Monday, March 05, 2007

Where To Tie a Yellow Ribbon



Billions of dollars have been funneled into Operation Iraqi Freedom. And while no one is really free yet -- neither the Iraqis from the endless violence in their land nor Americans from the threat of future terrorist attacks -- the money keeps pouring out of Washington to keep the good fight going.

Halliburton has scored billions over the last four years, and with W showing no sign of admitting that this war is wrong, the big H only stands to get richer. And I'm not saying that to be disparaging, believe it or not. As a capitalist I can only applaud the success of an American corporation. I will, however, condemn the sleazy politicians who are BFFs with the company and who are making money with the company while the rest of the world falls apart.

While one group of Americans basks in the spoils of war, another group of Americans has been rotting on the outskirts of Washington. The Walter Reed mess uncovered by the Washington Post is the latest PR nightmare for W's war and it's the latest scandal to bring to light the stupidity of this war and its impact on our own people.

Now, someone on this blog had commented that the liberal media loves loves loves to see wounded soldiers and coffins for the sake of humilliating the President. Would that we liberals could all be so maudlin and easily placated that we'd gladly trade in the well being of hundreds of thousands of civilians just so Al Gore could be Commander in Chief. In the face of death and destruction, why can't we admit that it's just that and not just a glitch in an otherwise flawless program? Why is a medical facility that is below standards for an industrial nation a political bargaining chip -- can right wingers ever admit culpability?

And I'm not talking about the new Secretary of Defense, Richard Gates, who has been cleaning up house following his appointment to the post. I'm talking about everyday people who never see anything wrong with the way this country is being run. It's OK to not be a Democrat, but to try to make any excuse for the way this war is being handled, to not flip out when you read about the profits being siffoned by the private sector at the expense of dead or crippled young Americans is unhuman.

Could it be that the noose around the Right's neck is a yellow ribbon?

9 comments:

James Henry Bailey said...

while no one is really free yet

Iraq has a freely elected government

Halliburton has scored billions over the last four years

Really? Linking to a left-wing anti-Haliburton website does NOT constitute a reliable source. In fact there is nothing on that page that suggests that Haliburton has "scored" anything, except an extension of a contract awarded to them by Bill Clinton.

Where can you point to a shred of evidence showing how Haliburton "scored" anything? In fact, as reported over and over to those of us who actually read the news, Halliburton has earned billions in revenue but VERY little profit. Certainly not enough profit to justify the kind of bad publicity they have been receiving.

You might want to see what Factcheck.org and the Center for Public Integrity have to say about Haliburton's role in this war. At the very least, this quote from Harvard University professor, Steven Kelman, who was administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy in the Clinton administration should interest you:

"One would be hard-pressed to discover anyone with a working knowledge of how federal contracts are awarded...who doesn't regard these allegations as being somewhere between highly improbable and utterly absurd"

While one group of Americans basks in the spoils of war, another group of Americans has been rotting on the outskirts of Washington. The Walter Reed mess uncovered by the Washington Post is the latest PR nightmare for W's war and it's the latest scandal to bring to light the stupidity of this war and its impact on our own people.

Welcome to Hillary's health care plan!

can right wingers ever admit culpability?

How are "right-wingers" responsible for the nightmare at Walter Reed? Also, plenty of heads are rolling and Dick Cheney has said that the situation will be corrected swiftly.

As a capitalist I can only applaud the success of an American corporation.

You do not even understand what capitalism is.

Rob said...

GCL, I know you don't give a rotten damn about truth, but I'm going to piss in your Cheerios anyway.

Halliburton has scored billions over the last four years,

How much of that has been from Iraq and how much of that has been from their work worldwide? Not only that, (here's the third time I've asked you) where's their massive profits the libs swear to?

and with W showing no sign of admitting that this war is wrong,

Funny, ain't it, how it wasn't wrong when the liberals were demanding it. It only became "wrong" when a Republican president did what they demanded and carried out the Iraq Liberation ACT of 1998

And I'm not saying that to be disparaging, believe it or not. As a capitalist I can only applaud the success of an American corporation.

Yes you are and you (and we) know damn well that you are. Otherwise, you wouldn't have linked to that leftist bullshit site.

I will, however, condemn the sleazy politicians who are BFFs with the company and who are making money with the company

Name ONE and show us EXACTLY how they are making the money. If you're so righteous and only telling us the truth, you should have no problem sharing it with us, right?

As far as the Walter Reed kerfuffle, it amazes me that the liberals are excusing Congress' oversight. This is a facility slated to be shut down. Therefore, it goes without saying that Congress should be aware of what's going on. Further, are we supposed to believe that none of the liberals who say they go there frequently to pretend to give a shit about our soldiers didn't know? Not a single one of them received letters from their constituents about it? Unfortunately for you, we're not as stupid as you hope like hell that we are.

Would that we liberals could all be so maudlin and easily placated that we'd gladly trade in the well being of hundreds of thousands of civilians just so Al Gore could be Commander in Chief.

Indeed. Liberals like Murtha would gladly cut off supplies and reinforcements to do just that. Not only him, but the douchebag team killing fucktards on the internet that the libs have been bowing to. The liberals swore they had a "mandate" after 06 to end the war. However, their recent backtracking on cutting funds and what not is proof that they know damn well that they had no such "mandate". If the American people REALLY wanted the liberals to end it, the libs would whip out their cocks, slap them on the table and cut funding. The reality is that they know the American people DO NOT want that.

to not flip out when you read about the profits being siffoned by the private sector at the expense of dead or crippled young Americans is unhuman.

To spin it that way is the sign of a truly sick bastard. The contractors are not profitting from "dead or crippled young Americans". They are there working and dying FOR them and the Iraqi people. Halliburton has been contracting with the federal government for over 60 years now. For you liberals, that means they worked for "democrat" presidents as well. GASP!

Here's what you'd have in Iraq without the contractors living and dying FOR our soldiers and the Iraqi people:

The soldiers would be living in tents. There would be no bases or smei-permanent structures unless they built them.

There would be no reconstruction of schools.

There would be no reconstruction of Iraqi oil fields damaged in the war or by insurgents.

There would be no hospital reconstruction.

There would be no utility (water, electricity etc., for you liberals) reconstruction.

Without contractors, what weapons would our soldiers have? What armor, body armor, tanks, guns, ships, airplanes, bullets etc. would they have?

And on and on and on.

Somehow Halliburton only became evil because Cheney is the VP. Big fucking deal. He can't make anymore money other than what he was owed from Halliburton.

And if Halliburton is so damn evil, why the hell did Michael Moore own stock? Why did George Soros buy 2 million shares?

Could it be that the noose around the Right's neck is a yellow ribbon?

With no due respect, you can drop down, fifth ring and cook for that little bomb you dropped.

Rob said...

Furthermore,

And while no one is really free yet -- neither the Iraqis from the endless violence in their land

I recommend reading the Iraq The Model blog. It contains info on Baghdad successes that would make you vomit if the liberal media dared to show it.

Unknown said...

Thank you, TGC, for mentioning Iraq the Model. A Google search gives a link. Quite easy to do.

It seems ItM was once a blog run by 3 brothers.

Here's the third link provided by Google: Antiwar.com Blog · “Iraq the Model” — or the Bad Example?

This one gives a rationale for the third brother's decision to abandon ItM. (Among other things, two brothers met with the President, which put the family in Baghdad at risk.)

It's still a conundrum, guys. Every view can be countered by a different view.

(So. No one's going to help me learn how to get links underlined so they'll work?)

Agape.

Rob said...

I read the anti-war column. The basis of the piece is saying that the brother left the blog, therefore, the remaining two HAVE to be lying. Strike One. There's a lot of people in support of the war who read the ITM blog. Strike Two. Then they go on to say that they met President Bush, Strike Three, so obviously they're lying.

As we ALL know, anybody who meats Bush is a lying, racist, sexist, bigot, homophobe fascist. Therefore, the anti-war article was a steaming pile of bullshit.

(So. No one's going to help me learn how to get links underlined so they'll work?)

I tried to do it the other day, but it wouldn't work. I've tried breaking up the code so that I could put it on here, but it keeps wanting to publish the HTML. I decided to put it in a Google Doc for you.

Here you go.

Gay Conservative Liberal said...

JHB & TGC, thanks for keeping me honest. I should have known better than to link to a fanatical,left wing site. I admit it looks sketch and sadly, it was irresponsible of me to not dig a little further to support my point.

My reckless citation aside, the point here is that there is money to be made in war. It's become insanely profitable and it seems that everyone except the soldiers reap the benefits.

TGC, thanks for bringing up the Iraq Liberation Act. Regardless of what the dems did or didn't propose in the nineties, Bush signed off on a war that has gotten us nowhere.

My question to YOU is why are you defending this war? Why do you defend this corrupt administration?
Why do you call Bill Clinton captain BJ? You're more clever than that.

Unknown said...

Thanks TGC and JamesHenryBailey. I'll try your codes, but I don't have much confidence.

Unknown said...

TGC, I didn't interpret the blog as saying the remaining brothers were lying. I understood it to imply that the departing brother was concerned about the family's safety after the two other brothers being named and received at the White House. (Certainly, though, the piece has a leftist tilt. The title is "Antiwar.com." One just has to try to adjust for the source.)

Agape.

Rob said...

That's lord BJ. William Jefferson (BJ). Got a hummer in the Oval Orafice, remember?

the point here is that there is money to be made in war. It's become insanely profitable and it seems that everyone except the soldiers reap the benefits.

The profits are incidental. They have goods and services to offer the military and they get paid for it. That's how capitalism works. The liberals criminialize that as an attempt to have some sort of bastardized moral clarity. That is, of course, if they believe in capitalism at all, which a lot don't. The companies are offering to make products or services that the military needs. They're not trying to "make money from the deaths of our soldiers".

Think about it. What does that even mean? If none of our soldiers died in combat, the suppliers still get paid. If there's no wars at all, they still get paid. NONE of them make more money based on how many of them die.

The alternatives are that companies offer their goods and services for free or the military makes their own. They could be living campaign style in tents on company streets, but they're not.

Our soldiers are volunteers. They know what they're getting into and they know what kind of money is involved. They're not as stupid as the liberals want us to believe they are. If they wanted to make better money, they'd do something else. THEN we'd have to impose a draft.

The claim is vacuous, asinine and offensive. I don't even think you believe it. It's a cool sounding lying point and everybody's saying it though.

Think about it. Can you name one war in world history where nobody was profitting? Hell, don't forget the prostitutes.

Regardless of what the dems did or didn't propose in the nineties, Bush signed off on a war that has gotten us nowhere.

Sorry, but the libs don't get a pass. If Bush lied, so did the liberals. They decided it was wrong when a Republican president did what they didn't have the balls to do. And to suggest that it "has gotten us nowhere" is completely offensive.

My question to YOU is why are you defending this war?

My question is "why not"? A murderous thug has been removed from power and faced justice. 25+ million people are free and have had free elections. More are using the internet, cell phones, satellite TV etc. than ever before. They even have their own stock exchange up and running. What's wrong with that?

My question is why in God's name would you want to tell the Iraqi people to go fuck themselves and leave them to the bloodbath that would follow our exit? The majority of the country is relatively peaceful. Do you REALLY want to just hand it over to Iran & al-Qaeda?

I support it because that is where we are and we can't tell the Iraqis "Screw you guys, I'm going home!" just because it wasn't over in 30 minutes like the Brady Bunch.

Why do you defend this corrupt administration?

First of all, I really don't defend anybody. However, I don't tolerate gutless, lying douchebags either. I offer what I know to be true. If you want to call it "defending", go right ahead.

Second of all, to call the administration "corrupt" is utter bullshit and if you're as smart as you want us to believe, you know damn well that it isn't. However, you would rather cover up the blatant corruption of the Clintonistas by trying to portray the Bush administration as even worse. Sorry kiddo, but it just won't wash. At least with those who are intellectually honest anyway.