Ties to GOP trumped skill on Iraq team-- Washinton Post

[ShaneGR]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14868608/

Long article

(Snip)

After the fall of Saddam Hussein's government in April 2003, the opportunity to participate in the U.S.-led effort to reconstruct Iraq attracted all manner of Americans -- restless professionals, Arabic-speaking academics, development specialists and war-zone adventurers. But before they could go to Baghdad, they had to get past Jim O'Beirne's office in the Pentagon.

To pass muster with O'Beirne, a political appointee who screens prospective political appointees for Defense Department posts, applicants didn't need to be experts in the Middle East or in post-conflict reconstruction. What seemed most important was loyalty to the Bush administration.

O'Beirne's staff posed blunt questions to some candidates about domestic politics: Did you vote for George W. Bush in 2000? Do you support the way the president is fighting the war on terror? Two people who sought jobs with the U.S. occupation authority said they were even asked their views on Roe v. Wade.

Many of those chosen by O'Beirne's office to work for the Coalition Provisional Authority, which ran Iraq's government from April 2003 to June 2004, lacked vital skills and experience. A 24-year-old who had never worked in finance -- but had applied for a White House job -- was sent to reopen Baghdad's stock exchange. The daughter of a prominent neoconservative commentator and a recent graduate from an evangelical university for home-schooled children were tapped to manage Iraq's $13 billion budget, even though they didn't have a background in accounting.

[Subdivisions]

1. HOLY SHIT! FRONT PAGE MSM!!! The beginning of the end, folks! Kick!

Nice catch, ShaneGR!

This could signal a defining moment in the awakening of the MSM to the scourges of this so-called administration.

I read this earlier at WaPo but you had to click four breadcrumb levels deep to find the story. It was buried on their website. Now it is front an center on a major MSM homepage. Maybe this will start the proverbial snowball rolling down the proverbial hill.

I don't know what else to say. I'm speechless and I'm...giddy!

[Erika]

2. W's neocons took over Iraq and the hell with Iraqi citizens

W building a neocon Christian/corporate theocracy and the Iraqis and their culture be damned.

And they used our troops to empire build.

[Subdivisions]

3. They MURDERED our troops to build their filthy empire. I say:

OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!

[Erika]

5. I'll never forget the 13 year old Iraqi boy who had his limbs

blown off in the shock and awe campaign. Not only did W and his enablers use our troops, they maimed and killed Iraqis to obtain their empire building.

Anyone calling the Bushbots Christian is out of his/her mind.

[Subdivisions]

6. OH CRAP! I completely forgot to mention all the innocent Iraqis

these animals have MURDERED. I'm sick. I'm nearly in tears thinking about it. What a waste. What a complete and profound waste. History will judge us for what we have done. I am profoundly ashamed.

[Subdivisions]

7. Ok, now I AM in tears. God help us.

[Erika]

10. Bush is truly a divider. He panders to the far right and the

Saudi princes who have multiple wives. His goal is corporate profit and he doesn't care who he uses.

[left is right]

22. Is this the boy that also had his whole family killed?

A "Christian" coworker said about him, "He doesn't seem to like what our troops are trying to do for his country." She was really outrage that this pathetic child was afraid of the soldiers but had none for a country that would devistate his life

[SoCalDem]

4. O' Beirne as in KATE O'Beirne's HUSBAND..

The Bush-Hydra is a many-headed beastie:)
Policy-freaks married to/related to conveniently placed media folks


here's the link

Kate O'Beirne
Kate O'Beirne. Kate O'Beirne AKA Kate Walsh. Born: ? Gender: Female Religion: Roman Catholic ... Husband: Jim O'Beirne (White House liaison at the Pentagon) ...
www.nndb.com/people/528/000052372/ - 5k - Cached - Similar pages

[Erika]

12. I sent an email

We must stand up against these people who want to do away with America as we know it.

[Erika]

8. You ever wonder why the prince of Saudi Arabia

stays at the Texas Bush ranch?

[gumby]

9. INFURIATING

This article made me so angry I could spit nails.

We knew about how Iraq was all fucked up because the Bushites hired flacks and hacks. Well, this article names some names. One of them is Jim O'Beirne. Everyone had to pass the O'Beirne Bush Loyalty test to get a 'job' in Iraq. More infuriating, is that Kate is his wife. Maybe you are familiar with her? She's the buck-toothed talking head on so many TV programs.

So, every time that Nazi Bitch is on TV, why isn't she challenged? Her (and her hubby's) "conservatism" has been proven -- right before our very eyes in Iraq -- to be completely, totally and utterly disastrous, devastating and DEADLY.

Then there's Kerik. Wasn't there some big, big scandal about him that caused him to vanish from sight? GOP hero today, gone tomorrow.

Not only is Bush a Total Failure.
Everything he stands for is a Total Failure.
"Conservatism" is a Total Failure.

And all of the above are DEADLY to all living things.

Have I said tonight how much I hate these people?

[Erika]

11. Let's start challenging Katie n/t

[gumby]

13. You got a contract as a TV 'pundit?'

I know what you mean, and I'm in.

Kate is tight with that trifecta of GOB Blond Bimbanazis; the former Barbara Olson, Ann Coulter, Barbara Comstock.

edited to say "Blond Bimbanazis." Reminds me of Limbaugh's "feminazis." How does Blond Bimbanazis sound? Should it be Blond Bimbonazis? Of course, they're not all 'blond.' Just most of them on the TV. Mary Matlin's not blond.

Remember during the Clinton Administration how we constatntly heard about "bimbo eruptions" from the "bimbonazis"?

[ShaneGR]

14. The part that really got to me was this...

(snip)

But a week after Baghdad's liberation, Burkle was informed he was being replaced. A senior official at USAID sent Burkle an e-mail saying the White House wanted a "loyalist" in the job. Burkle had a wall of degrees, but he didn't have a picture with the president.









If you look in the article, he had experience leading US efforts in post conflict healthcare going back 13 years.

[gumby]

15. The entire article was horrifying.

Too bad the 'Post' is just getting around to reporting it. What traitors! Ooooh, is the Post getting Toastie about Bushie's widdle war in Iwaq?

:kick:

[ShaneGR]

16. Well, about the post...

How many years did the Post take to break the Watergate story? Does it matter? They broke it. I think the same thing applies here. Could the reporting have been better earlier? Yes. Should we villify them for informing the American too late? maybe. But overall, at least they're contributing to the public record.

[gumby]

18. The 'New York Times' and the 'Washington Post'

put George Bush into office.

The fact that only Bush Loyalist Hacks were allowed in Iraq (and hence fubared it) has been 'recorded' long before now. Why should only the WoPo be granted "public record"?

Both the NYT and the WoPo are the Handmaidens to right-wing power. If the WoPo is naming names now, it only means they are taking some side in a right-wing power play.

They are certainly NOT on the side of democracy or the citizenry of this country.

[grasswire]

17. This is Ledeen's daughter

The daughter of a prominent neoconservative commentator and a recent graduate from an evangelical university for home-schooled children were tapped to manage Iraq's $13 billion budget, even though they didn't have a background in accounting


She's a bona fide freeper, btw.

[gumby]

20. Where is that reference from?

Not a hostile question. I didn't see this in the WoPo article (it's late).

I've read all sorts of this stuff before "official" WoPo story.

My point is, that if you bring up Ledeen, it must predate the current story? (goodnight)

[War Pigs]

19. Same thing as everytime they kill Kenny on South Park....

"THOSE BASTARDS!#@!@!!!:puke:

[Tin Man]

21. dupe thread

37 recs http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2151770&mesg_id=2151770

[cyberpj]

23. Kicked - This is the article Reid was referencing on cspan today!

And here's more on the same book:

Mistakes Were Made
How L. Paul Bremer's occupation paved the way for today's chaos in Baghdad.

Reviewed by Moisés Naím
Sunday, September 17, 2006; Page BW07

IMPERIAL LIFE IN THE EMERALD CITY
Inside Iraq's Green Zone
Rajiv Chandrasekaran

snip...

Take, for example, the story of Frederick M. Burkle Jr., a Navy reserve officer and physician with two Bronze Stars whom a colleague describes as "the single most talented and experienced post-conflict health specialist working for the United States government." Burkle was ousted a week after Baghdad's liberation because, he was told by his superiors, the White House preferred to have a Bush "loyalist" in charge of health matters in Iraq. Burkle was replaced (fully two months later) by James K. Haveman Jr., a social worker whose experience as the community-health director for Michigan's former Republican governor, John Engler, had followed a stint running "a large Christian adoption agency in Michigan that urged pregnant women not to have abortions." Haveman had also traveled widely "in his capacity as a director of International Aid, a faith-based relief organization that provided health care while promoting Christianity in the developing world." (That pro-life stance was not uncommon in the CPA: Two staffers report being asked during their job interviews if they supported the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade ruling.) Chandrasekaran's rendition of Haveman's performance in Iraq makes for unnerving reading: the launch of an antismoking campaign while hospitals lacked pain killers; the emphasis on preventive medicine in a country ravaged by a bloody insurgency; an attempt to refashion Iraq's health care system with a U.S.-inspired model based on private providers, co-payments and primary care while newborns routinely died for lack of incubators.

Or take the case of Capt. John Smathers, a reservist and personal-injury lawyer charged with bringing some order to the chaotic traffic jams that ensued after U.S. authorities eliminated all import duties and the country was flooded by imported used cars. The solution? Download Maryland's motor-vehicle code from the Internet, translate it into Arabic and, after much haggling and revision, have Bremer sign it into law. CPA Order 86 included provisions such as, "Pedestrians walking during darkness or cloudy weather shall wear light or reflective clothing."

Micromanaging and emulating U.S. institutions was also the instinct of Jay Hallen, the clueless 24-year-old in charge of reopening the Baghdad stock market. His approach was to create one patterned after the New York Stock Exchange. (No, it didn't work.) Nor was Hallen the only inexperienced twentysomething CPA staffer given responsibilities for which he was utterly unprepared. Six of the "ten young gofers" that the CPA had requested from the Pentagon to handle minor administrative tasks found themselves managing Iraq's $13-billion budget. Where did the Pentagon recruit them? From the Heritage Foundation; they had sent their resumes there, looking for work in that conservative think tank.

When so much money is combined with organizational chaos, a state of emergency and the expectation that powerful friends in Washington would provide any needed cover, corruption is inevitable. Sure enough, Chandrasekaran offers tales of corruption among American contractors that read like dispatches from a kleptocratic banana republic.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/14/AR2006091401329.html?sub=AR