Edwards proposes oversight panel for Iraq contracts

[topdog08]

He actually proposed this last week, when the Allbaugh story broke, but they have a TV commercial discussing it now. That's turnaround.

RALEIGH, NC: The Edwards for President campaign announced today that it will begin airing a new television ad tonight entitled “Strong.” In the ad, Senator Edwards questions President Bush’s $87 billion request and criticizes the president for cutting insider deals and not involving our allies in Iraq.

“Eighty-seven billion for Iraq with no plan in sight,” Edwards says in the ad. “Billion dollar giveaways for the president’s oil industry friends like Halliburton. And no help from the allies he shut out. Is this our America?”

While Edwards believes a peaceful and stable post-war Iraq is critical for American security, he has raised a number of issues President Bush must address before he will vote for Iraqi reconstruction funds, including providing a long-term budget for reconstruction, securing the help of our allies, and creating an independent panel to oversee reconstruction contracts to ensure they are awarded fairly.

“I will not give this president a blank check,” Edwards continues in the ad. “We should stop the inside deals and work with our allies in Iraq so we can afford to make us stronger at home with health care for every child and a real plan to create jobs.”

Edwards has been a leading critic of the insider deals that have been cut under this president’s watch. The North Carolina senator has aggressively questioned Vice President Cheney’s financial interests in Halliburton, a company that has received billions in no-bid government contracts, and called for a ban on former administration officials – like Joe Allbaugh – using their connections to secure sweetheart government deals.

“Strong” will begin airing in Iowa tonight and in New Hampshire later this week. A Real Player version of the ad is available at http://johnedwards2004.com/media/video/ads/Strong.rm and the campaign also released a new ad called "Values" which you can view online at http://www.johnedwards2004.com/media/video/ads/Values.rm

If my count is right that makes a total of ten ads so far.

[Demobrat]

1. It sounds fabulous.

I'm so glad he's doing this.

[w13rd0]

2. Fabulous...

...I do like Edwards. If he doesn't get the nomination, he'd be on my very short list for Attorney General. I love that he's taken the approach he has regarding strong statements on corporate crime and criminal nepotism rampant in this administration.

[DemDogs]

3. Great. He has always taken on Washington insiders

And this is just what we need right now, a real solution to GWB's insider dealing. Great work, Edwards.

[revcarol]

4. Someone ought to tell him: the oversight panel is called the UN!!

Get the U. S. out and the U. N. in. Just cosmetic changes of one U. S. group of overseers for another will not solve the problem.And just getting "allies" in will not solve the problem, because they won't come in while the U. S. has absolute power, and Bush is unwilling to turn things over to the U> N>

Nice sounding rhetoric that doesn't solve the problem.And I respected him, too.

[Pez]

5. hmm...

but i think it's safe to say that almost anything anyone does besides the pukes will improve the situation on The Entire Planet.

[Mairead]

6. Carol, isn't it at least nice that other candidates are

(somewhat) following Dennis's lead in this? It can only help.

[JohnKleeb]

7. Yes it is

The cynic in me tells me the media will ignore the intialist Dennis yet again though, however maybe people will find out that Dennis did and realize that this good for dennis.

[Meshuga]

13. Dennis is like Mozart

I like Kucinich and I think he will only be trully appreciated in the future.

Mozart was ahead of his time and was only trully appreciated when he was gone.

[AP]

8. Don't tell middle America we're confering authority TO the UN.

You can say you want to work with the UN. But if you tell them we're giving up authority to the UN, you aren't going to get elected.

[topdog08]

9. So we should do nothing until the UN gets control?

Throwing up our hands is not gonna solve anything. Given the President's refusal to give up control to ANYONE, I think Edwards is saying that we should AT LEAST try to cut down on the corruption.

He is not the only one asking for some US oversight either:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=68&ncid=68&e=2&u=/nyt/20031004/ts_nyt/questionsareraisedonawardingofcontractsiniraq

Iraqi officials and businessmen charge that millions of dollars in contracts are being awarded without competitive bidding, some of them to former cronies of Mr. Hussein's government.

"There is no transparency," said Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish member of the Governing Council, "and something has to be done about it.

"There is mismanagement right and left, and I think we have to sit with Congress face to face to discuss this. A lot of American money is being wasted, I think. We are victims and the American taxpayers are victims."

A number of businessmen say they believe it is necessary to pay kickbacks to win contracts. A spokesman for one of the largest American corporations awarding subcontracts here, Bechtel, said his company had neither paid any kickbacks nor had been approached by Iraqis seeking to pay kickbacks. He said Bechtel made all of its contract information available on its Web site and at offices in Baghdad and Basra. A check of the Web site on Friday found no information, only a notice that the site was "under construction."

The lack of transparency and competition, Governing Council members said in interviews, may be encouraging corruption. They said they believed that many contracts had been inflated beyond the reasonable cost for the work, creating opportunities for kickbacks between prime contractors and subcontractors.

One council member, Naseer K. Chadirji, said: "As the Governing Council we are in a very weak legal position. We don't have the right to investigate these contracts."

He added, "I don't have the evidence, but I think there is corruption. This is a common grievance that people tell me."

[DemDogs]

10. Take a look at the ad. You won't have any complaint

<http://johnedwards2004.com/media/video/ads/Strong.rm>

[blm]

11. Excellent proposal.

.

[DemDogs]

12. Edwards really on the right side here

Edwards and Kucinich have been strong about this. Kerry looks like he will. The rest have written the blank check, even though there was a story last week that Iraq could only handle $5 or $6 billion (forget which one) in reconstruction. So why do they need more than $20 billion for reconstruction?

[Meshuga]

14. We need these types of ads

What are the chances that Edwards will get the nomination? I'm liking him more and more and I seriously think this man can make swing voters like him.

I haven't made a donation to any of the candidates yet but I'm seriously considering sending Edward's campaing a check!