An alternative to cutting off funding the War?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

There are calls to cut the funding. Great. But I don't know if it's popular, or if it will happen.

But it strikes me that there's an alternative to defunding the war, something that won't potentially look bad to the voters, and would have the same effect.

Cut off the funding to the war profiteers.

Just explicitely state that Halliburton isn't going to get any more money. That Blackwater isn't going to get any money. That their contracts are now going to go up for auction. Make a bill saying that all of the oil revenue coming out of Iraq is going to go back to rebuilding Iraq instead of oil companies.

And then launch investigations. Criminal investigations. War profiteering is illegal, after all.

These are the only people who want the war in Iraq. And if they're not going to be making money off of Iraq, and maybe even go to prison, then they're certainly not going to be supporting it. And there goes the funding for the promotion of the war.

I bet if Congress did that the war would be over by Valentine's Day.

[Eric J in MN]

1. Good idea.

A caller to The Sam Seder (radio) Show also suggested this about a week ago.

[The Magistrate]

2. An Excellent Idea, Sir!

Quite feasible, and likely to cut the thing off quicker than boiled asperagus....

[EFerrari]

4. But, Sir, who would deliver meals to our troops with such short notice?

Water?

I'm afraid this war has been crafted to need these suppliers. To change out that practice and institute a new one would take time. :shrug:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

7. Who?

Who did it in WWII?

I know, I know. People say that Halliburton is the only company that can do what they do. Why should I believe that?

[EFerrari]

10. Oh I don't believe that either. But, just making the change takes time?

Haliburton has actively gotten their competitors in Iraq killed. So, we know they have competitors.

As a camp cook, I'm just thinking about all the frickin' paperwork and that kind of thing between the decision and the first delivered meal.

[The Magistrate]

16. Soldiers Can Take Care Of Themselves, Ma'am

"Men, steel, bread, and gold are the sinews of war. Gold and bread may find steel and men. Men and steel can always get bread and gold."

[EFerrari]

17. I hope you are right but my gloss isn't so shiny.

I hope you are right but I imagine very young people, very young, without enough supervision or care and a long way from D.C.

I hope you are right.

And Happy New Year to you and yours.

[EFerrari]

3. I don't think it's possible logistically but of course, you're right.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

5. Why not?

What would logistically be wrong with it?

You'd need a few congressmen willing to lead investigations in war profiteering. Congressmen seem to be falling over themselves in order to lead investigations. At least that's what I'm hearing through the grapevine.

You'd need a few congressmen to draft legislation tightening war profiteering laws. I'd imagine that would have strong public support. Bush could threaten to veto, sure. He's the biggest war profiteer. But would he veto given strong public support, and couldn't we override a veto, given he's a sinking ship and the rats are jumping off...

[EFerrari]

8. I'm just really thinking about the time it takes to sign a new contract

or to re-assign these tasks to our own military.

And of hungry troops. Real time.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

9. How long does it take?

Is there anything that Halliburton can do that somebody else can't do better, faster, and cheaper?

[EFerrari]

11. No -- yet the transition would take time.

And we ran out of that years ago.

Hey -- there's nothing I'd love better than seeing those profiteers cut out of the "market" which turns out to be our kids getting killed for their profits.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

12. We ran out of time years ago?

[EFerrari]

13. Yeah, when we invaded the wrong country, the clock started going backward.

Sorry, I may have Protest Burn Out tonight which interferes with your coherence function.


As far as I can tell, when we illegally invaded Iraq, we took a huge step backward. Now, someone translate that into time units. :)

[napi21]

6. Johnathan Turley was on TV yesterday saying that congress can

apply conditions to appropriations and it has been done many times before. The interviewer asked him "What if Shrub disregards those conditions and just spends the $$ the way he wants to anyway?" His response was "That tantamount to theft!" I don't know if it would work with this idiot, but I believe it's worth the try. If he does his own thing anyway, it's grounds for impeachment!

[KharmaTrain]

14. Henry Waxman's Already On It

He's been watching the war profiteering like a hawk and now has the power to investigate a lot of what he;s found out and now the subpoena power to dig even deeper.

Be assured that when the next Iraq appropriations bill comes along we're gonna start hearing a lot about the profiteering...the billions that were scammed on past budgets, the no-bid contracts, the out sourcing and the harmful, renegade antics many of these mercenary/contractors did on our dime. Waxman said it wasn't where to start but what to go at first. He'll be non-stop busy and I suspect we'll start hearing about his first hearings in the next weeks.

This profiteering also covers Katrina where many of the same companies walked away with billions with nothing to show for it. The corruption and pilfering of our treasury is incredible and it's going to take years to unravel all the illegalities that took place. Valentines Day? We've got Groundhogs Day here...the same scam over and over...it's gonna take a while to dig it all up...but if there's a man that can do it, it's Henry Waxman.

[EFerrari]

15. I'd go on teevee for Henry Waxman.

He works hard and has an unerring instinct. What he does is thankless, so
thank you, Henry.

[Initech]

18. I've said it before and I'll say it again...

PRIVATIZE THE FUCKING WAR.

Let the rich business interests who are making obscene profits off the war (like Exxon, Halliburton, MCI, and so on) start paying for it themselves. Hell, they want to privatize everything else in this country, why not war? It would be over in two weeks, guaranteed.