As the greediest syndicates on earth haggle over a bailout for the new gilded age Dons, the mess in Iraq seems to diminish before our overwhelmed eyes.
Being confronted with our own possible starvation, we seem to have little time to remember that Iraq is unfinished business. Unfinished at our own future peril. To subject helpless, innocent, third world citizens to our national case of Attention Deficit Disorder, may lead to an oblivion of heartbreak. OURS.
And it is just plain sinful.
They tell us we need a 'clean bill', after trying to guarantee golden parachutes for perpetrators. A villainous bill, evidenced by Paulson's attempt to include a no review clause that states:
"Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency."
"we need a clean bill" to me says humanity be damned.
Meanwhile the misery these pathological miscreants are causing worldwide IN OUR NAME through the conduit of greed, not only continues, but gets darker and more sullen every day.
We should not forget in whose name they did this.....
Like pigs in a trough, Lobbyists are in a feeding frenzy over the latest fiasco, a $700 Billion hogfest to the financial industry wizards whose unmitigated greed got us here. Just a small portion, maybe one or two golden parachutes worth of these resources, could begin to provide some relief for the miserable souls we helped create in Iraq. What good is Democracy without sewage treatment or drinkable water?
These degenerates are fighting like hell to keep their Rolex's and yachts while ignoring the Iraq hell hole that their greedy ways directly and indirectly caused. Pizza Hut & Burger King are in Iraq.. Blackwater, Haliburton, KBR.
Private companies like these did not go there to feed Iraqi people. They went there to make money off our soldiers and taxpayers, ignoring the needs of Iraqi People. They ignore us too, the American people, with equal disdain.
Lobbyists in 'feeding frenzy'
By Fredreka Schouten, Ken Dilanian and Matt Kelley, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — The financial services industry, which has spent billions on lobbying and campaign contributions over the last decade, is scrambling to make its case for a proposed $700 billion bailout plan amid deep public skepticism.
Wall Street firms, commercial banks and insurers are lobbying on an array of issues — from beating back proposals to make it easier to reduce mortgage debts in bankruptcy courts to fighting, unsuccessfully so far, to retain control over executive pay...
The report cited a 2005 amendment defeated in the Senate, 40-58, that would have curbed predatory lending. No Republicans supported it, Senate records show, and four Democrats voted against it, including Joe Biden, the Democratic vice presidential nominee. His running mate, Barack Obama, voted for it. Republican nominee John McCain voted against it
Meanwhile the reality on the ground in Iraq is has improved little in 5 years. A lack of basic services probably invokes memories of less stressful times under Saddam. This is a dangerous condition for our national security. Ask yourself how you'd feel if your front porch looked like this:
from Al Jazeera English, Sept 11 2008
Cholera outbreak spreads in Iraq
Babel, a central Iraqi province, is on alert after Iraqi authorities declared it a disaster zone marking the country's latest cholera outbreak.
At least five people died on Thursday while 90 new cases had been reported, local and national health officials said.
Babel's provincial council, said: "The laboratory reports from Babel health department indicate there are 200 cases of suspected cholera, vomiting and diarrhea in the province".
At least 20 people, including seven children and two women, have died from cholera in the past three days, a local official said...\
Salih al-Hasnawi, Iraq's health minister, said years of war have degraded water-treatment facilities in Iraq and deprived many Iraqis of clean drinking water.
"These conditions had contributed to the cholera outbreak," he said.
Most Iraqi's are miserable and poor, not stupid or ignorant. They are living in these deplorable conditions, watching us. I can only imagine the collective anger and sadness welling up inside as Iraqi citizens watch the worlds greediest act like cocks on a walk slapping us with one hand, the other hand outstretched, palm facing up, fingers flexing 'gimme gimme'.
A little humanity might go a long way. What percentage of $700b would it take to clean up the sewage in baghdad? or the rest of Iraq's water problems? How many reclamation plants could be built and operated for say one billion. How many people can be relieved of some misery, that we created, for say 2 billion. The point is not so much to require allocation. The point is to have enough humanity to ask in the first place.
From the World Health Organization
10 September 2008 -- On 20 August 2008, cases of acute watery diarrhoea from Baghdad and Misan Province were laboratory confirmed as cholera. They constitute the first cholera cases detected in Iraq in 2008. By 28 August, seven cases had been laboratory confirmed, and a further 174 cases were suspected as cholera, bringing the total number of reported cases to 181 (128 in Missan and 53 in Baghdad). In the first week of September, the outbreak spread to Babil Province, south of Baghdad, where 116 suspect cases have now been identified. The presence of Vibrio cholerae, the bacterium causing the disease, has been confirmed in 21 cases. To date there have been 10 fatalities, three of whom tested positive for Vibrio cholera.
The re-emergence of cholera this year is not unexpected: in September 2007, the country was affected by a large outbreak (4696 cases with 24 deaths). The outbreak occurred mainly in northern Iraq, but sporadic cases were also detected in other provinces.
The overall quality of water and sanitation remains very poor, a factor known to greatly facilitate cholera contamination. Experience has shown that long term-prevention of cholera depends on access to safe water and adequate sanitation to prevent exposure and interrupt transmission. Improving water and sanitation infrastructures is therefore a long-term goal of WHO and its partners in Iraq and, in times of outbreaks, it is essential that immediate measures, such as water treatment at household level, health education and proper case management, are implemented rapidly. To this end, the Government of Iraq is providing chlorine tablets to families and is intensifying social mobilization activities.
Any of these political hacks or Wall Street Bozo's, could have mentioned the unfinished business in Iraq. Hell that war is probably the biggest single source of perennial doubt devouring the trust in our nation. It makes financial sense to address a war that is turning our dollar into birdcage liner. What would a commitment to end the military presence, and begin heavy humanitarian investment in Iraq do to stabilize our trustworthiness? Trust me, our dollar and clean drinking water for Iraqi people ARE connected. We connected them in March, 2003.
And for a teeny percentage of the magic number of $700,000,000,000, Iraqi people could have clean water and electricity.
This could have been done a long time ago, if Iraq's people had been contracted to do it, allowing Iraqi citizens a wage and a stake in their country. and for a fraction of the money we threw at corrupt private contractor's in the name fraternal cronyism. This to me is the second reason why Iraq is a dismal failure; Greed. The invasion was the first.
Iraq's cholera epidemic is nothing new. from the New York Times Sept 2007:
BAGHDAD, Sept. 11 — A cholera epidemicin northern Iraq has infected approximately 7,000 people and could reach Baghdad within weeks as the disease spreads through the country’s decrepit and unsanitary water system, Iraqi health officials said Tuesday.
From BBC World News Aug 30 2007
I am livid that we started a war based on lies. I never trusted Bush, not even before Sept 11th. Bushco are war criminals whose ways may yet catch up to them. Still we cannot forget about the people of Iraq. How many profiteers will be safe in ten or twenty years in their gilded palaces with their private armies and golden statues and hounds, releasable?
We the people must Maintain our humanity. I will never fail to see the perverse dichotomy betwixt these pigs at the trough and their disdain for the squalid, terrorist incubator's THEY have done so much to create.