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Edited on Fri Oct-31-03 08:09 AM by Plaid Adder
Yes, that's right, I said *Newsweek.* But not just ANY Newsweek. This is,like, the bizarroworld Newsweek, in which they actually do some substantive investigation, and are--gasp--critical of the Bush administration!
You'll know you've got the right issue by the cover: black background, half-profile of Bush looking very concerned and haggard, and on the other side, in big letters: "BUSH'S $87 BILLION MESS."
And when you look inside...it gets worse! For Bush, that is.
A lot of the actual material in the "special report" is stuff that you and I have already encountered through the international press...but it is impressive to see it all in one place. Particularly damning is the little discussion of Bush's claim that 1500 schools in Iraq have been rebuilt and are up and running. On the ground, many of the "rebuilt" schools are not rebuilt at all, and there are many quotations from Iraqi teachers expressing their frustration. There's a great, yet depressing, investigation of why it is that Iraq's biggest power plant is working at 10% capacity--Bechtel is supposed to be restoring it, but as one person interviewed said, "We can't evaluate the quality fo the work Bechtel is doing...because they're not here." There is also a lot of stuff about how inefficient and expensive it is to insist on having everything run by American and British companies when we are only going to subcontract everything out anyway, and how riddled with bribery and kickbacks the whole thing is. What's interesting about the last part is that they are not, as I would expect, trying to blame the bribery and kickbacks solely on the Iraqi subcontractors. My favorite part is a story that one Iraqi subcontractor tells about how someone told him that in order to get the bid he would have to throw in a $750,000 bribe. He wouldn't tell the reporter which company this was, but he did say, "No Iraqi would have asked for a bribe that big."
And my other favorite part is that this is in Newsweek! I swear there are moments at which you'd think you were reading the *Guardian.*
There is also an article critical of Rumsfeld--not critical enough, but why piss on a free gift--and other goodies. So buy today! We want to encourage them to produce this kind of product. Here's hoping this issue sells out so fast they can't keep the shelves stocked.
:toast:
The Plaid Adder
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