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Journal Xerithane's Journal: Green Nazis 36

Journal by Xerithane

I'm done trying to say that I support the actions of my country. I supported, and still do, removing Saddam Hussein. This shit that is happening now is a sign, in case the higher-ups haven't figured that out and are reading this. You know why it's a sign? Because you greedy, money-grubbing assholes are so busy giving contracts to American companies that Iraqis realized the US isn't a savior, just trying to make some green and get some peace as a by-product. This war wasn't about oil, it was about the billions in contracts that can be handed out. We would still have to pay for oil, but these contracts are free money from the tax payers to everybody else involved.

The people getting fucked in this arrangement are the US tax payers and Iraqi civilians trying to make a living. The people benefiting are the Good Ol' Boys club. While I sit here without a job, unable to get a government loan to start up a service that will promote the restaurant industry working more hours than I should, these fat pigs are getting fed even more to provide inefficient services that don't even benefit the local Iraqi economy and makes them be reliant upon the United States.

I never agreed to an occupation. I never agreed to The United States of Iraq. I never agreed to a 51st state. You have disappointed me, and the millions of people who have died to allowed me to say these things.

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Green Nazis

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  • Not to belittle anyone's contribution (and this is a genuine question from a non-American) but is it really millions that have died in battle in US history? Or are you including some non-millitary deaths also?
    • Not to belittle anyone's contribution (and this is a genuine question from a non-American) but is it really millions that have died in battle in US history? Or are you including some non-millitary deaths also?

      I was also counting the people we've killed and have had kill us to make the world where it is today.
      • The Civil War was like a two-fer, both sides were American casualties.

        According to this site [civilwarhome.com]:

        At least 618,000 Americans died in the Civil War, and some experts say the toll reached 700,000. The number that is most often quoted is 620,000.

        So, with that I'm betting we broke a million, but I don't know multiple millions, unless 1.something requires a plural.
        • Here are the American casualties (deaths and wounded) from all major conflicts in which America was actively involved:

          War of Independence: 10,623
          War of 1812: 6,765
          Mexican War: 17,435
          Civil War (combined Federal and Confederate): 970,227
          Spanish-American War: 4,108
          World War I: 320,710
          World War II: 1,078,162
          Korean War: 136,935
          Vietnam War: 211,471
          Gulf War I: 760

          Grand total: 2,757,196 casualties in major conflicts (not counting enemy combatants, civilians, etc.) from 1775-1992. This includes deaths

  • You know, I've been starting to feel the exact same way. You did a great job of putting the whole gov't contract thing into words.

    Now, I still support the guys in the military who are going over there and doing the job they're paid to do -- they're not the ones setting policy. But it pisses me off to have our country spending ALL this money to "rebuild" Iraq... with fucking fiber optic networks and cell towers?! Sorry. Not on my dime.

    Let the fuckers get loans based on their oil. They've got enough to be
    • The trouble is that if you don't leave them (much) better than you found them, you've made the situation much worse for yourself.

      I've mentioned this before (and I was saying this before the war) but without something like the Marshall Plan, the US would be making itself a target in a whole new sort of way for centuries. Literally. Unless the losing party in a war is completely wiped out or very quickly experiences significant growth and general prosperity (that is, it is generally believed that they are ob
      • You'll get no argument from me. I know we have to stay in the game and keep the bad guys out while the country rebuilds. And you're absolutely right that it's the choices of the administration that have put us in this situation. It's all about the money and the power that they are able to confer to other parties that will in return support them with more money and power... How you gonna get in the way of that, and is it a worse situation to be in than having a Socialist... I mean a Democrat... for President
        • Follow the trail there are only to reasons to be in politics Money or more importantly Power
          AFAIK this is true with Rep Dems Commies etc.
        • From a non-American point of view a Democrat isn't any more of a socialist than a Republican is.
          • The difference, theoretically, is this:

            Republicans: You are responsible for yourself and everything that happens to you, good or bad. Especially bad...

            Democrats: Society is to blame for anything that goes wrong in your life, and the government is there to get you past social injustice and to make you good and whole and happy.

            Theoretically the republicans are generally opposed to big government and social programs, while democrats embrace and promote them. To republicans, the government is the enemy to
        • How you gonna get in the way of that, and is it a worse situation to be in than having a Socialist... I mean a Democrat... for President?

          They're not that bad, really. Besides they don't care who you sleep with or what god(s), if any, you pray to.

          In all seriousness go take a good look at all 6 of the serious Democratic canidates (Clark, Dean, Edwards, Gephardt, Kerry, Lieberman). Go read the stuff on their web sites, check out a few news articles, watch them on TV. Don't believe everything you might have
      • The difference is the benefit of the Iraqi economy by having them rebuild their country or having Americans do it.

        The Arab world hates Americans when we deserve to be hated.
        • I don't know what you mean by the difference. The difference between what? This and the Marshall Plan? The allies put alot of money into rebuilding Germany and Japan. The difference is that the Marshall Plan had those countries (Germany and Japan) benefitting more from that investment than it seems Iraq will.
        • Tsk tsk. We keep hearing about what a loving and compassionate and peaceful and embracing religion Islam is. Surely if they are all good muslims over there, they should not hate us... :-p
    • Funny thing is I remember a lot of "it's nothing to worry about" and "you're just paranoid" comments from various war supporters back when Haliburton got it's first no-bid Iraq contract.

      While I'm glad to see more and people realizing just how bad the Iraq related cronyism is, I hate to say I told you so.
      • This whole "Halliburton no-bid contract" thing is a bit off, I have to say. Think of it instead as the government having put Halliburton on retainer. Just like you might put a lawyer on retainer.

        The LOGCAP program isn't new with Bush Jr, and even Clinton has Halliburton on retainer. Does that make Clinton the spawn of all evil? (don't answer that! ;-)
        • Clinton the spawn of all evil? (don't answer that! ;-)

          Yes, I agree. We've all heard enough about Clinton's spawn for much more than one lifetime.

          ....Bethanie....
        • The LOGCAP program isn't new with Bush Jr, and even Clinton has Halliburton on retainer. Does that make Clinton the spawn of all evil?

          Clinton wasn't the former CEO of Haliburton.

          BTW Haliburton has many government contracts. The ones I'm specificly refering to were the inital Iraqi reconstruction contracts which are new with Bush Jr.

          I'm not saying that the various Haliburton deals with the US Government since January 2001 make Bush (or Cheney) the spawn of all evil. However few would dispute there are cl
  • I submit the following for your perusal from the Washington Post [washingtonpost.com]. I'm pretty anti-Bush and while I initially supported the idea of getting rid of Saddam, doing so w/o the help of the rest of the world was pure idiocy. I don't, however, believe there's a massively corrupt cronyism going on beneath our noses. Beureaucrats rarely have a reason to tell huge tales.

    That said, you have my sympathy for the continually frustrating job hunt/app sale struggle. :( Just remember -- Bush's tax cut will save us all! *rol
  • They were in need of reform. Their companies cannot support the restructuring of Iraq as effeciently or cost-effectively as the large firms that are being rewarded contracts will be able to do. The thing that burns me is that France and Germany, who were and still are against the removal of Saddam's rule in Iraq, now want a piece of the financial pie.
    • Their companies cannot support the restructuring of Iraq as effeciently or cost-effectively as the large firms that are being rewarded contracts will be able to do.

      This is just bullshit. Yes, they are/were in need of reform, but being turned into Little America isn't the way to do it. We already have Nevada, we don't need another desert.

      Cell phones were already very well structured, and internet access was also available. The infastructure needed they are well aware of how best to build it. We don't
      • Um, according to the CIA World Factbook, in the year 2000 there was ONE internet service provider in Iraq, with a whopping 12,500 internet users. Probably mostly government employees and Saddam cronies. To say there was internet access available is technically true, but not very meaningful.
        • Um, according to the CIA World Factbook, in the year 2000 there was ONE internet service provider in Iraq, with a whopping 12,500 internet users. Probably mostly government employees and Saddam cronies. To say there was internet access available is technically true, but not very meaningful.
          How many computers? That number is going to change, but now they have a cutting edge, state of the art network to plug in their imaginary computers and get downloaded on the internet.

          The restructuring that American co
  • This shit that is happening now is a sign, in case the higher-ups haven't figured that out and are reading this.

    Maybe I'm too much of a tinfoil hat wearing freak, but I feel that those higher-ups don't need any signs, they know what they are doing to a large extent, and are simply playing a little game with the world, to get themselves more power, money and control.

    same shit, different day.

    • Maybe I'm too much of a tinfoil hat wearing freak, but I feel that those higher-ups don't need any signs, they know what they are doing to a large extent, and are simply playing a little game with the world, to get themselves more power, money and control.

      It's Vietnam, 2003. That's the sign. Every Iraqi who didn't join the resistance but didn't like the US are now either joining or will soon because of what we're doing.

      "America, We'll be your savior and all we ask is your country in return."
      • It's Vietnam, 2003. That's the sign.

        C'mon! Punch up that tagline up a bit! Try:

        • 'Nam 2K3
        • The 'RAQ : The Bush family is BACK!

        Though I make jokes this shit is not a laughing matter, but jokes help from my head popping under the weight of the sheer recklessness of the current administration. This "crusade" will have long term payout, both to contrators AND to terrorists.

  • huh? (Score:2)

    by RLiegh ( 247921 )
    are you serious?
  • Thing is, this is more or less what I thought would happen all along: the Bush Administration would isolate itself (pissing off our major allies and the UN) and leave America holding the bag on Iraq; the Iraqis start to turn on us; and Iraq (and with it the Middle East) ends up a bigger mess than it was.

    Had the Bush Administration taken the Security Council and our allies more seriously from the beginning, rather than first acting like the UN was irrelevant, only going to it as a last resort and then trea

    • Just make sure you try to relay this to as many people as you know, I'm fairly certain (or at least I'd like to think that Bush is certainly gone next election, if not I'll have to question the intellect of the average American), but you cannot let issues die.

      How's that White House leak case going? How's the 9/11 investigation going? Hows the anthrax mailer investigation going? We got Osama right? No? We got Saddam, right? No? Huh the Taliban and Al Qaeda are making a comeback? Oh Yeeeeeahhhhhh,*smacks hea

  • Yeah, a giant stinking pile of it too.

    The "problems" in Iraq right now come from three sources. One, old regime holdouts who want to get back in power. (You can't blame them as some will probably get executed for the way they treated people when they were in power.) Two, criminals. Remember those 100,000 that Hussein released just before the war? Three, foreign terrorists. Money and weapons for the taking, these people want their chance to become martyrs.

    As for the croneyism charges go look at the a
    • One, old regime holdouts who want to get back in power. (You can't blame them as some will probably get executed for the way they treated people when they were in power.)
      Granted.

      Two, criminals. Remember those 100,000 that Hussein released just before the war?

      Most of which didn't receive a fair trial...

      Three, foreign terrorists. Money and weapons for the taking, these people want their chance to become martyrs.
      Not many of those in Iraq, they don't need the help. Besides, didn't most of the Iraq+Ter
      • What Iraqi firms? Do you know of an Iraqi construction firm capable of doing the reconstruction work required in Iraq? How many certified power plant engineers do they have on tap? How many management groups with the necessary infrastructure to coordinate the design, ordering, and receiving of the massive amounts of equipment that is needed to undertake this reconstruction effort?

        (The thing is that this is massive work on a huge scale that even few American companies can tackle. Especially when you thr
        • (The thing is that this is massive work on a huge scale that even few American companies can tackle. Especially when you throw in the security angle.)
          Why not lend expertise, and have an aspiring Iraqi construction firm help. You have seen Iraq right? They have buildings there, they didn't build themselves and they were built long before American construction companies got their hands involved.

          Why does Iraq need the things the American firms are building? Fiber optic networks? Bullshit, lets just get

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