AV8,
Getting back to my point, you aked:
I really would like you to link to where I said all our FOB's were using Iraqi utilities. I promise you I did not say that.
I never said you did say that. No one is logging in under your name so calm down. I was having a little fun with your comments.
BUT! you knew that was coming didn't you What I was driving at was some time back there were several news stories being posted that were all bad news about the efforts over there. You and some others objected that the news was skewed and that there were good things going on and weren't being reported as widely as the bad news. Well, you were right and I would agree. I have several friends over there/have been over there and I hear lots of good news all the time and I hear some bad news as well. War is always a mixed bag but war is where Iraq is different. It's not a war anymore, it's an occupation in the truest sense of the word IMO.
Bush declared victory several years ago and some went nuts about it. Now I'm no fan of Bush at all but he was 100% right in saying what he said. The war was over, the goal was to remove Saddam from power and that was completed. Now the mission changed to occupation, pacification and democrazation being the goal. The surge is about pacification in order to move further into the democrazaton plan. But that's another thread.
My real point of my comedic remarks to your's was the fact that you so rabidly objected to news coverage and some of that objection was understandibly justified and also your political side if you will had their own spin machine going that painted a picture in some sense matching what I was making fun of. Need a case in point? How about your commander in chief who on 12/7/05' to a speech before the Council on Foreign Relations (yeah I got the place bugged
a funny for alex jones) when he said the following good things about Iraq:
Sustaining electric power remains a major challenge. Construction has begun on three new substations to help boost capacity. Boost capacity? Boosting capacity means to increase what is already there and adding substations means you are expanding the reach of the grid.
Because there's a shortage of clean water, new water treatment and sewage units are now being installed. He didn't say there is no water but there is a shortage of clean water meaning there is some available. Adding treatment and sweage units means more to come in the near future.
Najaf is now in the hands of elected government officials. An elected provincial council is at work drafting plans to bring more tourism and commerce to the city. Political life has returned and campaigns for the upcoming elections have begun with different parties competing for the vote.
One man from Najaf put it this way: "Three years ago we were in ruins. One year ago we were fighting in the streets. Now look at the people shopping and eating and not in fear." Shopping and eating? I would think you'd need power and water to do that.
One of the largest projects was the rebuilding of the Najaf teaching hospital, which had been looted and turned into a military fortress by the militia.
Thanks to the efforts by Iraqi doctors and local leaders, and with the help of American personnel, the hospital is now open and capable of serving hundreds of patients each day.
Here's a transcript of the complete speech itself:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/12/07/bush.transcript/
OK, I know that was 2005' and much happened over the last 2 years but here's my problem. Things in fact did go bad after this speech and yet when some folks here posted and discussed those facts, you and some others objected and some here may feel my use of the term objected for your reactions is way to nice but I'm cool with it!
Plus, even though we disagree on some issues I admire your loyality no matter what.
Now a video emerges concerning the actions of private contractors and you seem to paint a picture that things are so bad over there we need these guys. That may well be true in gaining back what was lost since Bush's speech but I ask why a private contractor who has an adminstrative assistant (new PC name for a secretary) needs a $200k plus
luxury SUV (as thisis how the video reported it)and you come back as though I thought armored and military electronic equipped SUV's were unnecessary in that area. Depending on the job, obsolutely but for a secretary for her own personal use? Is that fiscal responsibilty to equip a private secretary with such but then have have our own US military personal shorted of armored equipment? I say our soldiers come first and foremost but maybe you have a different belief there.
Remember these stories:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/news/2004/041220-armored-vehicles.htm
OK, it's a 2004' story but here's one more current:
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/With_shortage_of_armored_humvees_soldiers_0808.html
Granted this story doesn't revolve around an in-theater shortage but the fact remains a shortage of humvees exist and what happens if we have to esculate in Afghanistan, Pakistan or the worse happens with Iran or even Syria? See my point? What happens if we've over spent in-theater with private contractors shorting our own forces for the future?
I have a hard time believing that you watched all 10 parts to this video which totals 76 minutes in lenght. The video never questioned the reason for being in Iraq nor IMO did it question the use of private contractors but rather are we being ripped off in some areas with excess and over charging that in the normal business world would never be tolerated.
AV8, wars of the past were financed by the spoils of victory or some means among the victorious population to pay tribute or taxes to pay for the efforts. WW2 for example was paid in many ways by war bonds and the Victory Tax Act which became the income tax on wages through withholding that we have today. It was codified in the 1954' Tax Act that gave us the Income Tax code of 1954'. Some felt Iraq would pay for itself in oil, yes AV8, read some of the policy wonks and oil was very much in this picture. Not the driving force but it was the "gravy on the biscuit" so to speak. This has never emerged where Iraq oil on the global markets would send downward pressures on pricing plus pay first and foremost for the new Iraq but we still must pay for our efforts over there as it goes right now and the price tag is getting costly in light of other domestic issues.
This war is being paid for with a Uncle Sam "Home Equity" loan and we've maxed out the limit. We keep getting the limit raised but we are beyond the value of our total asset worth and are in real danger of economic meltdown. You and I and the rest here are on the hook to pay the tab and if the majority want to prosecute a military occupation then my point in all of this is to do so with fiscal responsibilty and to make sure all waste is dealt with. You can give nice SUV's to the private contractors and BTW they are described as
"Luxury" SUV's and not
"Armored" SUV's so I'm questioning the luxury and not the armored type, but at some point when you run out of money and the ability to borrow is gone, what will you buy bullets and bombs with then? If you were Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, would you attack now or would you mouth off to keep the flames up and wait for the foreclosure notice to go up and then do something dramatic?
Warfare is fought as much if not moreso with economics as it is with guns and bombs. Besides, keep going and the Mideast "RICH" radical nutjobs can just buy us for pennies on the dollar and they've got tons of pennies thanks to our oil monopolized economy thanks to gov't policy via healthy tax revenue ie gas tax! Hard to tax solar and wind isn't it? Hint! hint!
And I'll bet you the world if the mideast buys us up there will be a Halliburton, KBR and CACI international headquaters somewhere in the mideast still doing bidness as usual. These guys or rather their ilk have been around as long as there's been warfare and they switch sides at the blink of an eye!
I'm just tring to use the first principle of traditional conservative gov't and that is fiscal responsibilty and you want to question and debate me for doing so. And you wonder why Hillary or Obama may get elected come Novemeber and why Rush Limbaugh sez he may not vote for a Repub. or Demo. come Novemeber. Hey Rush, to quote a fantastic ole' tune, "Welcome to My World" I been living since 2004'. Should have listened to those in the know who in the summer of 2000' sounded the warning bells when Gipper picked Bush 1 as his #2. That ended everything right then but it took me till after the 2002' elections to realize it!