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Iraq Contractors Pledged Allegiance To GOP
washingtonpost.com — Did you vote for George W. Bush in 2000? Do you support the way the president is fighting the war on terror? Two people who sought jobs with the U.S. occupation authority said they were even asked their views on Roe v. Wade. Many of those chosen lacked vital skills and experience and had direct GOP and Neocon ties.
OBKenobi- 421 diggs
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- evazan, on 10/12/2007, -6/+27Heckuva job, Georgie.
- Malakin, on 10/12/2007, -10/+5This is a dupe. It already hit the front page earlier today.
http://digg.com/world_news/How_Best_Connected_Were_Sent_to_Rebuild_Iraq
It's an important story, so I'll digg the dupe anyways :) - helix400, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5"It's an important story, so I'll digg the dupe anyways :)"
Exactly. Because as one famous person said "See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda" - happyhappyhappy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Good Bush quote: "catapult the propaganda".
- Malakin, on 10/12/2007, -10/+5This is a dupe. It already hit the front page earlier today.
- adamhmitchell, on 10/12/2007, -8/+38$315 B-B-Billion later. They could've replaced everything in Iraq twice for that amount. Instead, they don't even have regular water and electric service.
Where the hell is Osama bin Laden?!?!? Why are we in Iraq?- geolittle, on 10/12/2007, -9/+20If Bush and his Nazi brothers would give half that much to education and the environment this country would be better off. Instead Bush just wants blood.
- monergism, on 10/12/2007, -17/+5Most places in the world do not have regular access to water.
- david76, on 10/12/2007, -6/+30@geolittle
Calling Bush a Nazi is really giving him too much credit. They were much more organized. - Odweaver, on 10/12/2007, -11/+44th post on the page and already godwinned Heckuva job geolittle
- gmillerd, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9Half that money? Zomg, imagine a small fraction of it. A 20 credits of education added to everyone between 18-30 would increase our per capital income roughly 20% ... immediately ... on going. Imagine what it would do for the 3-18 crowd.
Sadly, never going to happen. - martalli, on 10/12/2007, -4/+10@ monergism
Most places do ahve access to clean water sources, although sometimes only through special wells and no actual running water. However, Iraq was not rural Chad or Darfur. They had running water and water treatment facilities. The current situation is a great step back from the prewar situation.
- johndi, on 10/12/2007, -6/+9It looks like O'Beirne has a lot to answer for. It's no wonder he refuses to comment. I hope congress look into this, but I won't be holding my breath. If what he did wasn't illegal it should be.
- OBKenobi, on 10/12/2007, -4/+25I wonder what O'Beirne's explanation for this is going to be:
A 24-year-old who had never worked in finance -- but had applied for a White House job -- was sent to reopen Baghdad's stock exchange. The daughter of a prominent neoconservative commentator and a recent graduate from an evangelical university for home-schooled children were tapped to manage Iraq's $13 billion budget, even though they didn't have a background in accounting.
As more and more of O'Beirne's hires arrived in the Green Zone, the CPA's headquarters in Hussein's marble-walled former Republican Palace felt like a campaign war room. Bumper stickers and mouse pads praising President Bush were standard desk decorations. In addition to military uniforms and "Operation Iraqi Freedom" garb, "Bush-Cheney 2004" T-shirts were among the most common pieces of clothing.
"I'm not here for the Iraqis," one staffer noted to a reporter over lunch. "I'm here for George Bush." - geolittle, on 10/12/2007, -5/+18Another good reason to impeach Bush
- martalli, on 10/12/2007, -3/+15I don't think this is an impeachable offense. It only demonstrates the utter incompetence of the administration. They probably didn't use Iraqi contractors because they had neither voted for Bush nor contributed to his campaign fund.
- PhillyMJS, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6"I hope congress look into this, but I won't be holding my breath."
Some Dems might make noise about it, but they'll be powerless to do much of anything right now since they're in the minority. Hopefully that will change after the elections-- reading this article made me furious. It was bad enough they invaded Iraq under false pretenses, but sending completely unqualified people over to run the place as reward for party loyalty is even worse.
Election day can't get here fast enough.
~Philly - DEEZED, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Geolittle - Ever thought who would replace Bush if he was impeached? Um.... Dick Cheney! How about you think your comment through before posting, rather than using sound bites you pulled out of Michael Moore's ass.
- OBKenobi, on 10/12/2007, -4/+25I wonder what O'Beirne's explanation for this is going to be:
- mrASSMAN, on 10/12/2007, -5/+23I don't know why I even bother reading about this administration anymore.. it just makes me ***** sick.
- Boingo, on 10/12/2007, -23/+2I can't wait for someone to destroy this f'ing country. Americans don't deserve to live. You bunch of f'ing morons need to be wipe clean from the face of the earth. *****, even Americans hate their own government and country, so why does it exist? Always complaining and bitching about how bad they are and the evil they do. You are no better than your Hitler President. Thank goodness us Europeans are the superior countries. Stupid blokes!
- Joe_rigby, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Yea, you're all so much better, but Tony Blair would never lift a finger to help Bush because Bush helped himself, and Blair let him. Europe is so much better. Bollocks!
- DimitroffVodka, on 10/12/2007, -3/+19Anyone that chooses their party over their country makes me sick.
- Boingo, on 10/12/2007, -21/+2YEAH! *****! the Democratic Party. Dem' ***** eating, complaining, unpatriotic do nothings! Vote Hillary Rodham Clinton in '08.
- david76, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7I don't get it. So, why exactly did things go wrong in Iraq? I mean, they had the right people in the right jobs at the right time.
/sarcasm- Boingo, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4Oh...Sarcasm..No, we don't get that here.
/sarcasm
- Boingo, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4Oh...Sarcasm..No, we don't get that here.
- monergism, on 10/12/2007, -13/+7Last year I was contacted to do some rebuilding work in Iraq. Every question I had to answer to get the job was related to my job, security clearance and my ability to work for >6 months.
I find this article questionable but there are a lot of companies out there, some are legit, and because working in Iraq is very different, the approach to hiring are different.- david76, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11You find it questionable that the party who made the former roommate (Brown) of a campaign staffer (Allbaugh) head of FEMA, would place political allegiances ahead of actual qualifications?
- mww2, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6So, you were appointed to a position in the CPA, then? Because that's what the article is about.
- Aurelian, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3I think they're also talking about the period immediately after the "liberation", so we're talking 2003 (which is also the period where it would have been easiest to do this stuff). If you were contacted last year that's 2005, and by then you already had a public that was turning on the Iraq effort so Bush couldn't pull stuff like this.
- wibblewibble, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7They where perfectly qualified for their position.. The interview went like this..
Interviewer: Are you a yes person and support Bush so help you god?
Interviewee: Yes sir!
Interviewer: Your in!- Boingo, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4I think that interview goes for any postion in American Government, be it Republican or Democratic Administration, You Dullard. You are all to blame.
- mww2, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7The title of this digg should be changed. This has to do with CPA staff, not contractors.
- vixiecron, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Political Appointees Hire Political Ideologues.
What's next? Dog Barks?- firebush, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Two words. WAR PROFITEERING.
- vixiecron, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Those are two words, yes.
- aceg1357, on 10/12/2007, -10/+5i think this article is over the top and too sensationalized. i'm sure it happens because in a Dem or Rep administration that stuff always goes on. nothing really new.
- mww2, on 10/12/2007, -4/+8No. This is criminal incompetence. It should be punished.
- MacLiberal, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5This is insidious. FDR gave a wonderful speech demanding that no one profit from WWII, Bush not only expects profit but allegience. This would have never happened with a Democratic President
- L0t3k, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Yeah, except that WWII was very profitable for us none-the-less.
Oh, and you'd have to be retarded to think this wouldn't happen with ANY political party.
- L0t3k, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Yeah, except that WWII was very profitable for us none-the-less.
- Depthfunction, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I've heard about this before--that a lot of the folks sent over to manage the occupation didn't know ***** about Iraq, the Middle East, Islam, nor could they read or speak two words of Arabic (other than "al Qaeda", of course). The only thing they knew was the neocons' agenda was the right way to go.
Is it really any wonder that the situation in Iraq got so ***** up? - SorenG, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4This explains a lot.
- firebush, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Not only did contractors have to pledge allegiance, many of our troops had to agree to always associate Iraq with the 'War on Terror'. I'm still waiting for that story to break. Should be anytime now...
- ideasyncrasy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Wow, this saddens me. It's bad enough to see unqualified idiots put in charge of rebuilding, but thankfully, their time (and the damage they could inflict) was limited. What saddens me me more is their approach to rebuilding the country/economy the US helped demolish:
When 'liberate a downtrodden people' equates to 'rebuild in our image', is it any freaking wonder the rest of the world sees the US as arrogant? - blackjack75, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Well maybe the people in charge of reconstruction were bad, but at least the ones in charge of destruction did a heck of a job! The glass is only half empty. The other half is full of blood.
- erkokite, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3This war is a runaway train, and the further it continues, the more comes to light about it's mismanagement and worthlessness. How many people have died for no reason? 62000 I believe is the number. We left Afghanistan and stopped searching for Bin Laden and went to Iraq for what? The administration was told that they would need far more troops to invade Iraq, they disagreed and attacked the person who brought this to their attention(Gen. Eric Shinseki). Rumsfeld stated that he would fire anyone who talked about post-war rebuilding of Iraq before the invasion. Rumsfeld also has a history of rough treatment of top military officials. The man is an egotistical, narcissistic scumbag who is out of touch with reality. Both him and Cheney are leading examples of all that is wrong with our country. The neocons are destroying our country and it's fine with them as long as it fits their agenda. The way they manipulate of national emblems and denounce everyone else as unpatriotic is sickening. They are scum. They care more about following Bush and the PNAC than their own country.
- andreo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Someone needs to put together a montage of all the crap that has been said and done from the beginning of this presidency up to today.
All the things that Senators and Congresspeople have said and done and then gone back on. All the things that Bush and his cabinet has said and then gone back on. This should be done for both parties and Independents involved.
They need to make sure they include quotes such "I don't' think about Bin Laden anymore" vs "We will bring the person or persons responsible for this to justice".
It needs to be ran several times a day on television for a month leading up to the elections. Because there are a lot of people that seem to forget or miss the things that are said but remember, and take as fact, the idiot commercials that candidates run. - evazan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5How's this for a start, andreo?
"I want justice. There's an old poster out west, as I recall, that said, "Wanted: Dead or Alive... I just remember, all I'm doing is remembering when I was a kid I remember that they used to put out there in the old west, a wanted poster. It said: "Wanted, Dead or Alive." All I want and America wants him brought to justice. That's what we want."
- Bush on Osama Bin Laden right after the 9/11 attacks.
"So I don't know where he is. You know, I just don't spend that much time on him, Kelly, to be honest with you."
- Bush on Osama Bin Laden 6 months after 9/11
"We haven't heard much from him. And I wouldn't necessarily say he's at the center of any command structure. And, again, I don't know where he is," Bush said during the 2002 news conference. "I'll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him. I know he is on the run."
- Bush on Osama Bin Laden a year later
"I don't think I ever said I'm not worried about Osama bin Laden. That's kind of one of those exaggerations."
- Bush on Osama Bin Laden 3 years later. - airship, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3What's happening to Digg? This story has been up for over a day and hasn't been labelled as 'inaccurate' by the Bushies yet!
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