Reply #20: Unprecedently Unaccountable

[Chipster]

I see that our last constitutionally-elected President Clinton went to Iowa yesterday and talked about how the people know that "something is wrong in Washington"...ah, Bill, it's more than one thing...

"I have never seen the American people so serious," said Clinton. "I think I know why. People know things are out of whack. The rhythm of our public life and our common life in America has been disturbed."...yeah, our common life may be disturbed, but that's not all...

Regarding the MIT study that Bush's Iraqi war has cost 655K civilians their lives, note how casually this Reagan Republican author, John Paul Roberts, remarks:

"When asked about the report, President Bush stated, "I don't consider it a credible report." Bush, of course, is not reality-based, and he knows that any unfavorable news is "enemy propaganda." That's what the neocons who pull his strings tell him, and that is what he believes."

WoW! Such a stunning assertion, made so casually by a Reagan Republican...as if we heard in a former time "Well, yes, of course, the king is mad...perhaps a crumpet with your tea?" Look how callously and casually Bush dismisses the report of thousands of civilan deaths in his Iraqi war.

But man, is Bill ever going to be in trouble with Hillary! Check this:

Bill Clinton joked about the speculation. "I am under no illusions as to why I'm here," he said. "You were so desperate for a Democrat with any name recognition at all who isn't running for president that you resorted to the chief caseworker to the junior senator from New York."

Chief caseworker? She's gonna be on HIS case, LOL!

President Clinton coined a great phrase when he "called the Bush administration and the Republican-led Congress 'unprecedentedly unaccountable' and said tax cuts for the rich have led to huge deficits." I'd argue that the phrase could more correctly be "unpresidentally unaccountable" given how Usurper Boy got into office.

"In Iraq, which is famous for no-bid contracts, $9 billion has gone missing and there has been no serious congressional investigation," said Clinton. "There's never been a more secretive, unaccountable administration."

President Clinton may be vastly underestimating how much taxpayers' money was squandered, leaving our nation, our children and their children, a huge burdensome debt.

"The 15-month proconsulship of the CPA disbursed nearly $20 billion, two-thirds of it in cash, most of which came from the Development Fund for Iraq that had replaced the UN Oil for Food Program and from frozen and seized Iraqi assets. Most of the money was flown into Iraq on C-130s in huge plastic shrink-wrapped pallets holding 40 “cashpaks,” each cashpak having $1.6 million in $100 bills. Twelve billion dollars moved that way between May 2003 and June 2004, drawn from accounts administered by the New York Federal Reserve Bank. The $100 bills weighed an estimated 363 tons.

Once in Iraq, there was virtually no accountability over how the money was spent. There was also considerable money “off the books,” including as much as $4 billion from illegal oil exports. The CPA and the Iraqi State Oil Marketing Board, which it controlled, made a deliberate decision not to record or “meter” oil exports, an invitation to wholesale fraud and black marketeering.

Thus the country was awash in unaccountable money. British sources report that the CPA contracts that were not handed out to cronies were sold to the highest bidder, with bribes as high as $300,000 being demanded for particularly lucrative reconstruction contracts.

The contracts were especially attractive because no work or results were necessarily expected in return. It became popular to cancel contracts without penalty, claiming that security costs were making it too difficult to do the work. A $500 million power-plant contract was reportedly awarded to a bidder based on a proposal one page long. After a joint commission rejected the proposal, its members were replaced by the minister, and approval was duly obtained. But no plant has been built.

Where contracts are actually performed, their nominal cost is inflated sufficiently to provide handsome bribes for everyone involved in the process. Bribes paid to government ministers reportedly exceed $10 million.

Money also disappeared in truckloads and by helicopter. The CPA reportedly distributed funds to contractors in bags off the back of a truck. In one notorious incident in April 2004, $1.5 billion in cash that had just been delivered by three Blackhawk helicopters was handed over to a courier in Erbil, in the Kurdish region, never to be seen again. Afterwards, no one was able to recall the courier’s name or provide a good description of him."