Official history of Iraq reconstruction reveals incompetence on a Mugabean scale

(click to embiggen)

From the New York Times:

An unpublished 513-page federal history of the American-led reconstruction of Iraq depicts an effort crippled before the invasion by Pentagon planners who were hostile to the idea of rebuilding a foreign country, and then molded into a $100 billion failure by bureaucratic turf wars, spiraling violence and ignorance of the basic elements of Iraqi society and infrastructure.

The history, the first official account of its kind, is circulating in draft form here and in Washington among a tight circle of technical reviewers, policy experts and senior officials. It also concludes that when the reconstruction began to lag — particularly in the critical area of rebuilding the Iraqi police and army — the Pentagon simply put out inflated measures of progress to cover up the failures.

In one passage, for example, former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell is quoted as saying that in the months after the 2003 invasion, the Defense Department “kept inventing numbers of Iraqi security forces — the number would jump 20,000 a week! ‘We now have 80,000, we now have 100,000, we now have 120,000.’

Mr. Powell’s assertion that the Pentagon inflated the number of competent Iraqi security forces is backed up by Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the former commander of ground troops in Iraq, and L. Paul Bremer III, the top civilian administrator until an Iraqi government took over in June 2004.”

Those phony numbers would help Bush win a narrow victory in 2004. Just as the Department of Homeland Security would issue a new terror alert whenever the president's poll numbers began to sag, so the Department of Defense would issue a rosy new progress report whenever events in Iraq indicated that the situation was spiraling out of control. In fact, it appears that from the beginning of the occupation, the White House saw the appearance of progress in Iraq as a means to an end, the end being the re-election of President Bush:
Read more »

More About Blackwater: Bounty For Finding (Fighting-Fit) Bodies?

A regular reader who'd rather remain anonymous sends us this. (Scroll down a bit).

From: Blackwater Employment
Date: Jul 10, 2007 4:24 PM
Subject: Blackwater Security Positions - Available for people with experience
To: xxxx

Dear Friend,

In order to staff a current contract, Blackwater Worldwide is offering a $1,000.00 referral fee for a limited time.Payable to any member of the Blackwater Tactical Community who refers a qualified candidate who successfully deploys for us to an area of Blackwater operation.

Referrals are paid only when the candidate reports for the duty assignment in the area of operations.In the event of a referral dispute, Blackwater Worldwide reserves the right at its sole discretion to determine the referral fee recipient.

SECURITY POSITIONS

Qualifications Note -These are hard requirements! Please do not apply if you do not not meet these basic requirements.

8 years of Military service with qualifications in one of the following: US Navy SEALS, Army Special Forces or Rangers, Marine Force Recon, Air Force PJ or CCT.

Must have or be eligible for US Government Secret Clearance.

Must be a US Citizen!

Must have a minimum of one year experience in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Must be proficient in small arms and be in excellent physical condition.

If you or someone you know is interested, please send resumes to D.CXXXXX at XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

We appreciate your time and consideration.
__________________

Anonymous claims the email came from here.

We're not sure what we should think.

What about you?

Bravo, Brave POTRERO: Small American Town Takes On Blackwater Beasts ...

We rate this a 'must read'.

Especially, for all genuine freedom loving American citizens.

They should take it as an inspirational example, and a reminder of what/how their country once was - and could/should become again. And to that end we would urge all of those who can to spread this story far & wide - via all means possible - since it's a certainty that MSM won't.

SMALL TOWN STANDS UP TO BLACKWATER

By Malcom Lagoughe



(Proposed Blackwater site in Potrero, CA October 8, 2007)

We have all heard by now about the recent atrocities performed by Blackwater, the mercenary company par excellence, in Iraq. Seventeen innocent civilians were killed in an attack by the paid killers.

The administration is "appalled" and said it will rein in Blackwater. In just a few days, the company’s prior agreement that it can not be held liable under any law has been rescinded. Pious assholes of the Bush administration are now trying to look good in the public’s eye by bashing Blackwater.

The rage that the officials speak of is phony. For the past four years, all one had to do was to go to YouTube to see many videos taken by Blackwater employees that showed them killing Iraqi civilians. All the time they were shooting, they were laughing. I find it quite bizarre that millions of U.S. citizens knew about Blackwater’s deadly actions years before the U.S. government.

We all know the government knew of the atrocities but never had to do anything because there were no complaints. That has all changed. Again, I condemn mainstream journalism for not addressing the issue that the U.S. government knew of the actions yet did nothing to halt them. The media are only reporting on the recent actions by the administration, not the four-year coverup that preceded the new humanitarian enlightenment.

Blackwater has created a hornet’s nest in my own area. Just a few miles from where I live, is the town of Potrero, a rural entity with about 800 inhabitants.

Last June, Congressman Duncan Hunter and San Diego County Supervisor Dianne Jacob met with Blackwater representatives and listened to a sales pitch in which the mercenary group would set up shop in Potrero. In October 2006, Blackwater made a proposal to the Potrero Planning Group of its plans. (A Planning Group in this area is an elected board that decides land-use issues.)

At the December meeting, those members of the public in attendance were shocked to see that the agenda held an item for the Planning Group to vote on whether to okay Blackwater’s plans. The vote passed 7-0.

When asked where the agenda was placed for the public to see, the group said that one of its members published it in his Christian newsletter. In other words, the public had no idea that the agenda included a vote on Blackwater. One of the group’s members wore a Blackwater t-shirt. Later, it was discovered that several group members had flown to North Carolina, at Blackwater’s expense, to tour the headquarters.

The people of Potrero began to unravel the illegal and shady vote on Blackwater. Five of the Planning Group members have been recalled and will have to stand in a special election slated for December 2007. Local opposition has been strong for such a small community. "Stop Blackwater" signs can be seen throughout the town.

The recent events in Iraq have given the Blackwater opponents a valuable and powerful new tool. Now, it is known nationwide that Blackwater wanted to secretly open an assassin’s school in this small town.

On October 7, 2007, several hundred Blackwater opponents showed up to a rally in Potrero. Across the street were about 15 advocates who wore Blackwater baseball caps. According to the article "Blackwater foes begin fight with their feet," written by Anne Krueger for the October 8 issue of the San Diego Union-Tribune

Wearing a bright green "Stop Blackwater" t-shirt, Rep. Bob Filner urged about 200 protestors yesterday to keep up their fight against Blackwater USA’s plans to build a military and law enforcement training center in the backcountry community of Potrero.

"We’re going to stop them," Filner, D-San Diego, told the demonstrators who gathered about a mile from the site of the proposed training camp. "Blackwater is a black mark on American democracy."

Filner has proposed a bill in Congress that would allow mercenary training only on military bases. Opponents of Blackwater say the company’s workers in Iraq are mercenaries.

Local weekly newspapers in East San Diego County are involved in the issue. The Alpine Sun has been at the forefront of exposing the once secret plan to the public. According to the paper’s publisher, Vonnie Sanchez:

We have run several articles about Blackwater wanting to set up shop in Portero. The readers have been very pleased with the coverage. Most agree that Blackwater should not come to Potrero.

A meeting in which a sneaky Planning Group tried to slide an item on the agenda by the public has turned into a political scandal. Not only the issue of Blackwater’s future in rural San Diego County is being thoroughly discussed, but the role of elected officials and ethics is on the table. Five members may pay for their deceit by being booted out of office.

When all is said and done, the Potrero Planning Group will not have the last say in the matter. A Planning Group’s decision is only a "suggestion" and the San Diego County Board of Supervisors has the last word. Even if the members are recalled and a new and legitimate vote is held in which the Portrero Planning Group overturns the original vote, the County Board of Supervisors can say, "Thanks for your opinion, but we are in favor of Blackwater coming to Potrero."

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors is comprised of five members: all conservative Republicans. One, Bill Horn, gained nationwide publicity a few years ago when he gave his opinion on a TV news item that showed a U.S. soldier kill an unarmed and wounded Iraqi in a house. Even though the public was aghast at such an execution, Horn said that the soldier should be awarded a medal for bravery and the cameraman should be arrested and tried as a spy.
The other four members are almost identical in their views with Horn. When asked about their assessment on Blackwater’s coming to Potrero, the Board has refused to give a statement.

Realistically, it looks like Blackwater will be given the okay to come to Potrero by the Board of Supervisors. However, if the pressure from the public grows enough, even they may have to back down and consider the Blackwater move a political liability.

We know that the Bush administration’s "outrage" about Blackwater’s actions will be short-lived. Once the heat cools down, it will be business as usual. But, the people of a small town in southern California, who must live next to a mercenary camp and hear bombs exploding and bullets being fired 24 hours a day, will not allow Blackwater to come to their community without a fierce fight.

==================================================

:: Article nr. 37043 sent on 09-oct-2007 04:17 ECT
Link: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=37043

Link: www.malcomlagauche.com/id1.html:: The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Uruknet.
==================================================

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* Huge hat-tip to regular reader, 'sweet old lady'.

New Orleans Now: Greg Palast, Poor Niggers And Blackwater Bastards ...

Forget all about the absolute shit recently spewed by G.W.B. regarding New Orleans, Katrina, etc.

Read a genuine journalist's first hand reports re; how things really are - 'way down yonder'.

Read it right now.

[Thurs August 30]

“They wanted them poor niggers out of there and they ain’t had no intention to allow it to be reopened to no poor niggers, you know? And that’s just the bottom line.”

So says New Orleans [black] resident Malik Rahim, while speaking to true American patriot, roving reporter and film maker, Greg Palast.

Among the miles and miles of devastated houses, rubble still there today in New Orleans, we found dry, beautiful homes.

But their residents were told by guys dressed like Ninjas wearing “Blackwater” badges: “Try to go into your home and we’ll arrest you.”

Erm ... excuse us?

Wait a minute ...

W.T.F.?

Privatised, paramilitary mercenaries?

Brazenly, roaming freely around America's roads & streets?

With powers to arrest regular, everyday American citizens?

In their own country? In America? 'The Land of the Free'?

For trying to enter their own homes?

O.M.G.

Today, it seems, in the USA things are even worse than we thought they were. Much, much worse.

Right. Read on.

These aren’t just any homes. They are the public housing projects of the city; the Lafitte Houses and others. But unlike the cinder block monsters in the Bronx, these public units are beautiful townhouses, with wrought-iron porches and gardens right next to the tony French Quarter.

Raised up on high ground, with floors and walls of concrete, they were some of the only houses left salvageable after the Katrina flood.

Yet, two years later, there’s still bars on the windows, the doors are welded shut and the residents banned from returning. On the first anniversary of the flood, we were filming this odd scene when I saw a woman on the sidewalk, sobbing.

Night was falling.

What was wrong?

Find out for yourself at Greg Palast's website.

Shorter 'Blackwater' : Scary, Shameless SOBs ...

There's an old saying that goes something along the lines of: One can't lay down with dogs, and still stay flea-free.

However, since under circumstances such as those which should soon become apparent, we still can't bring ourselves around to being cruel enough to start shouting "Karma".

Regardless - read on.

Blackwater Heavies Sue Families of Slain Employees for $10 Million in Brutal Attempt to Suppress Their Story.

The following article is by the lawyers representing the families of four American contractors who worked for Blackwater and were killed in Fallujah.

After Blackwater refused to share information about why they were killed, the families were told they would have to sue Blackwater to find out. Now Blackwater is trying to sue them for $10 million to keep them quiet.

Raleigh, NC — The families of four American security contractors who were burned, beaten, dragged through the streets of Fallujah and their decapitated bodies hung from a bridge over the Euphrates River on March 31, 2004, are reaching out to the American public to help protect themselves against the very company their loved ones were serving when killed, Blackwater Security Consulting.

After Blackwater lost a series of appeals all the away to the U.S. Supreme Court, Blackwater has now changed its tactics and is suing the dead men’s estates for $10 million to silence the families and keep them out of court.

Now, move on over to 'Current Era' for more.

But before you leave us, take a little look here to learn more about Blackwater

Then there's this at Wikipedia.

And here's where you can enlighten yourself regarding the guy responsible for inflicting Blackwater on the world in the first place -- he's Erik Prince.

That one's own so-called civilized government should come sink to this, eh?

*