The recently passed and accepted Appropriations Bill (which the Democrats wimped out on) was supposedly about supporting the troops. Guess again. It's more about supporting the war support corporations such as Halliburton and Blackwater than it's about supporting the troops. The shadow army of private military contractors (also known as a mercenary army) numbers some 120,000, almost as many as active duty US troops. These contractors, however, receive about 10 times as much as the US troops in financial remuneration.
Where does this money come from? Why, from the Appropriation Bill just recently passed by Congress, that's where. Of the $124.2 billion, $13.5 billion went to fund the troops, that is, to pay their salaries. $50.4 billion went to the profits of Halliburton, Blackwater and the like and to pay the salaries of the shadow army they hire, otherwise known as private contractors a euphemism for mercenaries. Heck, Bush could run the entire occupation just with mercenaries regardless of whether the troops are withdrawn or not. These mercenaries are accountable to no one - no military justice system nor American nor Iraqi court of law. So while the Congress debates about withdrawing the troops, timelines, surging the troops, troops this and troops that, the reality is that the war and the occupation are doing just fine, thank you, because the mercenaries are providing all essential functions.
In addition, $25.6 billion goes for procurement which means to the profits of defense contractors that supply the MRAPS, helicopters and stuff like that. Also noteworthy is that the President did not request one red cent for Homeland Security or Veterans' health benefits not to mention such trifles as Low Income Home Heating Assistance or Childrens' Health Insurance! Here's a direct quote from the Appropriations Bill:
The Administration continues to try to secure the homeland on the cheap. Too often, they rely on paper security, trying to improve security by paying contractors to write reports and by setting minimal standards for improving security. The President did not request one dime in the supplemental for securing the homeland.
Why, who needs secure borders when we're fighting them over there so they can't even get over here! Sort of like the advertisement for ant control: "Kill them outside your house before they get inside your house." Our borders are like sieves, but it would be a gift of political expediency for the Bush Administration if, God forbid, the homeland were attacked again because then everybody would rally around our President and his approval ratings would soar upward from the abysmal 28% he now enjoys or maybe he doesn't enjoy those low approval ratings that much. Another attack and he could stand tall in the saddle, gaze out to the horizon and proclaim, "We're going to get those guys!" or words to that effect. There's nothing like revenge! The Bushies must be wondering why they aren't "bringing it on." After all we're practically inviting them by ignoring border and port protection not to mention nuclear facility and chemical plant protection. Oh, we'll leave it up to private corporations to do that as they see fit in their infinite wisdom.
According to the Salon article, the President can have the rent-a-guns do their own "surge" without any accountability whatsoever to the American Congress or the American people. Now we know what Dick Cheney is talking about when he says he "works in the shadows." The Congress isn't so much "supporting our troops" as they are supporting Bush's privatized army of unaccountable mercenaries!
From the beginning, these contractors have been a major hidden story of the war, almost uncovered in the mainstream media and absolutely central to maintaining the U.S. occupation of Iraq. While many of them perform logistical support activities for American troops, including the sort of laundry, fuel and mail delivery and food-preparation work that once was performed by soldiers, tens of thousands of them are directly engaged in military and combat activities. According to the Government Accountability Office, there are now some 48,000 employees of private military companies in Iraq. These not-quite GI Joes, working for Blackwater and other major U.S. firms, can clear in a month what some active-duty soldiers make in a year. "We got 126,000 contractors over there, some of them making more than the secretary of defense," said House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee chairman John Murtha. "How in the hell do you justify that?"
Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul are two voices crying out in the wilderness and evidently the only two who are willing to tell the American people the truth about what's really going on with this war in Iraq, the war on truth and the war on the American people.
