A US federal audit report has condemned the US attempts to reconstruct Iraq as being a total failure.
The reconstruction is so blighted by local corruption and insurgency violence, that most buildings fall into disrepair within six months of being completed.
The 210 page report was prepared by the American Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (Sigir). It concludes that fraud and corruption are so widespread within Iraqi departments, that the Iraqi annual financial loss now exceeds $7BN.
When buildings are completed, they are not being "adequately maintained". Repairmen and workers face intimidation and death threats, making their task all but impossible.
The report noted that at Baghdad Airport the vast majority of electricity generators were not working. At a maternity hospital in Irbil hypodermic needles, bandages and other medical wastes were found to have been thrown in the sewer system's traps and septic tank.
The US Government is trying to lay the blame on Iraqi incompetence, and notes that it could not "micro-manage" how American-funded facilities are run on the ground.
Sigir's last report, in January, said that reconstruction cash was being stolen by corrupt Iraqi officials and often disappearing without proper accounting in a "Wild West" atmosphere.
The State Department report on global terrorism noted that 46% of all terrorism attacks around the world took place in Iraq alone in 2006.
Therefore when President Bush claimed "mission accomplished", some time ago, what exactly was he talking about?
How has the invasion of Iraq made the world a safer place?
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Monday, April 30, 2007
Saddam's Birthday Marked
Hundreds of people brought unlit candles and flowers to Saddam Hussein's tomb on Saturday, to mark what would have been his 70th birthday.
Children wore white, along with badges bearing Saddam's portrait, and sang songs and poems as cake was served in Saddam's burial place.
The supporters said they were also mourning the state of their country.
Children wore white, along with badges bearing Saddam's portrait, and sang songs and poems as cake was served in Saddam's burial place.
The supporters said they were also mourning the state of their country.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Tenet Assails Administration
George J. Tenet, the former director of the CIA, has assailed Vice President Dick Cheney and other Bush administration officials in his new book, "At the Center of the Storm", saying that they pushed the US into war in Iraq without ever conducting a "serious debate" about whether Saddam Hussein posed an imminent threat to the United States.
Quote:
"There was never a serious debate that I know of within the administration about the imminence of the Iraqi threat."
Quote:
"There was never a serious debate that I know of within the administration about the imminence of the Iraqi threat."
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Pentagon's Lies Exposed
When a country or political regime is losing a war, it searches desperately for stories that will encourage and embolden the "home front".
Usually, the more desperate the regime is to save its sorry reputation, the more embellished the stories become.
Under the full glare of a congressional committee, the lies told by the Pentagon (with the tacit approval of the Whitehouse) regarding the "heroism" of two of its service personnel have been exposed.
The brother of the late Cpl Pat Tillman, and Pte Jessica Lynch herself both appeared before the committee and debunked the stories propagated by the Pentagon about the heroism of Pte Lynch and Cpl Tillman.
Miss Lynch, who was injured near Nasiriyah in the 2003 invasion, said:
"I am still confused why they chose to lie and make me a legend."
Kevin Tillman, brother of Cpl Tillman, said that the deception "crossed the legal definition of fraud".
When a country and a "regime" deceives its own people in this way, the war is most assuredly lost and the grip on power of that "regime" failing fast.
Usually, the more desperate the regime is to save its sorry reputation, the more embellished the stories become.
Under the full glare of a congressional committee, the lies told by the Pentagon (with the tacit approval of the Whitehouse) regarding the "heroism" of two of its service personnel have been exposed.
The brother of the late Cpl Pat Tillman, and Pte Jessica Lynch herself both appeared before the committee and debunked the stories propagated by the Pentagon about the heroism of Pte Lynch and Cpl Tillman.
Miss Lynch, who was injured near Nasiriyah in the 2003 invasion, said:
"I am still confused why they chose to lie and make me a legend."
Kevin Tillman, brother of Cpl Tillman, said that the deception "crossed the legal definition of fraud".
When a country and a "regime" deceives its own people in this way, the war is most assuredly lost and the grip on power of that "regime" failing fast.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Weapons of Mass Deception
Those of you with access to American PBS on Wednesday 25th April, between 21:00 and 22:30, should make sure that you tune in.
PBS will be showing a 90-minute video "Buying The War" which documents the lies that the Bush administration told to sell the Iraq War to the American public, with a special focus on how the media aided and abetted Bush lie to the public.
There are even house parties in homes and community centres being arranged for groups of people to come together to watch it. Prior to viewing Bill Moyers, who made the video, will be available for an exclusive conference call with house party attendees.
Those of you who want to host a house party can register here Host House Party.
You can watch a preview here: Buying The War.
PBS will be showing a 90-minute video "Buying The War" which documents the lies that the Bush administration told to sell the Iraq War to the American public, with a special focus on how the media aided and abetted Bush lie to the public.
There are even house parties in homes and community centres being arranged for groups of people to come together to watch it. Prior to viewing Bill Moyers, who made the video, will be available for an exclusive conference call with house party attendees.
Those of you who want to host a house party can register here Host House Party.
You can watch a preview here: Buying The War.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Saddam's Body Taken
It is reported that Saddam Hussein's corpse has been taken from his grave.
The Kurdistan patriotic party said on its website that there had been unofficial reports that Saddam's grave in Auja village, just outside Tikrit had been exhumed.
It is also reported that the body was devoured by dogs.
These reports have not been validated.
The Kurdistan patriotic party said on its website that there had been unofficial reports that Saddam's grave in Auja village, just outside Tikrit had been exhumed.
It is also reported that the body was devoured by dogs.
These reports have not been validated.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Friday, April 20, 2007
The Surge
When is a "surge" not a "surge"?
When it will take until June for the troops to be in situ.
When it will take until June for the troops to be in situ.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
The Crucible
Over a year ago, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said that Iraq had become a "crucible" in the so called "war against terror".
The slaughter of around 200 people in Iraq yesterday, by terrorists, certainly confirms Blair's statement.
However, the unasked/unanswered question is this:
Did the people of Iraq want their country turned into a crucible?
As Blair's friend said:
"Mission accomplished!"
The slaughter of around 200 people in Iraq yesterday, by terrorists, certainly confirms Blair's statement.
However, the unasked/unanswered question is this:
Did the people of Iraq want their country turned into a crucible?
As Blair's friend said:
"Mission accomplished!"
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
AWB Sued
AWB Ltd, the Australian wheat exported implicated in the oil for food kickback scandal, is facing lawsuits in both Australia and the USA.
Lawyers in both Sydney and New York have lodged claims for a combined $125M.
Retired farmers John and Kaye Watson are the lead plaintiffs in a class action lodged on behalf of AWB shareholders in Sydney's Federal Court.
Mr Watson owned 10,000 AWB shares, which were once worth more than $6 each. The share price halved during the Cole inquiry into the Iraq kickback scandal, which found that AWB had been channeling money to Saddam Hussein's regime in the build up to the Iraq war.
Mr Watson says he lost around $10,000 of his investment in AWB.
Mr Watson said:
"The evidence suggests they were corrupt, full-stop. They were supposed to keep the market informed but they misled the government and the shareholders."
The US law firm of Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld and Toll filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of American wheat farmers in federal district court in New York.
The suit seeks up to $100 million in damages from AWB Ltd and its US subsidiary, AWB (USA) Ltd.
US farmers claim they were "stuck with an oversupply of wheat" between 1999 and 2003, because Iraq dealt only with AWB Ltd.
The suit invokes the RICO racketeering law, it says AWB "paid bribes to the Iraqi government" to "exploit a monopoly on wheat sold into Iraq."
Partner Benjamin Brown said:
"AWB knew that, by paying these bribes, it would profit at the direct expense of American farmers -- its only real competition in the Iraqi market.
Unfortunately, AWB achieved its monopoly in the Iraqi market not through fair competition, but by deceiving the United Nations into unwittingly funding Hussein's corrupt regime."
What goes around, comes around.
Lawyers in both Sydney and New York have lodged claims for a combined $125M.
Retired farmers John and Kaye Watson are the lead plaintiffs in a class action lodged on behalf of AWB shareholders in Sydney's Federal Court.
Mr Watson owned 10,000 AWB shares, which were once worth more than $6 each. The share price halved during the Cole inquiry into the Iraq kickback scandal, which found that AWB had been channeling money to Saddam Hussein's regime in the build up to the Iraq war.
Mr Watson says he lost around $10,000 of his investment in AWB.
Mr Watson said:
"The evidence suggests they were corrupt, full-stop. They were supposed to keep the market informed but they misled the government and the shareholders."
The US law firm of Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld and Toll filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of American wheat farmers in federal district court in New York.
The suit seeks up to $100 million in damages from AWB Ltd and its US subsidiary, AWB (USA) Ltd.
US farmers claim they were "stuck with an oversupply of wheat" between 1999 and 2003, because Iraq dealt only with AWB Ltd.
The suit invokes the RICO racketeering law, it says AWB "paid bribes to the Iraqi government" to "exploit a monopoly on wheat sold into Iraq."
Partner Benjamin Brown said:
"AWB knew that, by paying these bribes, it would profit at the direct expense of American farmers -- its only real competition in the Iraqi market.
Unfortunately, AWB achieved its monopoly in the Iraqi market not through fair competition, but by deceiving the United Nations into unwittingly funding Hussein's corrupt regime."
What goes around, comes around.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)