Day: December 21, 2006
GAO Cites Defense Dept. for Poor Oversight in Iraq – Again!
Contractor con men: The Government Accountability Office has issued a report that chastizes the Pentagon for failing to provide adequate oversight of private contractors supporting American military operations in Iraq.
The report cites a shortage of front-line managers overseeing contractor support that has led to a lack of accountability or assurance that the military is getting the services it has paid for. Before he “retired,” Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had assured the GAO that the military would comply with recommendations made in earlier GAO reports. He must have had his fingers crossed at the time.
It appears the Pentagon has basically outsourced the war in Iraq:
The military’s global war on terror has coincided with a massive outsourcing of jobs traditionally performed by uniformed personnel. In Iraq and Afghanistan, hundreds of private companies provide battlefield support to the troops, supplying them with everything from food and housing to Internet service and intelligence analysis.
While 9,200 contractors supported the 1991 Gulf War, the Army alone estimates that at least 60,000 contractors support combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the new report (GAO-07-145).
The Pentagon does not know how many contractors currently are working in Iraq and living on the American bases that have sprung up around the country, GAO noted.
Besides getting bad service, the result is millions of dollars lost each year through waste and abuse. For instance, the Army estimates that $43 million is lost annually due to contractors eating free meals while receiving a per diem allowance for food. Hey,that sounds like good work if you can get it.
Jeb Bush: “I Have No Future”
At last, a reason to thank George W. Bush! The shame and disgrace he has brought upon the fine Bush name might keep Jeb from running for president.
At least that’s what Mr. Crybaby Snitty-Snear is saying.
“No tengo futuro,” Jeb Bush told Spanish-language reporters in Miami
The shadow of President Bush seemed to loom large over his younger brother on Wednesday, as the outgoing Florida governor ruled out any plans to return to elected office.
“No tengo futuro (I have no future),” Jeb Bush told Spanish-language reporters in Miami, when asked about any possible political ambitions after he steps down next month.
…the unpopularity and dismal job-approval ratings of his brother may have scuttled any plans Jeb Bush may have had for a future in politics after running one of America’s most crucial swing states for the past eight years.Bush did not elaborate on his terse “no future” comment.
Has Jeb ever made a comment that wasn’t terse?
Anyway, it’s just so sad when the name that was your free pass to success in life is turned into a liability by your half-wit big brother. So. Very. Sad. Just ask GOP lackey Sam Brownback.
“Jeb would have made an outstanding presidential candidate,” said Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback…
In a backhanded slap at President Bush, Brownback cited “a heritage issue” as one factor currently weighing against a Jeb Bush presidency.
“People may be wanting to see a different name,” he said.
Ya think?
Live Animals Eaten to Show Iraqi Machismo
As new Secretary of Defense Bob Gates visited Baghdad, a commemoration was held in Najaf province to mark the turnover of control from U.S. troops to Iraqis. To illustrate the potency of the new law enforcers, animals were eaten live. Yes, frogs and bunnies were ripped apart live and munched.
Chewing on live animals is a traditional display of ferocity for elite troops in Iraq and was also observed by special units during Saddam Hussein’s rule.
About 1,500 police officers, soldiers and security personnel staged a parade around an infield of stubby brown grass, in festivities complete with warriors on horseback.
At one point, a small group of soldiers stepped forward with a live rabbit and tore it to pieces. The leader bit out the heart with a yell, then passed around the blood-soaked remains to his comrades, each of whom took a bite. The group also bit the heads off frogs, as some of those in the crowd held their noses from the stench.
Chewing on live animals is a traditional display of ferocity for elite troops in Iraq and was also observed by special units during Saddam Hussein’s rule.
Police then steered shiny new cruisers and motorcycles with ribbons and flowers stuck to their windshields around a track ringing the soccer field, which was still littered with fur and discarded frog legs.
“Our soldiers do a lot of things, but I’ve never seen them do anything like that,” said Maj. Gen. Kurt Cichowski, who attended the ceremony.
Our troops do indeed do a lot of things. Charges will be filed today against eight Marines accused of murdering 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha in November, 2005.
Good Lord. What are we doing in this place?
Quote du Jour
The Holocaust never quite leaves Israeli Jews alone. Arabs use it against them and they use it against Arabs. Jews use it against other Jews. Even the president of the United States, it seems, can use it against the prime minister of Israel.
— David K. Shipler, from Arab and Jew: Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land
GOP Radio Host: Send Critics of Dear Leader Bush to Detention Camps
“I think we should round up all of these folks. Round up Joy Behar, round up Matt Damon, who last night on MSNBC attacked George Bush and Dick Cheney. Round up Olbermann, take the whole bunch of them and put them in a detention camp until this war is over because they’re a bunch of traitors.”
— GOP mouthpiece Mike Gallagher
— GOP mouthpiece Mike Gallagher
The black soul of Republican authoritarianism was in full voice on Bill Hemmer’s show on Fox News this week. Rightwing radio talk show host Mike Gallagher made his case for rounding up liberals like Joy Behar, Matt Damon and Keith Olbermann and sending them to concentration camps:
Bill Hemmer: They talk about Godwins Law, internet junkies, as discussions grow longer someone makes a comparison to Hitler and that person loses the argument. The view, Joy Behar weighing in on the Times Person of the Year.
Video Clip of Joy Behar: “I don’t think anyone cares anymore about Time Magazines Person of the Year. You have to put like a Hitler type, like you put Donald Rumsfeld there or something.”
Onscreen is a picture of Hitler and Donald Rumsfeld side by side and the words ‘The View from the Left?’
Bill Hemmer: Rob, can you defend that?
Rob Thompson: Who can? Godwins Law stands true in all instances. Nobody believes he’s like Hitler, c’mon.
BH: I like Joy Behar. I think she’s smart. I think she’s funny but this is a bit unexcusable, Mike?
RT: Now, if she’d have said something like Rumsfeld alone or Rumsfeld is a lot like Bob MacNamera, we’ll put him on the cover of Time Magazine.
Mike Gallagher: You know it’s a little bit ridiculous that we continue to watch these TV stars and movie stars who smear our leaders. I just wonder, Rob, if you’ll think for a moment what our enemies think … of seeing TV personalities comparing the outgoing Defense Secretary to Adolph Hitler.
On This Date – December 21
1970 – Elvis is in the building: On December 21, 1970, Elvis Presley paid a visit to President Richard M. Nixon at the White House in Washington, D.C. The meeting was initiated by Presley, who wrote Nixon a six-page letter requesting a visit with the President and suggesting that he be made a “Federal Agent-at-Large” in the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. The events leading up to and after the meeting are detailed in the documentation and photographs included here, which include Presley’s handwritten letter, memoranda from Nixon staff and aides, and the thank-you note from Nixon for the gifts (including a Colt 45 pistol and family photos) that Presley brought with him to the Oval Office. [GWU]
