Getting Rich in Iraq

Last night I received the following e-mail from Max Angst. It puts the Iraqi thing in a new light

ART: The round up of supposed Al Qaeda wannabes in Miami was pathetic. I don’t know these men, but from what I saw on television there didn’t seem to be much sophistication in the group. I don’t doubt they had animosity for the US. Marginally educated black males are the most put upon group in our country; I doubt that they had a good quality of life. It appears they had originally come together to seek religious knowledge and were led down the road to Al Qaeda by a government mole. If so, making so much of this story could well have the opposite results from what the government wanted. Instead of coming off as great protectors of the nation, the government is shown to be mean spirited abusers of the already oppressed.
If the Bush administration really wanted to act against people harming our country, they would prosecute the war profiteers. They have said over and over that American troops will come home when Iraqi’s can control their own country. According to Patrick Cockburn of the London Guardian, “One billion dollars has been plundered from Iraq’s defense ministry in one of the largest thefts in history, leaving the country’s army to fight a savage insurgency with museum piece weapons.” He notes, ”The carefully planned theft has so weakened the army it cannot hold Baghdad against insurgent attacks without American military support, Iraqi officials say, making it difficult for the US to withdraw its 135,000-strong army as Washington says it wishes to do.
Cockburn also tells us, ”Senior Iraqi officials now say they cannot understand how, if this is so, the disappearance of almost all the military procurement budget could have passed unnoticed by the US Military in Baghdad and civilian advisors working in the defense ministry……Government officials in Baghdad even suggest that the skill which the robbery was organized suggests that the iraqis involved were only front men and ‘rogue elements’ within the US military or intelligence services may have played a decisive roll behind the scenes.”
How many American troops are dead because of this theft? If the money was used to obtain modern weapons, many of our troops would be home. Why wasn’t this theft reported broadly by the news media as the story of these men in Miami has been? This leaves me with the feeling that the war in Iraq is not on the level, that American troops are dying so that some people can get rich, Isn’t that a great reason for getting out of Iraq? The American people have to tell the Bush administration it’s tired of American’s being slaughtered so Bush’s friends can get rich.
MAX

Cut and Run

I received the following e-mail from Max Angst
Art, who does Denny Hastert think he’s kidding. His recent posing as a patriot refusing to “cut and run” out of Iraq was pathetic. Do you want to see Denny Hastert, Dick Cheney, and “W’ himself cut and run out of Iraq, take colossal profits out of the war. So far Hastert has given Bush (all money bills originate in the House) $440Billion dollars for this “war?” and just this week came up with another $66 Billion. All of that was above and beyond the regular defense budgets for 2003 through 2006 which totaled $1trillion 579 Billion. So in the four years of the war the US spent $2Trillion dollars fighting against a country that doesn’t have a standing army, Is it any wonder we have the largest national debt in US history.
Here’s a challenge to Hastert, Bush, Cheney et al. Because of the threat to world economy of our huge national debt -- about $8.5 trillion— and to our children’s future, reign in defense spending--.which at its current level is greater than the combined defense spending of all other countries in the world.—to $314 Billion and pay for the wars out of that money. If these guys were true patriots who are concerned about the future of our country they would jump at this chance. But don’t hold your breath.

No Defense

Feeling pissed off at it all I stopped into Burnies to see my friend Max Angst. He was at his usual place at the far corned of the bar; I joined him and ordered an IPA from Blackie the bartender.
“Max, that gang at LLI threw me out,” I told him.
“:What happened Art?’ he asked.
“I don’t really know. I met with some of their leaders and was told I’m no longer wanted. I gathered from what they said that I was accused of something – but I don’t know what; they never told me—they found me guilty of whatever it was that I was accused of and kicked me out.”
“They didn’t give you a chance to defend yourself?”
“Max, I didn’t even know they were discussing me. There was an altercation with John Lash where he threatened me and things got verbally hot and heavy. I expected to here from somebody about that, but I never did. Also, some woman accused me of disrupting the class. That was strange since I taught the class. I created it in the first place three years ago, designed the curriculum for this semester, did all the research and presented it to the class and provided the videos that the class was based on. When Margaret Plaskas told me of this accusation, I asked that the woman make her accusations to me personally. It’s a basic principle of American freedom that a person gets the opportunity to face his accusers. Its in the Constitution. Of course this principle applies to the charges made at the meeting that I was judged at. I never had a chance to face those accusers either .I never knew what I was accused of and I never had a chance to defend myself.
“That sounds like something Adolph Hitler would have pulled off, Art..
“Max, the whole thing is shameful. I worked damn hard for that organization over the years. I even spent money to have the materials to make my classes better. Now they treat me this way. They ought to be ashamed of themselves.
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