War is the worst thing in the world. So why are people getting rich off it?

[Octafish]

And why does a "president" think it's cool way to make a buck?

"Money trumps peace." The very words of George W Bush, uttered at a press conference in which not a single of the callow, cowed press corpse saw fit to ask a follow-up. And then he laughs.

We need to take the profit out of war, by regulation and/or nationalization.

What's really important, though, is what
Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan tried to bring it to our nation's attention.

“Money trumps peace” is one of the reasons why true peace won’t be possible when our country is mis-governed by people who are beholden to and entrenched in the military industrial complex. K-Street palm greasers have an easier passage in the Halls of Congress than do activists with petitions, or a Gold Star Mother wearing a “protest shirt” do.

Few others, none I can find in Corporate McPravda, saw fit to comment on what Bush said Feb. 14, 2007. The record shows that Cindy Sheehan's infinite loss of her son, so Bush and his cronies could make money, is not only a crime, it is treason.

[Thinkingabout]

1. The welfare defense contractors loves it and KBR made good money while we were in Iraq.

[think]

6. Thank you for mentioning. This reminds me of the faulty wiring for our troops

Professional negligence

KBR's maintenance work in Iraq has been criticized after reports of soldiers electrocuted from faulty wiring.[41] Specifically, KBR has been charged by the Army for improper installation of electrical units in bathrooms throughout U.S. bases. CNN reported that an Army Special Forces soldier, Staff Sergeant Ryan Maseth, died by electrocution in his shower stall on January 2, 2008. Army documents showed that KBR inspected the building and found serious electrical problems a full 11 months before his death. KBR noted "several safety issues concerning the improper grounding of electrical devices." But KBR's contract did not cover "fixing potential hazards;" It covered repairing items only after they broke down.[42] Maseth's family has sued KBR.[43] In January 2009, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command investigator assigned to the case recommended that Maseth's official cause of death should be changed from "accidental" to "negligent homicide". KBR supervisors were blamed for failing to ensure electrical and plumbing work were performed by qualified employees, and for failure to inspect the work.[44] In late January 2009, the Defense Contract Management Agency handed down a "Level III Corrective Action Request" to KBR. This is disseminated after a contractor is found being in a state of "serious noncompliance", and is one step from suspending or terminating a contract.[44] Currently in 2011, KBR is defending the lawsuit by claiming that Iraqi, not American, law should apply in determining a verdict.[45] Despite these issues, KBR was awarded a $35 million contract for major electrical work in 2009.[46]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KBR_(company)#Professional_negligence

[Octafish]

19. Toll Rises -- At Least 18 U.S. Troops Electrocuted in Iraq

Since January, with the death of Ryan Maseth in Iraq -- and the heroic quest for answers by his mother, Cheryl Harris-- I have been writing about the issue of U.S. troops in Iraq and allegations against KBR and the military. Today Sen. Bob Casey released the following statement after being informed by the Pentagon's Inspector General that 18 individuals have been electrocuted in Iraq -- the number rises every month -- and that the IG is now subpoenaing KBR for additional documents.

-- Greg Mitchell, Huffington Post (former editor of Editor & Publisher until it was purchased by Carlyle Group)

Money.

[Octafish]

18. From Vietnam to the present day.

The Iraq gold rush

Asia Times

HOUSTON - They may be shot by a sniper. They may be caught by a roadside bomb. They may be kidnapped. They may be held in captivity in a room in the desert under 55 degrees Celsius in the shade and with no water. They may be beheaded. But they don't care. They keep coming back - up to 500 a week - for more. They want their Iraqi golden job, and they want it now.

As Sunnis in Fallujah and Shi'ites in Najaf keep reminding anyone who bothers to listen, there are no jobs for Iraqis - unemployment is running at 70 percent. But despite the body count - 34 killed, 74 wounded, two missing and counting - there are plenty of jobs for Americans, especially Texans, on the KBR (formerly Kellogg Brown and Root) bandwagon in Iraq. The Halliburton subsidiary, based in downtown Houston like its parent company, is now employing 24,000 people - mostly Americans, but also from 38 other countries - in Iraq and Kuwait.

As many people, and not just the scandal junkies, are aware, KBR was awarded by the administration of President George W Bush a contract worth at least US$5 billion for 10 years in Iraq, for engineering and construction services and the rebuilding of civil infrastructure. If war may be a blessing from heaven for aspiring truck drivers in the heart of Texas, war is certainly a very good business for KBR. A few days ago Halliburton executives confirmed that the oil giant was collecting no less than $1 billion a month for their work in Iraq. This includes US taxpayers being overcharged $61 million for fuel and $24.7 million for meals, apart from a confirmed $6.3 million in bribes. Accusations are still flying: Halliburton has not rebuilt key nodes of Iraq's oil infrastructure and has skimmed Iraqi jobs for away from Iraqis.

The Balkan connection

KBR's - and Halliburton's - success is a key node of the so-called Iron Triangle, the US crossroads connecting business, politics and the military. KBR is the key benefactor of military outsourcing, which means that now the US Army is dependent on KBR in Iraq. KBR started building ships for the US Navy during World War II. It built air strips and prison cells in Vietnam. But the big break came in December 1995. Dick Cheney had been the chief executive officer of parent company Halliburton for only two months. KBR was sent to Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo to build two army camps in the middle of two deserted wheat fields. Instead it built two cities, one in Bosnia and one in Kosovo - complete with mail delivery and 24-hour food and laundry. In other words: without KBR, there would be no operating US Army in Bosnia and Kosovo. And the money was great: from 1995-2000, the KBR bill to the US government was more than $2 billion.

KBR's strategic masterpiece is Camp Bondsteel - the largest and most expensive US Army base since Vietnam, still in use today, complete with roads, its own power generators, houses, satellite dishes, a helicopter airfield and of course a Vietnam-style prison. By a fabulous coincidence, Camp Bondsteel is right on the path of the Albanian-Macedonian-Bulgarian Oil (AMBO) Trans-Balkan Pipeline. This key piece of Pipelineistan is supposed to connect the oil-and-gas-rich Caspian Sea with Europe. The feasibility project for AMBO was conducted by none other than KBR.

CONTINUED...

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FE14Ak03.html

[Egnever]

2. It is easy for many to play with strangers lives

it is only when it touches home that they see the horror.

You see it time and time again. I used to be a republican then i got sick, then I got laid off, then x happened to me.

[NobodyHere]

3. You should ask Hilary Clinton and John Kerry that.

[Thinkingabout]

7. And all the other members of Congress except for Barbara Lee who voted against the AUMF.

[Phlem]

4. Because it's all the white supremacist Socialist liberals who

support Bernie fault. Cause you know, they're white supremacists!

[msongs]

5. because the people starting/running/and making $$ don't have to do the fighting nt

[restorefreedom]

8. dick cheney

or putting it another way,

[madokie]

9. As I typed so many times since I've been here

"War is an admission of Failure." Simple as that. A failure of the Prevention of War

I've lived War for 45 fucking years and counting and I'm here to tell you all it ain't a walk in the park. it sucks

[Catherina]

10. K&R! n/t

[Hydra]

11. There are lots of things people shouldn't be for profit industries

War(or as we call it- "Defense&quot , Prisons, Schools, Healthcare, Religions, Welfare...and we excel at doing all of them wrong, for a profit.

[n2doc]

12. Because there aren't enough good people of conscience to stop them

And because propaganda works

[MisterP]

13. they know how to dogwhistle those who'd usually be the war's OPPONENTS, too

it's not just "Jayzus told me to chase the Debbil outta Fallujer," it's "we gotta free these poor oppressed people" or "the New Atheists are for it, how can it be a new Crusade?"

[Rex]

14. You make Corporate McPravda very angry. Why can't you just TEE HEE giggles about the BFEE?

You keep the Right people all tied up in knots! Funny, the same ones also lambasted Cindy Sheehan! Loved them some BFEE and still do!

Keep it up, I love watching you drive them into a Right Outraged lather.

[Octafish]

17. It's like an echo what the RWNJs say.

Octafish, for those who aren't aware, is famous for his sporadic "Know your BFEE" posts, in which he attempts to link all badness in the world to the Bush family. He is also obsessed with the Kennedy assassination, so much so that it has become essentially a job for him. When provoked or encouraged (same difference, really), he does the Judi Lynn routine of writing 500-word jeremiads and links to arcane sources which (a) don't generally support anything in particular, and (b) are probably larded with spyware anyway.

http://conservativecave.com/index.php?topic=99014.0

Guess the poor things never heard of the Democratic primary.

[Shandris]

15. So long as a financial institution exists that can sell to two countries...

...there will always be war because there is more profit to be made. Period. It doesn't matter the nation, the policy, the place, the time...nothing. All that matters is that someone, somewhere, is made to hate someone else somewhere enough for them to both buy weapons.

The World Bank, alone, guarantees the eternal existence of war (not to mention every other multinational financial institution; I'm not singling out one as bad).

[Zorra]

16. Because the MSM brainwashes gullible voters into electing corporate owned politicians,

who in turn engage our country in imperialist economic practices, including wars that make astounding profits for their wealthy owners.

I won't mention any names of current Democratic candidates for President here who fit this description.