As Bechtel Goes

As Bechtel Goes By Paul Krugman The New York Times Friday 03 November 2006

Bechtel, the giant engineering company, is leaving Iraq. Its mission - to rebuild power, water and sewage plants - wasn't accomplished: Baghdad received less than six hours a day of electricity last month, and much of Iraq's population lives with untreated sewage and without clean water. But Bechtel, having received $2.3 billion of taxpayers' money and having lost the lives of 52 employees, has come to the end of its last government contract.

As Bechtel goes, so goes the whole reconstruction effort. Whatever our leaders may say about their determination to stay the course complete the mission, when it comes to rebuilding Iraq they've already cut and run. The $21 billion allocated for reconstruction over the last three years has been spent, much of it on security rather than its intended purpose, and there's no more money in the pipeline.

The failure of reconstruction in Iraq raises three questions. First, how much did that failure contribute to the overall failure of the war? Second, how was it that America, the great can-do nation, in this case couldn't and didn't? Finally, if we've given up on rebuilding Iraq, what are our troops dying for?

There's no definitive way to answer the first question. You can make a good case that the invasion of Iraq was doomed no matter what, because we never had enough military manpower to provide security. But the lack of electricity and clean water did a lot to dissipate any initial good will the Iraqis may have felt toward the occupation. And Iraqis are well aware that the billions squandered by American contractors included a lot of Iraqi oil revenue as well as U.S. taxpayers' dollars.

Consider the symbolism of Iraq's new police academy, which Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, has called "the most essential civil security project in the country." It was built at a cost of $75 million by Parsons Corporation, which received a total of about $1 billion for Iraq reconstruction projects. But the academy was so badly built that feces and urine leak from the ceilings in the student barracks.

Think about it. We want the Iraqis to stand up so we can stand down. But if they do stand up, we'll dump excrement on their heads.

As for how this could have happened, that's easy: major contractors believed, correctly, that their political connections insulated them from accountability. Halliburton and other companies with huge Iraq contracts were basically in the same position as Donald Rumsfeld: they were so closely identified with President Bush and, especially, Vice President Cheney that firing or even disciplining them would have been seen as an admission of personal failure on the part of top elected officials.

As a result, the administration and its allies in Congress fought accountability all the way. Administration officials have made repeated backdoor efforts to close the office of Mr. Bowen, whose job is to oversee the use of reconstruction money. Just this past May, with the failed reconstruction already winding down, the White House arranged for the last $1.5 billion of reconstruction money to be placed outside Mr. Bowen's jurisdiction. And now, finally, Congress has passed a bill whose provisions include the complete elimination of his agency next October.

The bottom line is that those charged with rebuilding Iraq had no incentive to do the job right, so they didn't.

You can see, by the way, why a Democratic takeover of the House, if it happens next week, would be such a pivotal event: suddenly, committee chairmen with subpoena power would be in a position to investigate where all the Iraq money went.

But that's all in the past. What about the future?

Back in June, after a photo-op trip to Iraq, Mr. Bush said something I agree with. "You can measure progress in megawatts of electricity delivered," he declared. "You can measure progress in terms of oil sold on the market on behalf of the Iraqi people." But what those measures actually show is the absence of progress. By any material measure, Iraqis are worse off than they were under Saddam.

And we're not planning to do anything about it: the U.S.-led reconstruction effort in Iraq is basically over. I don't know whether the administration is afraid to ask U.S. voters for more money, or simply considers the situation hopeless. Either way, the United States has accepted defeat on reconstruction.

Yet Americans are still fighting and dying in Iraq. For what?

(Thanks to Karleen Sell.)
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Criticism

Criticism
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With this question of criticism, we must return to Square One: The enlightened mystic lives in two worlds or universes, one of which is absolutely real and the other of which is relatively or secondarily real. To criticize a person such as Adolf Hitler might be the call of Love, particularly if one criticizes out of compassion for all the suffering. (I perceive the criticism of george bush to be following a similar mandate.:)

Of course, in the real world of the absolute Mind, or the cosmos of the Absolute, to criticize anyone is to criticize the entire cosmos, and the Self. But in the everyday, ordinary world of maya, Love often calls upon us, as does simple reason, to criticize people and ideas that have run, often dangerously, off the "track" of compassion, world-healing, goodness, kindness, and other "fruits" of Love.

Mystics throughout history have been the most notable, and famous, critics of people and teachings which stunt the progress and growth of Love. Jesus, the great teacher of universal peace, rather harshly criticized the "respectable" religious leaders of his day, as recorded in Matthew chapter 23. Love prevents the mystic from ever devolving into apathy or complacency. She is here to play the game of the world, and she is here to help Love win, against its many enemies. So, she is very sincere when she criticizes, and she really tries to make all criticisms constructive, not destructive.

The world is filled with tricks and illusions. It is by solving its puzzles and problems, and exposing its imperfections, that the mystic makes her own position clear, and helps and teaches others.
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Republicans Knew About Foley

Republicans Knew that Mark Foley Was A Pedophile.

WHY DID THEY DO NOTHING AND LET A CHILD SUFFER?

ACTION PAGE: http://www.peaceteam.net/pnum527.php

Mark Foley's Press Secretary said that it was only a partisan attack. Mark Foley claimed that the email was innocent. Then ABC News confronted Foley with explicit sexual messages that he sent to House Pages. A few hours later, Mark Foley resigned from Congress in disgrace.

America then learned that the Page who got the disgusting email from Foley reported it to the Republican Leadership months before-- but they did absolutely nothing about it. In fact, Speaker Of The House Dennis Hastert and Republican Whip Frank Boener not only ignored the danger posed by Foley; they made sure that news of his crimes did not leak out.

All of which means that the Republican Leadership of Congress helped put other Pages at risk from this known Pedophile.

So you've just got to ask: if Republicans are willing to sacrifice children for the sake of political gain, how can we as Americans ever trust them?

But even more importantly, if the Republican leadership is unwilling to do anything about this ugly situation, how can I, as a citizen, make damned sure it never happens again?

You can write your senator or Congressional representative and demand that Representative Pelosi's investigation go forward. Because if it doesn't, the disgusting acts of Mark Foley will continue to be swept under the rug!

This is your chance to make sure the Republican leadership is not allowed to keep the door open for more assaults on our Pages by known pedophiles.

It's not a Democratic or Republican issue. It's a matter of right or wrong. It's about making sure we protect our children. No one, Republican or Democrat, can afford to stand by while outrages like this go on!

Use your letter to let everyone know.

PROTECT OUR CHILDREN . . . NOT OUR POLITICIANS.

ACTION PAGE: http://www.peaceteam.net/pnum527.php

This alert is brought to you by the activism of Stacey Tallitsch, running for Congress from the 1st district of Louisiana. Stacey has shared his production of the new Lie/Die spot with other candidates, and there are now 10 candidates who have produced their own versions, confronting the Bush administration on their Iraq lies.

SUPPORT THE LIE/DIE TV SPOTS: http://www.peaceteam.net/donations.php

Please go to donations page now. You can see the spots playing right on the page above. Give whatever you can in these last critical ten days of this Congressional election campaign. The future of our democracy is on the line. This is our last chance to take back our country from the dark side of dictatorial ambition. We must give it everything we've got. Only then do we have a chance for a brighter tomorrow.

Please take action NOW, so we can win all victories that are supposed to be ours.

To be added to the list go to http://www.peaceteam.net/in.htm

Had Enough?

Had Enough?

The November election is a referendum on the status quo. Congress has blindly followed the President as he leads America in the wrong direction. No oversight. No questions. Absolutely no accountability. The President wanted to attack Iraq. They gave it to him. Torture? Sure. Spy on Americans? Go for it. This Congress doesn't know how to say "no."

It's time for Dennis Hastert and the Republican leadership to go.

Support Darcy Burner

On November 7, we have a chance to change direction. We can change this country if we change leaders in Congress. Darcy Burner is one of the best; and she will help turn this country around and move America forward. Will you help her with the resources to win?

http://www.democracyforamerica.com/burner

The daughter of an Air Force veteran and a public school teacher, Darcy Burner has lived the American dream. She worked hard in school, put herself through college, and went on to a successful career at Microsoft. Now she's taking on an incumbent Republican in Washington's 8th district to become a voice for working families. The district has never voted to send a Democrat to Congress, but it voted against Bush in 2000 and 2004.

Polls show that Darcy's race could go either way. That's why Karl Rove came to town in September to headline a fundraiser for her opponent. You can help beat the right-wing Republican machine and send Darcy to Congress by contributing now.

http://www.democracyforamerica.com/burner

As we've seen in Washington over the last few days, a change in House leadership is desperately needed. We can not sit back and stay the course. We must demand a new direction. I ask you to join me in supporting Darcy Burner -- a great leader for change.

Thank you for everything you do,
Jim Dean
Chair

HR 2679 Public Expression of Religion Act

Dear Friends,

I am sending an article from Daily Kos about the House of Representatives attempt to distort the Constitution, again, and to establish a National Religion - or, one might entitle it - The Spanish Inquisition the White House Way! Read on, if you dare.

Well, I will have to try again - it is House Bill - HR 2679-- The Public Expression of Religion Act-- signed into law by Boehner and Chabot (two Bush type idiots anyway,) but might include others as well. It forbids any lawyer who questions a religious issue... and wins, from collecting any legal fees. For example, prayer in school, display of the ten commandments, etc. Some aspects of this Act were dropped, such as establishing a National religion. Nevertheless, the whole thing goes against the separation of church and state philosophy and words of the Constitution.

Therefore, again, this administration is trying to change the Constitution without amending it - sneaky! And it is attempting to prevent any legal challenges to it by forbidding legal fees to lawyers who might actually want to preserve the Constitution of the United States of America. I smell sulfur again! Can Chavez actually be right? This crazy guy is smarter than the administration? Well, duh!

I will try to get this article to you. People of all faiths need to hear about it. Their faith and religious views are in danger. And, for those of us who tread a spiritual rather than religious path - we will burn. The Witch hunts are about to begin! (I hope I am kidding)

(Thanks to Karleen Sell.)

Open Letter To The People of The Middle East

Forgive us, for we know not what we do, or at least we know not what they do--in our name. Wars have been propagated in our name, with our taxes, for 125 years, on false pretenses, unknown to the citizens of this once fine country.

The American people are clueless and kept in the dark, by media that are owned by five Corporate Conglomerates, who also have defense contracts with the war department and the owners of the country.

Americans have been taught not to think critically of their masters-- not to use their own minds ability for deductive reasoning and research, to simply question what we have been mindlessly fed for over one hundred years. It's The bedrock of our belief system. And most are afraid of what we might find amiss, in there.

Therefore, we know not why, we're really in your countries; the cradle of civilization--the Crescent Valley. We do know that the richest five percent have quadrupled their wealth, holding the stocks and shares of corporations profiting from these illegal, immoral and unconstitutional wars on your sacred soil.

If we Americans would read more, learn a true people's history of U.S. hegemony....we may know that you are not to blame, and have not harmed us, in any way. Now-we believe there are a minority of hard line radical Islamists who do use violence-- but it is we (Brit's), who used that same method first, as far back as 1916, for the oil lying under your feet.

I want to insert an excerpt of a speech given by Gen. Butler here, from 1933. It is one of over 1,200 speeches he delivered in over 700 US cities.

"War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of 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 masses.

"I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else. If a nation comes over here to fight, then we'll fight. The trouble with America is that when the dollar earns only 6 percent over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to get 100 percent. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag.

"I wouldn't go to war again, as I have done, to protect some lousy investment of the bankers. There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket.

"There isn't a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to. It has its "finger men" to point out enemies, its "muscle men" to destroy enemies, its "brain men" to plan war preparations, and a "Big Boss" Super-Nationalistic-Capitalism.

"It might seem odd for me, a military man, to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to. I spent thirty- three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle- man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.

" I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service.

"I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, 'safe' for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a 'decent place' for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped 'purify' Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I 'brought light' to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China, I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.

"During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a 'swell racket.' Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents."

(Thanks to Mick Gallagher.)

Shame on Them

Here's what happens when this irresponsible Congress railroads a profoundly important bill to serve the mindless politics of a midterm election: The Bush administration uses Republicans fear of losing their majority to push through ghastly ideas about antiterrorism that will make American troops less safe and do lasting damage to our 217-year-old nation of laws while actually doing nothing to protect the nation from terrorists. Democrats betray their principles to avoid last-minute attack ads. Our democracy is the big loser.

Republicans say Congress must act right now to create procedures for charging and trying terrorists because the men accused of plotting the 9/11 attacks are available for trial. Thats pure propaganda. Those men could have been tried and convicted long ago, but President Bush chose not to. He held them in illegal detention, had them questioned in ways that will make real trials very hard, and invented a transparently
illegal system of kangaroo courts to convict them. It was only after the Supreme Court issued the inevitable ruling striking down Mr. Bushs shadow penal system that he adopted his tone of urgency.

It serves a cynical goal: Republican strategists think they can win this fall, not by passing a good law, but by forcing Democrats to vote against a bad one so they could be made to look soft on terrorism.

Last week, the White House and three Republican senators announced a terrible deal on this legislation that gave Mr. Bush most of what he wanted, including a blanket waiver for crimes Americans may have committed in the service of his antiterrorism policies. Then Vice President Dick Cheney and his willing lawmakers rewrote the rest of the measure so that it would give Mr. Bush the power to jail pretty much anyone he wants for as long as he wants without charging them, to unilaterally reinterpret the Geneva Conventions, to authorize what normal people consider torture, and to deny justice to hundreds of men captured in error.

These are some of the bills biggest flaws:

Enemy Combatants: A dangerously broad definition of illegal enemy combatant in the bill could subject legal residents of the United States, as well as foreign citizens living in their own countries, to summary arrest and indefinite detention with no hope of appeal. The president could give the power to apply this label to anyone he wanted.

The Geneva Conventions: The bill would repudiate a half-century of international precedent by allowing Mr. Bush to decide on his own what abusive interrogation methods he considered permissible. And his decision could stay secret. There's no requirement that this list be published.

Habeas Corpus: Detainees in U.S. military prisons would lose the basic right to challenge their imprisonment. These cases do not clog the courts, or coddle terrorists. They simply give wrongly imprisoned people a chance to prove their innocence.

Judicial Review: The courts would have no power to review any aspect of this new system, except verdicts by military tribunals. The bill would limit appeals and bar legal actions based on the Geneva Conventions, directly or indirectly. All Mr. Bush would have to do to lock anyone up forever is to declare him an illegal combatant and not have a trial.

Coerced Evidence: Coerced evidence would be permissible if a judge considered it reliable already a contradiction in terms and relevant. Coercion is defined in a way that exempts anything done before the passage of the 2005 Detainee Treatment Act, and anything else Mr. Bush chooses.

Secret Evidence: American standards of justice prohibit evidence and testimony that is kept secret from the defendant, whether the accused is a corporate executive or a mass murderer. But the bill as redrafted by Mr. Cheney seems to weaken protections against such evidence.

Offenses: The definition of torture is unacceptably narrow, a virtual reprise of the deeply cynical memos the administration produced after 9/11. Rape and sexual assault are defined in a retrograde way that covers only forced or coerced activity, and not other forms of nonconsensual sex. The bill would effectively eliminate the idea of rape as torture.

There is not enough time to fix these bills, especially since the few Republicans who call themselves moderates have been whipped into line, and the Democratic leadership in the Senate seems to have misplaced its spine. If there was ever a moment for a filibuster, this was it. We don't blame the Democrats for being frightened. The Republicans have made it clear that they'll use any opportunity to brand anyone who votes against this bill as a terrorist enabler. But Americans of the future won't remember the pragmatic arguments for caving in to the administration.

They'll know that in 2006, Congress passed a tyrannical law that will be ranked with the low points in American democracy, our generations version of the Alien and Sedition Acts.

(Thanks to Karleen Sell.)

Thieves in High Places: Book Recommendation

If you want a book that thoroughly documents in detail the foibles, greed, and incompetence of the present administration, very highly recommended is Thieves in High Places by Jim Hightower (New York; Penguin, 2003). This book contains page after page, list after list, documenting the obscene record of awful blunders of the administration.

Very well worth reading!

Peace,

shi

Make the Pie Higher: A Poem

This is a short poem made up entirely of actual quotations from george w. bush. These have been arranged, only for aesthetic purposes, by Washington Post writer, Richard Thompson. A wonderful poem like this is too good not to share.

MAKE THE PIE HIGHER

I think we all agree, the past is over.
This is still a dangerous world.
It's a world of madmen and uncertainty
And potential mental losses.

Is our children learning?
Will the highways of the Internet
Become more few?

How many hands have I shaked?
They misunderestimate me.
I am a pitbull on the pantleg of opportunity.

I know that the human being
And the fish can coexist.
Families is where our nation finds hope,
Where our wings take dream.

Put food on your family!
Knock down the tollbooth!
Vulcanize society!
Make the pie higher!
I am the Decider!

(Pass this on. Help cure Mad Cowboy disease in the next election)

(Thanks to Terry Smith.)

Wake Up And Smell The Voter PURGE in Ohio

Here we go again,and again, and again! Is there no end to Ken Blackwell's sleaze?

Tell The DNC To WAKE UP And Immediately Seek An Injunction To Reverse The purge Of Democratic Voters In Ohio

ACTION PAGE: http://www.peaceteam.net/pnum540.php

You had to know this was coming. The further they fall in the polls the more massive the voter fraud and preemptive vote suppression the other side will attempt. The key word here is "attempt." We're not supposed to let them get away with it without a fight. That fight must start NOW!

Reports are breaking that the pathologically partisan Ohio secretary of state has been secretly using the master database of voters to systematically purge hundreds of thousands of likely Democratic voters from the registered rolls. Their latest version of an old scam is to put a discriminatory burden on voters in heavily Democratic precincts to meet a special hurdle of verification of their address, a "guilty until proven innocent" routine. And they have been doing this without any public notice
that such a massive operation was underway, and timed in such a way that voters would have no recourse to re-register.

Never again will we allow such outrages against democracy to go unchallenged by the fullest force we can bring to bear. Bob Fitrakis, who has been fighting the election criminals in Ohio for years, has announced that he will file a lawsuit no later than this coming Monday. Please tell the DNC, and also the Ohio Democratic party (if you are an Ohio resident), to bring every resource to bear to join in this battle for the soul of our electoral process.

ACTION PAGE: http://www.peaceteam.net/pnum540.php

Please take action NOW, so we can win all victories that are supposed to be ours.

(Thanks to Mick Gallagher.)