Look who's making the most off the Iraq INVASION....

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/CompanyFocus/WhosProfitingFromThe IraqWar.aspx

Oooooh, KBR and Halliburton...what a friggin' suprise. Too bad we can't resurrect President Truman to head up another congressional commission against war profiteering.

"We are proud to serve the troops," says a KBR spokeswoman. "We are providing the troops with essential services and the comforts of home that allow them to stay focused on the dangerous and important missions they face daily."

In past wars, wern't the "comforts of home"(if there was much of that) functions performed by a special service of our own military, plus the Red Cross, the USO and other non-profit organizations? I can't imagine that adding a corporate middle man is economical or efficient.

Now, when it comes to rebuilding the energy infrastructure though, bringing in professionals might be the way to go...of course if we hadn't been so monomaniacal to have gone in there in the first place, we wouldn't have to rebuild anything!

In this country, the most capable of doing the job usually gets the job. Sorry that's KBR and Halliburton, but then you libs need something to piss and moan about.

"In this country, the most capable of doing the job usually gets the job."

This is very difficult to support, given no-bid contracts.

Right, Truman stopped Kaiser from making hundreds of millions on ship building.

Halliburton and co, supply equipment and services our military needs, at a reasonable price.

I'm not a liberal, just a moderate/conservative--I just like to call 'em as I see 'em. Waste, graft, and corruption are just those things, no matter what side of the political fence someone is on.

"Right, Truman stopped Kaiser from making hundreds of millions on ship building."

At least those were stateside jobs that contributed to the local area economies, and provided local workers with employment. Some of those were skilled jobs that the military couldn't/shouldn't have done during WWII because they were overseas fighting Hitler, or shedding their blood hopping from island to island in the Pacific, to defeat Japan. Understandably, weapons, vehicles, and the like need to be manufactured by civillian companies. The argument by libs/moderates(and now some conservatives) has always been about having civlillian corporations, under no-bid contracts serving in a war zone. Rebuilding infrastructure may very well be a legitimate civillian enterprise there...but the civillian servicing of mess halls and the like seems to add an unnecessary overpriced "middle-man" to the mix.

"Halliburton and co, supply equipment and services our military needs, at a reasonable price."

Can you present me that "reasonable price" or are you just pulling ideas from thin air?

On 07Dec2006, a committee of Dems and Republicans issued a letter to the Dept. of Defense summarizing the overcharging. The letter can be seen here:

http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20061207140147-13836.pdf

Now as a footnote:

I do believe that Bush did provide great leadership directly after the 9/11 attacks and I praise him for that. He is not a "bad guy", nor is he an idiot.(that is all I'm going to say about Bush--I could sit here for hours with my personal criticisms of Bill Clinton--but he's not Pres anymore!) It is just this expensive, overreaching, unnecessary, idiotic invasion into Iraq that frustrates some of us. I do have to agree with Brian Baird, though...we can't leave in a big hurry...we do have to help them rebuild what has been torn up.

I knew I shouldn't have gone to this side of the board! It only angries up my blood!

Fish On! Our resident trollers snagged another one. Man....just don't take the bait!

Typical.

Conservatives are called names, yet liberals can do no wrong on this left-leaning thread.

When democrats can't lead...EVEN WITH A MAJORITY IN CONGRESS...name-calling is all you've got.

Spin on.

Herb, you do realize that the Democrats don't hold enough of a majority in the Senate to "lead", don't you?

I'm sure that you are also aware of the fact that we have a Republican president who will veto any Democratic lead legislation brought to him, and that the Democrats don't have enough of a majority in either house to override a veto, don't you?

So when you say that Democrats can't lead even with a majority, you're being deceptive, if not outright lying, right?

Democrats will be happy to lead once the obstructionist Republicans are voted out in 2008.

So, their afraid to try?

Biding their time.

Nwokie, THEY HAVE TRIED! But without votes from the Republican side of the isle, nothing happens.

Exactly.

Didn't we read GRIDLOCK here a batch of times?

Thought so.

"Fish On! Our resident trollers snagged another one. Man....just don't take the bait!"

I don't mind being trolled...I'm on holiday, and my expected jury duty just got cancelled for tomorrow--Yippee!

I won't be happy until I have a 0% aprroval rating on this board...I can afford it, I'm not running for office! I'm going to try to make it to the next meet-up so the left-wingers and conservatives can both tie me up to a lightpost in front of Mark Lindsay's Rock And Roll Cafe and throw rotten fruit at me. I might like that...kinda like being in the front row at a Gallagher comedy show.

Sweet!

Welcome to the Politics side of the board. There is no way to go, but up!

Besides, if you have opinions, they do no good bottled up. Have at it!