Just to remind you, mercenaries like Blackwaters thugs were paid 10X more than enlisted, trained soldiers in Iraq. And part of the reason that they were preferred by the Bush administration was that they were not subject to the normal chain of command, or covered under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. They could (and did) literally get away with murder. If youve never heard of Jamie Leigh Jones (who was gang raped by her Halliburton/KBR colleagues - who got away with it scot free) I suggest you google that horror story. The Iraq war was extremely expensive because of the onerous no-bid, cost plus structure of contracting. In a lot of cases shell corporations were created just so that layers of subcontracting could take place, with each layer adding another profit margin. Google sailboat fuel for an example of the monumental waste that took place. Every contractor was, needless to say, strongly connected to the Republicans. It was a case of systematic corruption far worse than Teapot Dome scandal. Nothing was ever done by the justice department to correct that situation.
Posted on: Mon, 30 Jun 2014 13:02:27 +0000