War Profiteering Under Bush Regime Was Rampant
Well, a lot of it was stolen by fraudulent waste and corruption of Bushite corporate crony war profiteers.
From CommonDreams comes this: "A new commission examining waste and corruption in wartime contracts got a grim report from government watchdogs who say poor planning, weak oversight and greed combined to soak U.S. taxpayers and undermine American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, says the U.S. has committed nearly $51 billion for a wide array of projects in Iraq - from training the Iraqi army and police to rebuilding the country's oil, electric, justice, health and transportation sectors.
"The U.S. government [aka the corrupt, criminal Bush regime] "was neither prepared for nor able to respond quickly to the ever-changing demands" of stabilizing Iraq and then rebuilding it, said Bowen, who has made 21 trips to Iraq since he was appointed in October 2004. "For the last six years we have been on a steep learning curve."
"Unless the government greatly improves the way it handles relief and rebuilding programs, the same mistakes will be made in Afghanistan where more than $30 billion is U.S. money has been devoted to reconstruction.
"There are 154 open criminal investigations into allegations of bribery, conflicts of interest, defective products, bid rigging and theft stemming from the wars, Thomas Gimble, the Pentagon's principal deputy inspector general, said in his written testimony.
" 'In some instances, there appeared to be scant, if any, oversight of the manner in which funds were expended,' Gimble says. 'Complicating matters further is the fact that payment of bribes and gratuities to government officials is a common business practice in some Southwest Asia nations.'
"In addition to examining flawed contracting, the commission will also study whether battlefield jobs handled by contractors such as aircraft maintenance and motor pools should be reserved for military and government employees.
"Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., who pushed for formation of the commission, urged members to be aggressive and to hold people accountable.
" 'Harry Truman has been rolling in his grave for the last five years,' said McCaskill, referring to the former Missouri senator (and later president) who led the Truman Committee. 'A report is not going to be enough. You're going to need a two-by-four.' "
And impeachment was taken off the table.
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