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Bush Administration has no clue how our money is being spent in Iraq!

Nothing has changed since the CPA admitted they couldn't account for some $9 billion in Iraq. That was during the early days (2003) when we were literally flying in pallet loads of $100 bills. No, seriously, we flew in U.S. cash stacked up on pallets so that it could be handled by forklifts. Then we forked it over to our new friends and allies in Iraq.

Well, according to this report, it looks like the American taxpayers are still getting forked in Iraq. The State Department admits that its two employees assigned to monitor a $1.2 billion DynCorp contract are unable to account for most of the spending. They admit that DynCorp spent money without authorization on such necessities as a new olympic-sized swimming pool for their employees and housed their supervisors in expensive Iraqi hotels instead of existing living quarters. Those expenditures were not approved by the State Department as required by the contract but since the State Department never objected to anything DynCorp did, they kept on doing it. After all, if Halliburton and Blackwater can get away with murder, why can't they?

Not to worry, the State Department now assures us that it will take them only three to five years to complete their audit of what happened to our money. And Condi Rice is doing a heckuva job as Secretary of State.

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Condi Rice is really cracking the whip on those naughty security contractors in Iraq!

Condoleezza Rice has decided that the problem with the out-of-control contractors -- Blackwater, DynCorp, etc. -- is that they just aren't sensitive enough. She's going to force them to undergo extensive cultural awareness training.

The softer side of Blackwater coming to a neighborhood near you, assuming you're unfortunate enought to live in Iraq.

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January 10, 2007

President's Address to the Nation

9:01 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Good evening. Tonight in Iraq, the Armed Forces of the United States are engaged in a struggle that will determine the direction of the global war on terror -- and our safety here at home. The new strategy I outline tonight will change America's course in Iraq, and help us succeed in the fight against terror.

[...]

A successful strategy for Iraq goes beyond military operations. Ordinary Iraqi citizens must see that military operations are accompanied by visible improvements in their neighborhoods and communities. So America will hold the Iraqi government to the benchmarks it has announced.

To establish its authority, the Iraqi government plans to take responsibility for security in all of Iraq's provinces by November. To give every Iraqi citizen a stake in the country's economy, Iraq will pass legislation to share oil revenues among all Iraqis. To show that it is committed to delivering a better life, the Iraqi government will spend $10 billion of its own money on reconstruction and infrastructure projects that will create new jobs. To empower local leaders, Iraqis plan to hold provincial elections later this year. And to allow more Iraqis to re-enter their nation's political life, the government will reform de-Baathification laws, and establish a fair process for considering amendments to Iraq's constitution.

P.S. -- It is now November and the Iraqi government has not yet met any of the benchmarks Bush told us they would meet by now, not that this should surprise anyone.

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November 2, 2007

Vice President's Remarks to the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth

Hyatt Regency
Dallas, Texas

12:30 P.M. CDT

THE VICE PRESIDENT: We have -- I'm trying to think how to state this diplomatically. (Laughter.) Diplomacy is hard sometimes. (Laughter.) We have refrained from making public pronouncements about Mr. Chavez -- I think for good and legitimate reasons. He's a -- obviously an individual with his own agenda, and he spends a great deal of his time worrying about us and criticizing the United States. My own personal view is that he does not represent the future of Latin America, and the people of Peru I think deserve better in their leadership. But that's obviously a matter they've got to resolve for themselves.

P.S. -- People of Peru, be afraid, be very afraid! The crazy man who shot a 78-year-old Republican lawyer in the face thinking he was a quail may bomb your country thinking you're Venezuela!

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Skeletor is still doing a heckuva job running DHS

The Department of Homeland Security wants to keep us safe from terrorists. To that end they regularly test airport screeners across the country to see if they can detect contraband. Those tests usually don't turn out so well as the screeners tend to miss most of the really dangerous stuff and instead catch only the people smuggling toothpaste and shampoo in sizes larger than 4 oz.

Not to worry, in order to make sure that the test results improved, the TSA sent out an email allerting airport screeners across the country that a test was under way, advising them exactly how the contraband items were being disguised and giving them descriptions of the undercover agents. This should improve the scores this time and make sure that everybody gets a raise.

WASHINGTON - The Transportation Security Administration touts its programs to ensure security by using undercover operatives to test its airport screeners. In one instance, however, the agency thwarted such a test by alerting screeners across the country that it was under way, even providing descriptions of the undercover agents.

You can read the rest of the ridiculous details here.

P.S. -- DHS, they're not just known for fake press conferences anymore! Last week FEMA, another agency in the gigantic Department of Homeland Security, staged a fake press conference to tout the wonderful job they were doing helping out with the San Diego wildfires. All of the "reporters" present asking the questions were actually FEMA employees. What? Jeff Gannon wasn't available?

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Speaking of Homeland Security, who knew it was this easy to get somebody in trouble?

A Swedish man gets into an argument with his son-in-law, who is divorcing his daughter, so he decides to see if he can mess up his son-in-law's planned business trip to the U.S. Thinking that he might be able to get his son-in-law subjected to an extra careful inspection or something, he sends an email to the FBI saying the man "likely has links to al-Qaida's network in Sweden."

The son-in-law was questioned at a Florida airport for 11 hours before being sent back on a plane to Sweden. The email has been traced back to the father-in-law's computer and he is now charged in a Swedish court with "grave defamation" and could face up to two years in prison if convicted.

Here.

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Bushie and Condi are surprised again! So what else is new?

They were shocked when Hamas won the free democratic elections in Palestine and now they're shocked that Pakistan's military dictator is acting like a military dictator.

Oh, I almost forgot, Bushie assured us that he had looked into Vladimir Putin's eyes and seen his soul and Putin was a good guy. Well, Putin's not going anywhere. The new Russian president will be a figurehead and Putin will run things as Prime Minister. And right this minute Putin is rushing advanced anti-aircraft missile systems to Iran so that they can defend against any American attack on their nuclear facilities.

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Retired Iraq Commander Sanchez Backs Democratic Proposal to Bring Troops Home

Retired Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top commander in Iraq shortly after the fall of Baghdad, said this week he supports Democratic legislation that calls for most troops to come home within a year.

His comments come as welcomed ammunition for the Democratic-controlled Congress in its standoff with the White House on war spending. This month, the House passed a $50 billion bill that would pay for combat operations but sets the goal that combat end by Dec. 15, 2008. The White House threatened to veto the measure, and Senate Republicans blocked it from passing.

"The improvements in security produced by the courage and blood of our troops have not been matched by a willingness on the part of Iraqi leaders to make the hard choices necessary to bring peace to their country," Sanchez said in remarks to be aired Saturday for the weekly Democratic radio address.
"There is no evidence that the Iraqis will choose to do so in the near future or that we have an ability to force that result," he said.

Sanchez added that the House bill "makes the proper preparation of our deploying troops a priority and requires the type of shift in their mission that will allow their numbers to be reduced substantially."

Critical assessments on the war from former Pentagon brass are nothing new. But Sanchez's newfound alliance with Democrats is particularly noteworthy because he was directly in charge of combat operations in Iraq, from 2003 to 2004.

In October, the three-star general told a group of reporters that the U.S. mission in Iraq was a "nightmare with no end in sight." He also called Bush's decision to deploy 30,000 extra forces to Iraq earlier this year a "desperate attempt" to make up for years of misguided policies in Iraq.

Here.

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Soldier ordered to pay back signing bonus after being injured in Iraq

Pentagon rescinds repayment order right before soldier's TV appearance


As the military struggles to fill its ranks after six years of war it is finding cold-hard cash to be a powerful enticement.

But for one soldier who was injured serving his country in its wars, the military had another demand: pay us back.

Jordan Fox was seriously injured by a roadside bomb earlier this year, and the Army asked him to repay $3,000 of the $10,000 enlistment bonus he received.

"It was kind of like a slap in the face to know that I had done my best and tried to serve my country with honor and have them turn around and say, 'Well you owe us money,'" Fox said on MSNBC's Live with Dan Abrams Tuesday.

Perhaps realizing the wave of bad publicity that would result from Fox's nationally televised appearance, the Pentagon reversed course just before the program aired and vowed not to send its debt collectors after the wounded soldier.

Fox is not alone, though. According to KDKA, a local station in Pittsburgh, Pa., the military "is demanding that thousands of wounded service personnel give back signing bonuses" after being injured in combat.

Fox said his parents were offended by the military's now-rescinded demand for re-compensation. They started a nonprofit, Operation Pittsburgh Pride, which has sent more than 4,000 care packages to US troops serving in combat. Fox's mother, Susan Wardezak, met with President Bush when he visited Pittsburgh last year.

Because his injuries -- a serious back problem and the loss of vision in his right eye -- shattered Fox's dream of becoming a police officer, his future is unclear. But the veteran says he has no regrets about joining the Army.

"I'd do it all over again... because I'm proud of the discipline that I learned. I'm proud to have done something for my country," he told KDKA.

P.S. -- The last time the Army shot themselves in the foot like this it was for docking the pay of injured troops who happened to leave some of their equipment on the battlefield after being blown up by an IED and medivaced out. That got them a lot of bad press, too.

Enlistment bonuses lately have been starting at $20,000, higher for certain specialties. And reenlistment bonuses can be extremely high -- for example, up to $150,000 bonus for Special Ops troops who re-up for six years. The problem they're having in retaining Special Ops troops is that Blackwater and DynCorp are offering starting pay at $180,000/year.