A crucial exposé (and not for the weak of stomach).

MCM

Back to The Great Iraq Swindle:
The Great Iraq Swindle
How Bush Allowed an Army of For-Profit Contractors to Invade the U.S. Treasury
–From Issue 1034
Posted Aug 23, 2007 8:51 AM

How is it done? How do you screw the taxpayer for millions, get away with it and then ride off into the sunset with one middle finger extended, the other wrapped around a chilled martini? Ask Earnest O. Robbins — he knows all about being a successful contractor in Iraq.

You start off as a well-connected bureaucrat: in this case, as an Air Force civil engineer, a post from which Robbins was responsible for overseeing 70,000 servicemen and contractors, with an annual budget of $8 billion. You serve with distinction for thirty-four years, becoming such a military all-star that the Air Force frequently sends you to the Hill to testify before Congress — until one day in the summer of 2003, when you retire to take a job as an executive for Parsons, a private construction company looking to do work in Iraq.

Now you can finally move out of your dull government housing on Bolling Air Force Base and get your wife that dream home you’ve been promising her all these years. The place on Park Street in Dunn Loring, Virginia, looks pretty good — four bedrooms, fireplace, garage, 2,900 square feet, a nice starter home in a high-end neighborhood full of spooks, think-tankers and ex-apparatchiks moved on to the nest-egg phase of their faceless careers. On October 20th, 2003, you close the deal for $775,000 and start living that private-sector good life.

Read more.

Crime and Corruption in Iraq
by David Corn

As Congress prepares to receive reports on Iraq from General David Petraeus and US Ambassador Ryan Crocker — and readies for a debate on George W. Bush’s latest funding request of $50 billion for the Iraq war — the performance of the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has become a central and contentious issue. But according to the working draft of a secret document prepared by the US embassy in Baghdad, the Maliki government has failed in one significant area: corruption. Maliki’s government is “not capable of even rudimentary enforcement of anticorruption laws,” the report says, and, perhaps worse, the report notes that Maliki’s office has impeded investigations of fraud and crime within the government.

The draft–over 70 pages long–was obtained by The Nation, and it reviews the work (or attempted work) of the Commission on Public Integrity (CPI), an independent Iraqi institution, and other anticorruption agencies within the Iraqi government. Labeled SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED/Not for distribution to personnel outside of the US Embassy in Baghdad, the study details a situation in which there is little, if any, prosecution of government theft and sleaze. Moreover, it concludes that corruption is “the norm in many ministries.”

The report depicts the Iraqi government as riddled with corruption and criminals — and beyond the reach of anticorruption investigators. It also maintains that the extensive corruption within the Iraqi government has strategic consequences by decreasing public support for the US-backed government and by providing a source of funding for Iraqi insurgents and militias.

Read more.

Cholera spreads in Iraq as health services collapse
By Patrick Cockburn
Published: 31 August 2007

Lack of clean drinking water and poor sanitation has led to 5,000 people in northern Iraq contracting cholera.

The outbreak is among the most serious signs yet that Iraqi health and social services are breaking down as the number of those living in camps and poor housing increases after people flee their homes.

“The disease is spreading very fast,” Dr Juan Abdallah, a senior official in Kurdistan’s health ministry, told a UN agency. “It is the first outbreak of its kind here in the past few decades.”

Read more.

Special Report:
WashPo and Time Help ABC Bury Treatment of Kucinich

Following last Sunday’s Democratic presidential debate on ABC News’ This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Dennis Kucinich’s campaign asked ABC News to address issues it had with treatment Rep. Kucinich (D-Ohio) received both during the debate and afterward in ABC’s online coverage. In an email sent out to supporters on Wednesday, the campaign said it “submitted objections and inquiries to ABC News representatives on Monday and Tuesday. ABC News representatives have failed to respond – or even acknowledge – those objections and inquiries.” I confirmed with the Kucinich campaign yesterday that it has subsequently been forwarded the same response ABC News Executive Director Andrea Jones sent to The Washington Post and Time magazine.

ABC News representatives felt it necessary to answer the Kucinich campaign’s objections when Time magazine’s National Political Correspondent Karen Tumulty queried them. Writing on the Time blog Swampland, Tumulty initially says of the Kucinich team’s issues with ABC’s treatment (which included Kucinich not having a chance to speak until 28 minutes into the debate), “These all seemed like fair complaints to me, so I asked ABC News to respond.” Then Tumulty says, “In an e-mail, Executive Director Andrea Jones answered him [Kucinich] point by point.”

While I give Tumulty credit for contacting ABC News, her investigative journalism unfortunately ends there. Once she receives the email from Jones, Tumulty slips into stenography mode. Jones’ “point by point” response to the Kucinich campaign’s complaints does not in itself exculpate or dispel any of ABC’s wrongdoing. Tumulty fails to assess the accuracy and logic of Jones’ answers.

Read more.

Pentagon Chaplain Accused of Aiding Proselytizing
By Jason Leopold
t r u t h o u t | Report

Thursday 30 August 2007

On the heels of a scathing report issued by the Defense Department’s inspector general that took high-level Pentagon officials to task for allowing an evangelical Christian organization unfettered access to the Department of Defense (DOD) to promote its fundamentalist agenda, comes word the Pentagon’s top chaplain opened its doors yet again to another evangelical group whose leader recently spent two days at the facility proselytizing, passing out Christian literature, and “saving souls.”

The Constitution bars the federal government from establishing religion.

According to documents obtained by the watchdog group the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, and made available to Truthout, David Kistler, President of Hickory, North Carolina-based H.O.P.E. Ministries International, embarked on a “DC Crusade” along with dozens of members of the evangelical organization for two weeks that included two days inside the Pentagon proselytizing and preaching the “gospel” to government employees and “saving souls.”

Read more.

Dear thoughtful human disgusted by the media, politicians, corporate scumbags and anyone else who uses their powers for evil :

Shoot The Messenger is taking a summer break from our monday evenings of catharsis and hilarity at the expense of the aforementioned.

we will be back SEPTEMBER 10TH!

Come join us this week, and check out what Time Out NY has to say about us!

Shoot The Messenger is a satirical wrap-up of the week’s news from the brain of Daily Show Co-creator Lizz Winstead. A live sketch-comedy show incorporating multi-media elements, it gives us the world as seen through the filters of the fictional producers and on-air talent at “Wake-up World” – the worst morning news show in America.

It is an indictment, both hilarious and scathing – not only of the newsmakers, but of the news media that molds them. Shoot The Messenger will give the audience a glimpse into the behind the scenes decision making at a news show, and the process that brings those decisions to the air.

And of course the on-air results of the aforementioned horrific brainstorming.

Of course not everyone in the media gets a flogging; those who are doing great work will be celebrated.

Each week Lizz’ll interview a media figure who digs deep and gets it right. They’ll give us the lowdown on the big stories that were buried (or ignored) by our pals of the over at the corporate run media.

Past guests have included Rachel Maddow, Mark Crispin Miller, Marie Wilson, Ted Rall, Paul Reikoff and Michael Signorile.

Fresh and ready from a much needed holiday, on SEPTEMBER 10TH we are proud to welcome back author, activist and crafty troublemaker Mark Crispin Miller and political comedian Dean Obeidallah.

The writers, actors and producers of Shoot The Messenger come from Air America Radio and The Daily Show and represent some of the best political comics and writers working today.

After the 2000 Florida election debacle, Congress established a body called the Election Assistance Commission to improve voting and democracy in this country. Two years ago, the commission approached me about doing a project that would take a preliminary look at voter fraud and intimidation and make recommendations for further research on the issues.