Did you know there are two Iraqi surges? There's the buildup of U.S. military personnel that has led to a reduction in crime in Basra and Baghdad this year. Then there's the surge of dollars that has made some Iraqi kleptocrats very, very rich.
Iraqi Defense Ministry officials helped set up two front companies that were to buy airplanes, armored vehicles, guns and other equipment with $1.7 billion in U.S. funds. The companies were paid, but in some cases they delivered only "a small percentage" of the equipment that had been ordered and, in one case, delivered bulletproof vests that were defective and could not be used.
The companies also overcharged for military helicopters and tried to deliver aircraft that were more than 25 years old, he said. Instead of demanding the money back, Adhoob said, the Defense Ministry renegotiated with the companies for "a series of mobile toilets and kitchens -- which have never been delivered.
For previous examples of gargantuan graft in Iraq, all detailed on this blog, see here, here, and here.
Does anyone know — or care — what the tally is anymore? Are we up to 50 billion by now? 100 billion? Is anyone minding the store?
Between our involuntary collective efforts to help out both Iraqi profiteers and high-flying Wall Street speculators, on which we're spending billions and trillions of our dollars, which essentials do you suppose we can soon no longer afford as a country? It seems fantastically odd, and fantastically irresponsible, that neither the media nor our politicians are asking these questions with any degree of tenacity.
The reason they're not asking is 'cause they already know the answer. What we're seeing here is pure magical thinking by modern neo-savages. If only we do not name the demon, he will not appear. If we pretend everything is all right, it will be. If we refuse to acknowledge the problem, we won't have to deal with it.....
Posted by: Martin Owens | Wednesday, September 24, 2008 at 01:21 AM
Socialism for the rich, just like the proposed 700 Billion bailout...
Posted by: George Arndt | Friday, September 26, 2008 at 03:29 PM