan and Bush claim they're for less government, each bloated the national debt to more than double what existed with wasteful spending and irresponsible tax cuts. When Reagan came to office, the debt was just over $2 trillion. When he left, it was $4.5 trillion. Under Clinton, the debt went down (with fiscal surpluses) to $4 trillion. Then with Bush, it's exceeding $9 trillion with no signs of abating. Reagan funded his tax cuts to business and wealthy by tapping into Social Security. Bush tried to dismantle it, in efforts to hide his "off-budget" spending and fiscal irresponsibility. The 7.65% of our earnings (supposedly going towards our future retirement benefits and medical care) is being siphoned to fund this war.
Yes, we are being defrauded. No there will not be social security or medicare when we reach retirement age. Those in government get their own retirement (not social security), so they won't have to worry. Those wealthy who have reaped obscene profits off the misery of others won't need to worry either. We, who are paying into the system, enlisting to serve our country and vote are being used, abused, and will be left with nothing when the music stops.
"This past weekend Marcel Marceau passed away at age 84. Doctors say he went quietly."
What happened, Bill? Did you suddenly channel Henny Youngman in the middle of your comment?
Thank you Bill for keeping our eyes on the ball of what's going on behind our backs and things we need to know about.
Here here Bill, well said! Lets take it a step further. The Cheney/Enron transcripts for his energy task force are still secret today. I'd bet my empty gas tank that Enron would have benefitted from the War in Iraq. The neocons had the Iraq plan on the drawing board for a long time and was mentioned as a priority day one by W. to his staff. Do we really think W. came up with his Iraq smoke-screen himself? He blundered in school. He blundered in baseball. He blundered in the service. Hell, he even blundered at partying. The only original thought the man has is that he's right.
I agree whole-heartedly with you Bill, let's stop using the Vietnam references when discussing Iraq. Because the Republicans may start using Vietnam to point out that it was we the Democrats who got us into that war and we the Democrats that micro managed the war into devastating loss in life of our young men and women. Not to mention that we the Democrats micro managed the war withholding funding to end it, causing an installation of a Communist government and millions of people killed. We don't want the Republicans to wise up and start using Vietnam as a club to beat us with because history is not on our side in that one. It is far better to use the criminals of Enron who were Bill Clinton's friends then use Vietnam after all what is another little mark on Bill's legacy anyway, he survived much worse.
Why the hell are you bringing up Clinton? They may have tried to buy their way into favor with Clinton and succeed somewhat, but Enron was all about Propping up Bush and Cheney.
George and Dick were their boys; practically their product. They gave millions, and were Bush's biggest supporters. They made millions off the investment too. Ken Lay was one of the principals in that infamous enrgy task force meeting that uncle Dick will not reveal any info. on whatsoever. California's rolling blackouts were a direct result from Enron Policies, sanctioned by uncle Dick.
The American public has been so frustratingly slow about realizing this whole scam that has been purportrated on them. On your show not even a year ago, when someone mentioned that we are in Iraq for the oil, they were called a conspiracy theorist..
Man, people need to connect the damn dots and realize that blood for oil, trading our soldier's lives for advancement in resources acquisition is absolutely CRIMINAL. That America, in its pure sense of liberty is finally really losing what is left of its soul, bringing on a shameful and miserable chapter in our own history from which we will surely bring on deep, continued suffering. That Bush and Cheney REALLY SHOULD not only be impeached, but face criminal charges for graft, corruption, and crimes against humanity.
Uh I hate to break it to you but it was the Eisenhower administration that first put "advisors" in Vietnam. You're a democrat, I doubt that. You need to read your history books again you are distorting the facts. The Vietnam War was just the first example of the Imperial Presidency along with the Military Industrial Complex taking control of our international efforts. What we are seeing now is the cementing of their efforts. "We the People" need to start another revolution. Hopefully we can accomplish it at the ballot box, we must take our country back before it is too late. It feels as if it already is.
We all seem to be acting as if this is some sort of new phenomenon. The "government" has been punishing whistle blowers on all levels for far longer, and yes, that includes the private sector as well.
War and politics are both industries, linked at the hip, (or should I say, lip). Even the movie industry isn't safe from the machinations of our government. Consider the fates of two movies, critizing war, and the politicizing involved in waging it. First is the most damning, The Manchurian Candidate, based on the 1959 book by Richard Condon. Second is the 1997 dark political comedy, Wag the Dog.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking. Truth from LaLa Land? Suspend your disbelief for a little while, ignore the all star cast, and just listen to the message. Both movies made a minor splash when they appeared, and were just as quickly banned. See if you can still rent them from your local video store. See if they're still available online. For that matter, see if truth is still available in this country.
You are correct that whistleblowers and others who dare speak truth to power have seen their lives ruined. Makes you wonder just what kind of "free" country we are supposedly living in. It isn't just Hollywood that gets this blowback either. It's also leveled at academia. John Mearsheimer, a political scientist at the University of Chicago, and Stephen M. Walt, a professor of international affairs at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, both were viciously attacked with intent of ruining their careers and reputations and for what? Because they dared to question Israel's role and influence in determining US foreign policy while claiming this influence has done grave harm to our foreign policy?
Look at the nasty attacks hurled at MoveOn.org for daring to question the independent judgment of Gen. Petraeus in their NYT ad? While the title of the ad was maybe a bit provocative there was nothing in the ad that was either offensive or untruthful.
I guess we live in a free country as long as we don't ever criticize anything Israel or the military has ever done.
RJ Crane, editor
topplebush
"Both movies made a minor splash when they appeared, and were just as quickly banned. See if you can still rent them from your local video store. See if they're still available online."
Umm... not to dispute your conspiracy theory, but DVDs of both movies are currently available from Neflix (to rent) and Amazon (to buy).
Neither movie was ever banned, although Manchurian Candidate (the 1962 version) was "off the shelf" for a number of years after the Kennedy assassination (it reappeared in a theatrical release in the mid-80s and has been available on video ever since).
What was Mr. Clinton's Ruanda is Mr. Bush's
Darfur. Samo Samo!
Clinton was no saint, he gets much credit because the economy did well and people were
aloof. Heck, hardly anyone voted for Bill that time. Bush, however, has no morals, a spoiled
brat with no accountability for his actions, is very dangerous. But we cannot blame him alone,
there are all those enablers behind him. Now that is scary!
I'm not so sure about the parallel.
Bush is funding the strife in Darfur, deliberately in order to split Sudan and wrest the oil in Darfur from China.
Did Clinton actually fund the strife in Ruanda?
Refer to 'Darfur. It's the oil, stupid!'
http://www
And to add to all the conspiracy theories being presented, lets add the "Knomes of Zurich" Taylor Caldwell would love all of you. Bush must be the head of all the conspiracies of the world. Such power you give him.......
First it was about weapons of mass destruction. Now it is to bring democarcy to a region, that with the exception of Israel, has only had dictators and kings. I guess it is our brand of democracy since there is discrimination here that is purely cultural there; religious beliefs, sexual orientation, and women's rights.
This is really about OIL! Until we have a viable energy policy that reduces dependency on oil from the Middle East, particularly from nations like the 'two faced' Saudis, we will always have trouble. This is about protecting what is believed to be our national interest.
If we can slowly pull out of Iraq over a 6 - 12 month period, the other nations in the region surrounding Iraq will be forced to be involved in consensus building to avoid the region falling into total havoc. Do those in power really want the terrorists infiltrating their countries? No way. They would rather behead or shoot them first.
There can never be a republic like the United States in any of these nations because of their tribal attitudes for self preservation of their beliefs and interests.
Vietnam fell thirty plus years ago. Today our manufacturing in the name of corporate value is flocking to Vietnam to produce garments and other goods. Not's let forget China who supplied Vietnam & North Korea! They are our biggest foreign lender to the US Treasury.
Yes, it is about oil! Would we care otherwise?
Actually, what is sickening and nauseating is the fact that this has been going on since 2003. Four years later we are finally talking about this? What about the procurement officers who were fired years ago for raising questions about the Million dollar dry cleaning bill for contractors clothing??
The list is long and disgusting.
Too Bad MSM is so slow in reacting.
The reason this has been going on for so long as that Congress under the GOP never conducted any oversight nor conducted any investigations to expose these unlawful practices and for all intent and purposes, tried to cover them up to protect Bush. It is the reason we need to keep Congress under Dem control for a very long time because it will take a very long time to expose all of this corruption and repair the damage.
RJ Crane, editor
topplebush
Bush/Cheney are advocates of "Disaster economics". And if you read Naomi Klein's book you will understand their depraved indifference to the constitution because it interferes with their concepts of free trade. Hey, people these guys took us to war to subjugate the American people and enrich their cronies. Ben Franklin must be "crying" right now.
Viva Naomi Klein! Viva John Cusack!
http://www
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