If any of you are still sitting there thinking “well, they didn’t have any WMD, they weren’t connected to al Qaeda, so why *did* we have to invade Iraq” – one of the reasons has emerged in a memorandum prepared for the meeting of the U.S. House committee on oversight and government reform which is examining Iraqi reconstruction.
In the year after the invasion of Iraq in 2003 nearly 281 million notes, weighing 363 tonnes, were sent from New York to Baghdad for disbursement to Iraqi ministries and US contractors. Using C-130 planes, the deliveries took place once or twice a month with the biggest of $2,401,600,000 on June 22 2004, six days before the handover. The memorandum details the casual manner in which the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority disbursed the money, which came from Iraqi oil sales, surplus funds from the UN oil-for-food programme and seized Iraqi assets.
(link)
Yep – money. Shitloads of money, funneled from the pockets of Iraqi citizens (via U.S. Congress) into the pockets of…. nobody knows. But it isn’t hard to guess. Just follow the hype. Who wanted the war? Who campaigned for it hardest? Who manipulated the perceptions of the public in order to justify it?
The report continues:
The memorandum concludes: “Many of the funds appear to have been lost to corruption and waste … thousands of ‘ghost employees’ were receiving pay cheques from Iraqi ministries under the CPA’s control. Some of the funds could have enriched both criminals and insurgents fighting the United States.”
According to Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, the $8.8bn funds to Iraqi ministries were disbursed “without assurance the monies were properly used or accounted for”. But, according to the memorandum, “he now believes that the lack of accountability and transparency extended to the entire $20bn expended by the CPA”.
This is what “Operation Shock And Awe” was mostly about – the cynical redistribution of wealth from the hands of the Iraqi people into the hands of foreign countries with larger armies. It’s like the countries we live in are primary school bullies taking lunch off of the Year One kids at lunchtime. If the kids report our bullying to the teacher (the UN Security Council) it doesn’t matter a damn because we OWN the teachers. They are part of the system of corruption and control.
Welcome to democracy.
Seems like a bad investment if you ask me! Hasn’t the US spent more on the war then the Iraqi (and I do note that the second quote talks about the Iraqi ministers) have given to the US? Not to mention the lives and the bad will towards Bush and his Party.
Molly
We all know it was about money and oil…
The US would rather invade another country under the guise of “WMD” than think about developing alternative fuel sources and energy creation schemes. The US only cares about the US. US business must continue to run! Nevermind the costs to the environment or another developing country. Money closes mouths, but you can’t eat money.
The US is slowing eating itself from the inside out… It should be interesting to see how much house cleaning the next President will have to do to make the USA “healthy” again.
The “U.S.” has spent lots more money on invading Iraq, but here’s how it looks to me.
1. The US Congress approves a war fund to spend on invading the country.
2. This money comes from a) tax revenues (the people) and b) loans (which the people will have to pay back from future tax revenues)
3. This money is spent on weapons, troops, and other war-related services. These weapons, troops and services are provided by a small group of private companies whose directors make a tidy profit.
4. After the invasion is over, the US Congress grants more money to “re-building” the country. This involves more contracts, paid for in the same way (out of the pockets of US citizens), to the same small group of private companies who are in the business (surprise!) of re-building the same countries their weapons and troops just destroyed. More profits for them.
5. Meanwhile, while they are raping the US taxpayers, current and future, they are also raping the Iraqi people whose countries they just destroyed, by taking control of their funds and – whoops – they all disappeared.
It’s just money for jam. No wonder these wars happen non-stop.
Without war there is no military… without military there is no way to spend crap-loads of money on useless ventures that line the pockets of the very businesses that support the people who are currently in power. Without the war, the general public would actually have time to stop and think about the hell that their country is going to.
Imagine what the US could accomplish if they took the cost of just one stealth bomber and put that money into education, or healthcare, or the environment, or even alternative energy. What are those planes worth? 2 billion? Sheesh.
It’s nearly all over in Iraq boys and girls. I’ve just uncovered a secret memo. Here it is;
The Pentagon announced today the formation of a new 500-man elite fighting unit called the United States Redneck Special Forces. These Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas boys will be dropped off in Iraq and have been given only the following facts about terrorists:
1. The season opened today.
2. There is no limit.
3. They taste just like chicken.
4. They don’t like beer, pickups, country music or Jesus.
5. They are DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE for the death of Dale Earnhardt.
6. Their favorite movie is BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN .
We expect the problem in Iraq to be over by Friday!
ROFL! I don’t know who Earnhardt is but ok. The memo could have said death of Elvis, would have worked.
FYI
Dale Earnhardt was the American version of Peter Brock.