KRUGMAN: Thanks for the M.R.E.'s

[dw]

In The New York Times

A few days ago I talked to a soldier just back from Iraq. He'd been in a relatively calm area; his main complaint was about food. Four months after the fall of Baghdad, his unit was still eating the dreaded M.R.E.'s: meals ready to eat. When Italian troops moved into the area, their food was "way more realistic" — and American troops were soon trading whatever they could for some of that Italian food.

Other stories are far worse. Letters published in Stars and Stripes and e-mail published on the Web site of Col. David Hackworth (a decorated veteran and Pentagon critic) describe shortages of water. One writer reported that in his unit, "each soldier is limited to two 1.5-liter bottles a day," and that inadequate water rations were leading to "heat casualties." An American soldier died of heat stroke on Saturday; are poor supply and living conditions one reason why U.S. troops in Iraq are suffering such a high rate of noncombat deaths?

The U.S. military has always had superb logistics. What happened? The answer is a mix of penny-pinching and privatization — which makes our soldiers' discomfort a symptom of something more general.

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[Mel]

1. sent my 2 packages off

last Monday. One of my questions was are you getting water? and if not do you want me to mail you some?
This worries me the most water and that's what I told the guy at the post office.
He didn't seem to think it was a problem and I told him it was.I told him it's due too privatizing of the services and there are reports that our men and women aren't getting enough water because of privitizing!

I don't think he believed me and I'm going to print this article out for him.

Thank you for posting this!

[RamboLiberal]

2. Glad this story is breaking - Dem candidates ought to highlight this

Hope this turns in to a major investigation and news story. Flag wavers should be outraged at this. I know I am. There's no good excuse to put our soldiers there and then let your overpaid cronie businesses screw them over and cause their discomfort, illness and even death from heat stroke and dehydration. Also inexcusable after all this time they do not have adequate meals, cooling and hygiene. And they should be getting their mail!

[gratuitous]

3. What? You mean to tell me . . .

Are you saying that the {all bow} ma-a-a-agic of the ma-a-a-a-arketplace isn't fixing each and every problem in the world, and that private sector businesses are shirking their contractual duties? Say it isn't so!

I sure hope the mean old government isn't harming those poor corporations by not paying them as specified in the contracts!

[papau]

4. "support our troops" crowd draws line when support might actually cost $

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/12/opinion/12KRUG.html

"support our troops" crowd draws the line when that support might actually cost something

Thanks for the M.R.E.'s
By PAUL KRUGMAN

Snip>

The usually conservative Army Times has run blistering editorials on this subject. Its June 30 blast, titled "Nothing but Lip Service," begins: "In recent months, President Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress have missed no opportunity to heap richly deserved praise on the military. But talk is cheap — and getting cheaper by the day, judging from the nickel-and-dime treatment the troops are getting lately." The article goes on to detail a series of promises broken and benefits cut.

Military corner-cutting is part of a broader picture of penny-wise-pound-foolish government. When it comes to tax cuts or subsidies to powerful interest groups, money is no object. But elsewhere, including homeland security, small-government ideology reigns. The Bush administration has been unwilling to spend enough on any aspect of homeland security, whether it's providing firefighters and police officers with radios or protecting the nation's ports. The decision to pull air marshals off some flights to save on hotel bills — reversed when the public heard about it — was simply a sound-bite-worthy example. (Air marshals have told MSNBC.com that a "witch hunt" is now under way at the Transportation Security Administration, and that those who reveal cost-cutting measures to the media are being threatened with the Patriot Act.)

There's also another element in the Iraq logistical snafu: privatization. The U.S. military has shifted many tasks traditionally performed by soldiers into the hands of such private contractors as Kellogg Brown & Root, the Halliburton subsidiary. The Iraq war and its aftermath gave this privatized system its first major test in combat — and the system failed. According to the Newhouse News Service, "U.S. troops in Iraq suffered through months of unnecessarily poor living conditions because some civilian contractors hired by the Army for logistics support failed to show up." Not surprisingly, civilian contractors — and their insurance companies — get spooked by war zones. The Financial Times reports that the dismal performance of contractors in Iraq has raised strong concerns about what would happen in a war against a serious opponent, like North Korea.<snip>

[papau]

5. Yet they pay excessive $ to private companies when non-profits do better

They are cheap as to required results - but not cheap in giving money to corporations that can give contributions to the GOP.

And the media is quiet about this rip-off..

Oh, I know - the US media is not right wing GOP controlled - they just act like they are.

sigh

:-(

[Richardo]

7. My take in GD: Catch-22 comes to life for Rumsferatu...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=165629

[PATRICK]

8. missed the thread about private companies?

They are ducking out of danger zones since no one pays them to riisk their necks. therefore no deliveries, no shelter construction from the free enterprise outsourcing to resourceful administration cash cow buddies. If YOU were an underpaid non-union worker in any of these type of companies you are routinely given disincentives to care or go the extra mile or do the job.

Rumsfeld wants to make this situation worse at any cost to the real military which will become more an adjunct of private business than ever it was in the good old imperialist days.

[maha]

6. Predating the Krugman article

I might as well throw this into the mix --

As our soldiers suffer in Iraq with inadequate water, food, sanitation, and shelter, President George W. "Bring 'em On" Bush treated his top fundraisers to a private barbeque near his ranch. ... read remainder