Iraq contracts have cost billions
The United States has paid $85 billion to contractors in the Iraq theater for work ranging from food service to guarding diplomats, according to a report released Tuesday.
The report was prepared by the Congressional Budget Office, and noted that spending for contractors account for about 20 percent of spending for operations in Iraq.
The United States has relied more heavily on contractors in Iraq than in any other war. There are currently at least 190,000 contract employees working in the Iraq theater, with the ratio at about one contractor for every U.S. service member, according to the report.
The report will likely give new fodder to critics who have accused contractors of over billing and providing shoddy work. In the last year, U.S. contractors have been investigated in connection to the shooting deaths of Iraqis and in the accidental electrocution deaths of U.S. troops.
Of the total paid to contractors, CBO estimated that $6 billion to $10 billion went to pay for security operations.
The study did not include figures for 2008, so the total paid since the invasion of Iraq in 2003 is probably much higher.
The report was prepared at the request of the Senate budget committee.
<http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080812/ap_on_go_ot/us_iraq_contractors>
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Monday, August 11, 2008
George "Do As I Say, Not As I Do" Bush
So Dubya came out and condemned the "attacks" by Russia stating such memorable lines as:
Bush said the military crackdown has "substantially damaged Russia's standing in the world. And these actions jeopardize Russia's relations with the United States and Europe. It is time for Russia to be true to its word and to act to end this crisis."
"Russia has invaded a sovereign neighboring state and threatened a government elected by its people," Bush said. "Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century."
<http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080811/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_georgia;>
First, Georgia is the guilty party in this situation, beyond what you might here from the talking heads in DC: http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=13285
And second, obviously, is why is it ok for you to overthrow governments (Especially one's that HAVE NOT attacked your soil) yet as soon as another country actually takes questionable, yet more justified, actions, you are so quick to call for an end, Mr. President?
Bush said the military crackdown has "substantially damaged Russia's standing in the world. And these actions jeopardize Russia's relations with the United States and Europe. It is time for Russia to be true to its word and to act to end this crisis."
"Russia has invaded a sovereign neighboring state and threatened a government elected by its people," Bush said. "Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century."
<http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080811/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_georgia;>
First, Georgia is the guilty party in this situation, beyond what you might here from the talking heads in DC: http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=13285
And second, obviously, is why is it ok for you to overthrow governments (Especially one's that HAVE NOT attacked your soil) yet as soon as another country actually takes questionable, yet more justified, actions, you are so quick to call for an end, Mr. President?
Well maybe we could buy them over
Here little boy, have a nice Iraqi Security Force Army Doll.....Oh don't worry about your dad's leg, we can sew it back on:
US using 'money as a weapon' in Iraq
A U.S. Army program in which soldiers pay cash to Iraqis to help with expenses, large and small, has spent $2.8 billion in five years, The Washington Post reported Monday.
The Post reviewed records of the Commander's Emergency Response Program, which was intended for short-term humanitarian relief and reconstruction. The field manual laying out the guidelines for the program is called "Money as a Weapon System," pointing up the effectiveness of cold hard cash in winning over the hearts and minds of Iraqi civilians.
The largest sum of CERP money, $596.8 million, was spent on water and sanitation projects, the Post reported. Three other categories each received more than $300 million: electricity, protective measures (such as fencing and guards), and transportation and roads.
But the Army also spent lesser sums on smaller acts of largesse, including $48,000 for children's shoes; $50,000 for 625 sheep; $100,000 for dolls; and $500,000 for action figures designed to look like Iraqi security forces, the Post reported.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080811/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_iraq;_ylt=AnGj.yUbmPYmY72FgbOtdxqs0NUE
US using 'money as a weapon' in Iraq
A U.S. Army program in which soldiers pay cash to Iraqis to help with expenses, large and small, has spent $2.8 billion in five years, The Washington Post reported Monday.
The Post reviewed records of the Commander's Emergency Response Program, which was intended for short-term humanitarian relief and reconstruction. The field manual laying out the guidelines for the program is called "Money as a Weapon System," pointing up the effectiveness of cold hard cash in winning over the hearts and minds of Iraqi civilians.
The largest sum of CERP money, $596.8 million, was spent on water and sanitation projects, the Post reported. Three other categories each received more than $300 million: electricity, protective measures (such as fencing and guards), and transportation and roads.
But the Army also spent lesser sums on smaller acts of largesse, including $48,000 for children's shoes; $50,000 for 625 sheep; $100,000 for dolls; and $500,000 for action figures designed to look like Iraqi security forces, the Post reported.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080811/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_iraq;_ylt=AnGj.yUbmPYmY72FgbOtdxqs0NUE
Friday, August 8, 2008
At least they regret killing innocent people
Troops kill four women, child in Afghanistan
US-led coalition troops "inadvertently" killed four women and a child in a gun battle in Afghanistan,while an international soldier died separately in a new bomb attack, the force said Friday.
The civilians were killed Thursday when troops went to an area of central Ghazni province less than 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Kabul to find a Taliban militant alleged to be coordinating foreign rebels, it said.
"As coalition forces approached a compound, they were threatened by several armed militants," a statement said.
"The force responded with small-arms fire, killing the militants and inadvertently killing four women and a child located with them," it said
Several alleged militants were killed and three detained, the coalition said.
"The coalition regrets the death of these non-combatants," spokeswoman Lieutenant Colonel Rumi Nielson-Green said in the statement. "We are planning to conduct a full and thorough investigation."
There has been a series of incidents in the past weeks in which civilians have been killed in international military action against Taliban and other insurgents trying to bring down the Western-backed government.
On July 27, Canadian soldiers in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) killed two children after opening fire on a car that did not slow down near a military patrol in the southern province of Kandahar.
The day before, ISAF troops killed four civilians in similar circumstances in neighbouring Helmand.
Also last month, the coalition admitted killing eight civilians in an air strike against militants in the southwestern province of Farah.
It and ISAF are meanwhile investigating official Afghan reports that 64 civilians were killed in two strikes in northeastern Afghanistan early in the same month.
The mounting civilian casualties in international military operations seven years after the United States sent troops to Afghanistan to topple the Taliban government angers Afghans and threatens to turn them against the soldiers.
The United Nations said in June that nearly 700 civilians had lost their lives in Afghanistan this year, about two-thirds in militant attacks and about 255 in military operations.
The death toll of international soldiers is also climbing.
A coalition soldier was killed in western Afghanistan Friday when a bomb struck a convoy, the force said, giving no details including the nationality of the troop.
The new death took to 153 the number of international soldiers killed in Afghanistan this year, most of them in attacks or fighting, according to an AFP tally. Seven US soldiers were killed in bomb attacks last week.
There are nearly 70,000 international soldiers in Afghanistan to help the country fight an insurgency led by the extremist Taliban, who were in government between 1996 and 2001.
The past three months have been the deadliest for international forces in Afghanistan since 2001 with more international soldiers dying in this country than in Iraq.
<http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080808/wl_sthasia_afp/afghanistanunrest_080808105628>
US-led coalition troops "inadvertently" killed four women and a child in a gun battle in Afghanistan,while an international soldier died separately in a new bomb attack, the force said Friday.
The civilians were killed Thursday when troops went to an area of central Ghazni province less than 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Kabul to find a Taliban militant alleged to be coordinating foreign rebels, it said.
"As coalition forces approached a compound, they were threatened by several armed militants," a statement said.
"The force responded with small-arms fire, killing the militants and inadvertently killing four women and a child located with them," it said
Several alleged militants were killed and three detained, the coalition said.
"The coalition regrets the death of these non-combatants," spokeswoman Lieutenant Colonel Rumi Nielson-Green said in the statement. "We are planning to conduct a full and thorough investigation."
There has been a series of incidents in the past weeks in which civilians have been killed in international military action against Taliban and other insurgents trying to bring down the Western-backed government.
On July 27, Canadian soldiers in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) killed two children after opening fire on a car that did not slow down near a military patrol in the southern province of Kandahar.
The day before, ISAF troops killed four civilians in similar circumstances in neighbouring Helmand.
Also last month, the coalition admitted killing eight civilians in an air strike against militants in the southwestern province of Farah.
It and ISAF are meanwhile investigating official Afghan reports that 64 civilians were killed in two strikes in northeastern Afghanistan early in the same month.
The mounting civilian casualties in international military operations seven years after the United States sent troops to Afghanistan to topple the Taliban government angers Afghans and threatens to turn them against the soldiers.
The United Nations said in June that nearly 700 civilians had lost their lives in Afghanistan this year, about two-thirds in militant attacks and about 255 in military operations.
The death toll of international soldiers is also climbing.
A coalition soldier was killed in western Afghanistan Friday when a bomb struck a convoy, the force said, giving no details including the nationality of the troop.
The new death took to 153 the number of international soldiers killed in Afghanistan this year, most of them in attacks or fighting, according to an AFP tally. Seven US soldiers were killed in bomb attacks last week.
There are nearly 70,000 international soldiers in Afghanistan to help the country fight an insurgency led by the extremist Taliban, who were in government between 1996 and 2001.
The past three months have been the deadliest for international forces in Afghanistan since 2001 with more international soldiers dying in this country than in Iraq.
<http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080808/wl_sthasia_afp/afghanistanunrest_080808105628>
Thursday, August 7, 2008
And on another note
Don't call it a "surge" call it what it is, a troop increase. And as long as people die, whether it be Americans or Iraqis, then the troop increase is NOT working. There is no difference between 2 deaths and 2,000 deaths, they are all wrong.
"A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic." - Joesph Stalin
"A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic." - Joesph Stalin
Is the end within sight?
I'm not sure, but the news is hopeful and at least exit is being talked about. Again though, the Bush regime rears its ugly head as it seeks immunity for all of the unjust killings and havoc that has occurred based on our illegal, immoral, and unnecessary occupation of a country that posed ZERO threat to the United States.
BAGHDAD - Two Iraqi officials say the U.S. and Iraq are close to a deal under which all American combat troops would leave by October 2010 with remaining U.S. forces gone about three years later.
A U.S. official in Washington acknowledges progress has been made on the timelines for a U.S. departure but offered no firm date. Another U.S. official strongly suggested the 2010 date may be too ambitious.
A timetable is part of a security agreement being negotiated by U.S. and Iraqi officials. Both sides stress the deal is not final and could fall apart over the issue of legal immunity for American troops.
One of the U.S. officials said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had a long and "very difficult" telephone conversation Wednesday in which she pressed the Iraqi leader for more flexibility, particularly on immunity.
BAGHDAD - Two Iraqi officials say the U.S. and Iraq are close to a deal under which all American combat troops would leave by October 2010 with remaining U.S. forces gone about three years later.
A U.S. official in Washington acknowledges progress has been made on the timelines for a U.S. departure but offered no firm date. Another U.S. official strongly suggested the 2010 date may be too ambitious.
A timetable is part of a security agreement being negotiated by U.S. and Iraqi officials. Both sides stress the deal is not final and could fall apart over the issue of legal immunity for American troops.
One of the U.S. officials said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had a long and "very difficult" telephone conversation Wednesday in which she pressed the Iraqi leader for more flexibility, particularly on immunity.
Monday, July 7, 2008
40 dead in Indian embassy blast in Afghan capital, deadliest attack since fall of Taliban
KABUL, Afghanistan - A car bomb ripped through the front wall of the Indian Embassy in central Kabul on Monday, killing 40 people in the deadliest attack in Afghanistan's capital since the fall of the Taliban, officials said.
The massive explosion detonated by a suicide bomber damaged two embassy vehicles entering the compound, near where dozens of Afghan men line up every morning to apply for visas.
President Hamid Karzai condemned the bombing and said it was carried out by militants trying to rupture the friendship between Afghanistan and India.
The Afghan Interior Ministry hinted that the attack was carried out with help from Pakistan's intelligence service, saying that "terrorists have carried out this attack in coordination and consultation with some of the active intelligence circles in the region." The Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, said Pakistan condemned the attack and terrorism in all forms.
The embassy is located on a busy, tree-lined street near Afghanistan's Interior Ministry in the city center that is protected on both ends by police checkpoints. Several nearby shops were damaged or destroyed in the blast, and smoldering ruins covered the street. The explosion rattled much of the Afghan capital.
Shortly after the attack, a woman ran out of a Kabul hospital screaming, crying and hitting her face with both of her hands. Her two children, a girl named Lima and a boy named Mirwais, had been killed.
"Oh my God!" the woman screamed. "They are both dead."
link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080707/ap_on_re_as/afghan_explosion
The massive explosion detonated by a suicide bomber damaged two embassy vehicles entering the compound, near where dozens of Afghan men line up every morning to apply for visas.
President Hamid Karzai condemned the bombing and said it was carried out by militants trying to rupture the friendship between Afghanistan and India.
The Afghan Interior Ministry hinted that the attack was carried out with help from Pakistan's intelligence service, saying that "terrorists have carried out this attack in coordination and consultation with some of the active intelligence circles in the region." The Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, said Pakistan condemned the attack and terrorism in all forms.
The embassy is located on a busy, tree-lined street near Afghanistan's Interior Ministry in the city center that is protected on both ends by police checkpoints. Several nearby shops were damaged or destroyed in the blast, and smoldering ruins covered the street. The explosion rattled much of the Afghan capital.
Shortly after the attack, a woman ran out of a Kabul hospital screaming, crying and hitting her face with both of her hands. Her two children, a girl named Lima and a boy named Mirwais, had been killed.
"Oh my God!" the woman screamed. "They are both dead."
link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080707/ap_on_re_as/afghan_explosion
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