Documentary slams corporate profits in Iraq war

[Jon8503]

By Daniel Trotta

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A new film uses the $45 six-pack of Coke to open another front in the political battle over Iraq, decrying what it calls profiteering and incompetence by defense contractors with the right political connections.

Robert Greenwald, who took aim at Wal-Mart in a 2005 documentary, has turned his lens on private firms hired to help the U.S. military fight the war in Iraq with the just-released "Iraq for Sale."

He is raising questions about outsourcing for an unpopular war in time for the November congressional elections.

The film's premise that billions are being diverted to companies that are overcharging U.S. taxpayers for shoddy services, as illustrated by the expensive soda pop or a purported $100 fee for washing a bag of laundry.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060915/film_nm/iraq_film_profits_dc

[OneBlueSky]

1. "War Is A Racket" . . . Gen. Smedley Butler . . .

http://lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm

WAR is a racket. It always has been.

It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.

A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small "inside" group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.

In the World War I a mere handful garnered the profits of the conflict. At least 21,000 new millionaires and billionaires were made in the United States during the World War. That many admitted their huge blood gains in their income tax returns. How many other war millionaires falsified their tax returns no one knows.

How many of these war millionaires shouldered a rifle? How many of them dug a trench? How many of them knew what it meant to go hungry in a rat-infested dug-out? How many of them spent sleepless, frightened nights, ducking shells and shrapnel and machine gun bullets? How many of them parried a bayonet thrust of an enemy? How many of them were wounded or killed in battle?

(snip)

"And above all, Fascism, the more it considers and observes the future and the development of humanity quite apart from political considerations of the moment, believes neither in the possibility nor the utility of perpetual peace... War alone brings up to its highest tension all human energy and puts the stamp of nobility upon the people who have the courage to meet it."

- much more . . .

http://lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm

[cascadiance]

3. We need more true American heroes like Smedley Butler today!

We need more government insiders to just stand up and say NO to those trying to do unconstitutional things like setting up a Mussolini style fascist state! It may feel like the system is aligned against them, but if enough of us do so, we'll overcome things. They should have put away the likes of those that tried to twist his arms to do that coup earlier instead of trying to silence him. I think the newer generations of those bastards then are what's giving us our unhealthy dose of fascist insiders today.

[ClintonTyree]

2. When any crime is committed........

investigators immediately look for the person or persons who would stand to benefit from said crime. Contrary to whatever Halliburton's spokesperson said, Halliburton DID benefit (in a HUGE way) from Bush's little foray into Iraq. So did many other of his, and the Republican Party's, financial backers. Coincidence? :eyes: I think not. What better way to repay your Corporate masters and their shareholders? Open up the American Treasury and let the taxpayers repay your political debts for you. What a wonderful plan! :grr:

Of course gas is a lot cheaper right now before election time. Every dirty, lowdown trick the Bush Administration has perpetrated upon the American public will be forgotten until after the elections. CHEAP GAS! :woohoo: 'Gonna go out and buy me a new SUV! Vote Republican! :puke: Sadly, this will exactly be the case for many Americans. They see no further than the end of their noses.