Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Karen Kwiatkowski: All Hail Don Rumsfeld!. "Look, it's a sovereign country." So insisted Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld just yesterday. He was talking about Iraq. In fact, Rumsfeld referred to Iraq as sovereign four times and said it was "their country" seven times. Logical assumptions are dangerous territory these days, but I would venture to propose that Rumsfeld means to say, simply, that Iraq isn't our property. Rumsfeld further explains U.S. responsibility towards this sovereign country on Iraq. He emphatically states, "First of all, you can't [protect their border], because it's not our country, it's their country."? He growls,"[Iraqi's I've met] know that they're the ones that are going to have to grab that country."? Cornered on a certain point, Rumsfeld admits he has forgotten exactly when the US forces took over the Iraqi police forces. Marine Peter Pace reminded him that it was just "6 months ago." I can only assume that Rumsfeld is either losing it, or else that taking over the Iraq Police (two years into the American occupation) is somehow legitimately part of Iraq sovereignty in the bizarre and Byzantine world of Rumsfeldia. As security and terrorism consultant Larry Johnson points out wonderfully, Peter Pace asserted himself for a brief moment in this press conference. Pace corrects his boss on what exactly American soldiers, airmen, sailors and Marines are supposed to do when they witness"inhumane treatment" of any person in Iraq. Rummy feels that the witnesses should report what they saw up the chain. You know, like Captain Ian Fishback of the 82nd Airborne tried to do. It went down like this: Pace: "It is absolutely the responsibility of every U.S. service member, if they see inhumane treatment being conducted, to intervene to stop it."? Rumsfeld: "But I don't think you mean they have an obligation to physically stop it; it's to report it." Pace: "If they are physically present when inhumane treatment is taking place, sir, they have an obligation to try to stop it."? Well, well, well! General Pace later messed up with his boss again, in referring to the Iraq insurgents as insurgents, failing to correctly use the latest Pentagon newspeak of "terrorists"? or "enemies of the state."? Whatever is the world coming to? [The Huffington Post | Full Blog Feed] 2:31:34 PM    comment []

Anthony Lappe: 50 Cent, the War Profiteer and the $10 Million Bat Mitzah. On the day the President told the American people to prepare for the long haul in Iraq, here's a story that perfectly sum up just how screwed up our priorities are as a nation. They're calling it Mitzvahpalooza. It may go down in history as the world's most obscene birthday party (eat your heart out Dennis Kozlowski). David H. Brooks, CEO of bulletproof vest maker DHB Industries, spared no expense for his 13-year old daughter's entry into adulthood. The girl and 300 of her closest BFFs were "ntertained by Don Henley, Stevie Nicks, Aerosmith and, believe it or not, 50 Cent (I guess 500 large can make you forget all about street cred). It was hosted by Tom Petty. The reported cost: $10 million (See the absurd pics here) First off, what 13-year old girl is a Fleetwood Mac fan? Secondly, and more importantly, where does a guy get $10 million to blow on a party? Well, it appears, from you, the American taxpayer. According to United for a Fair Economy, Brooks and Co. have made a tidy profit outfitting our nation's fighting men and women in body armor that allegedly can't take a hit from a 9mm round: David H. Brooks, CEO of bulletproof vest maker DHB Industries, earned $70 million in 2004, 13,349% more than his 2001 compensation of $525,000. Brooks also sold company stock worth about $186 million last year, spooking investors who drove DHB's share price from more than $22 to as low as $6.50 [DHB was trading at $4.20 today]. In May 2005, the U.S. Marines recalled more than 5,000 DHB armored vests after questions were raised about their effectiveness. By that time, Brooks had pocketed over $250 million in war windfalls. (Read UFE's full report, Executive Excess 2005, here [pdf].) "It's shocking to see a guy who has no shame like this. He may be the world champion war profiteer," said the Institute for Policy Studies' Sarah Anderson, who co-authored the report. "The shareholders are up in arms over the defective equipment, the military is up in arms, and he's out partying." Indeed, Iraq veterans are not pleased at news of the party. HuffPo blogger Paul Rieckhoff, an Iraq war veteran and founder of Operation Truth http://optruth.org (and my frequent radio partner), told me, "It is already disturbing that anyone can live the high-life as a result of the booming war business, but it is particularly disheartening to hear about someone having their own private Lollapalooza, in part from the sale of defective equipment that put our Troops in harms way. America must take a long, hard look at the idea of profit on the battlefield." Another OpTruth Iraq vet, Bobby Yen, had a darker take, "I guess it just goes to show the state of affairs and the state of mind of this tired, old (of mind) veteran that when this story came up it didn't even make me blink. So some rich guy somewhere who made tons of money selling defective bulletproof vests to the military has a filthy rich party for his daughter's Bat Mitzvah. 'Oh, wow, someone wants to endanger my life for a few bucks?' Sounds like the entire war. So the soldiers get paid poorly, on occasion shell out there own few bucks to buy gear, lose a year of their life, lose their sanity, lose their limbs, lose their lives, and a very few, very select group closely connected to our government get very, very rich. Ok. If that's what the American people want. If that's what they voted for." I've contacted the public relations firm representing DHB Industries and will publish their response when I get it. [The Huffington Post | Full Blog Feed] 2:22:38 PM    comment []

© Copyright 2005 Patricia Thurston.