I'm trying to get around this illusion of war engines and fighting to put a spot light on why we were there and what we were doing and if you truly love and enjoy the quality of a consumerist world all we were trying to do was show other people who are in havoc and distress that there is a better quality of life there are things to hope for and dream for and I feel like the system and society has turned a blind eye to providing the assistance and help that veterans need to keep hope to stay alive and feel like they still have a purpose and have accomplished something. I question now as I have the time to reflect, what has happened to those children? To those communities and families? Would the answers fulfill me and reconcile my sacrifice? I ask this because of all the violence and war still going on 8 years later. I wonder did I prevent anyone from committing evil acts? did I give the hope and dreams I thought I have given? These people were intrigued about our culture, movies, movie stars, politicians and I know we do not get credit for it but honestly we were speaking on behalf of these people. I did not need to say anything positive about a movie star, or product or politician but we did and we had something in common to talk about and this created bonds and friendship, Trust Im not sure because you never know but overall I believe we did way more good than bad.
Its extremely hard to not grow resentful and hatred when your forced to struggle and not allowed true freedom.
I shouldn't have listened to so many people that said go ahead this would be great and (you'll be taken care of) I couldn't feel any more distant from that comment than I do today after everything I have experience and been through.
Just like this photo I took during my deployment of a young girl bringing home blankets to keep her family warm from our sacrifice and hard work. This photo represents the hope that we were passing on to the younger generation and to build the hearts and minds.
Healing begins when the perpetrators recognize wrong doing. So for vets to heal is for the people that profited off the war but has yet to donate, help, or support those who have and express their guilt and remorse. Only then will veterans be able to sleep at night and wake another day.
Just like in this video where this reporter that's such a punk is trying to state this is the worst thing she has ever experienced, no lets just state an ignorant comment like this and forget about all the police abuse and abuse from the rich the poor have to endure. I'm pretty sure a lot of poor people have been pushed, shoved, abused, hit, or killed yet they do not have any support to hold someone rich accountable. I am just so sick of high horse people walking around acting like someone owe them something, when no matter what they own, control, invent, create and distribute, it would all be impossible without the military. All though I am disappointed in the support the military offers, through educating myself I realize its not the military that owes veterans for becoming victims to society but those who slept well at night when I or fellow soldiers where unable to, those who go out in public and act like the are a big shot and look down on veterans as if we are worthless because of our obstacles to recover back into a society they control and they call shots on.
THOSE WHO GIVE ALL DESERVE ALL
To them war is profit and control and plunder.
Im not accusing or speaking against government but calling out those individuals and families that are enjoying and living the American dream right now. Those who classify themselves as high class and better than others when their money in drenched in the blood and sweat of soldiers. They messed up and every day 22 veterans commit suicide because of the lack of support. They should have made sure or make sure that veterans have high paying jobs to cover the cost of the American dream of freedom. Knowledge over money equals success. Healing begins when the perpetrators recognize wrong doing. So for veterans to heal is for the people that profited off the war but has yet to donate, help, or support. They first need to have and express their guilt and remorse only then will veterans be able to sleep at night and wake another day.
How can you not be mad, disappointed as a veteran that's left out to struggle. The very same people that voted and supported these elite now give up on their veterans because of lack of understanding and support of the war.
Imagine how hard it is to reflect in the widths of struggle and realized you watched these American companies hand over brand new vehicles to foreign countries in hopes of gaining their trust and corporation yet its some how difficult for these same companies or others like it to hand over or find founding to supply every disabled veteran a brand new vehicle giving them back hope and ability to succeed.
They stated in the beginning that the contractors responsible for bringing heavy equipment DID NOT SHOW UP! YET THEY GOT MILLIONS IN TAX MONEY FROM THE GOVERNMENT TO HELP YET SOLDIERS VETERANS SUFFER to this day because of scumbags.
It brought "Hope and Progress" to the oil industry and Halliburton. Not to the tens of thousands of Americans killed and maimed for a lie.
A lie for oil.......nothing more. If Dick Cheney had any shame, he would spend the rest of his life begging forgiveness from the families of the dead and wounded.
1. Halliburton
The first name that comes to everyone’s mind here is Halliburton. According toMSN Money, Halliburton’s KBR, Inc. division bilked government agencies to the tune of $17.2 billion in Iraq war-related revenue from 2003-2006 alone. This is estimated to comprise a whopping one-fifth of KBR’s total revenue for the 2006 fiscal year. The massive payoff is said to have financed the construction and maintenance of military bases, oil field repairs, and various infrastructure rebuilding projects across the war-torn nation. This is just the latest in a long string of military/KBR wartime partnerships, thanks in no small part to Dick Cheney’s former role with the parent company.
At first blush, a private equity fund (and not, say, Exxon-Mobil) being the number 2 profiteer in the Iraq war might sound strange. However, the cleverly run fund has raked in $1.44 billion through its DynCorp subsidiary. The primary service DynCorp has provided to the war efforts is the training of new Iraqi police forces. Often described as a ‘state within a state‘, the sizable company is headed by Dwight M. Williams, former Chief Security Officer of the upstart U.S. Department of Homeland Security. With this and other close ties to defense agencies, Veritas Capital Fund and DynCorp are well-positioned to capitalize on Iraq even more.
All war zones eventually becomes cluttered with spent ammunition and broken/abandoned weapons, creating a lucrative niche for any company willing to clean it all up. In Iraq, this duty has fallen into the hands of Environmental Chemical. The privately held Burlingame, California company has stockpiled $878 million by the end of fiscal 2006 for munitions disposal, calling upon its “decade of experience planning and conducting UXO removal, investigation, and certification activities.” The company has close ties to several defense agencies and is staffed by graduates of the U.S. Navy’s Explosive Ordinance Schools, as well as the U.S. Army’s Chemical Schools at Anniston.
Perini (controlled by financier Richard Blum) is one of the more controversial companies to have scored big-time Iraq war money. That’s because Blum’s wife, Senator Dianne Feinstein, appears to have used her seat on the Military Construction Appropriations subcomittee to steer the $650 million environmental cleanup deal in his favor. This has lead to outrage and cries for conflict of interest investigations among those in the media, as well as Feinstein’s peers in Congress. Feinstein has also neglected to comment on this potential conflict of interest. This has lead to what Metroactive.com calls an “omission [that] has called her ethical standards into question
Another widely disparaged, Blum-controlled company that has profited from Iraq is URS Corporation. Long known as one of the nation’s major defense contractors, San Francisco-based URS has collected $792 million in environmental cleanup fees in Iraq war zones. As with Perini, both Blum and Feinstein have come under intense scrutiny to answer questions about the apparent conflict of interest inherent in Feinstein helping to secure such an exorbitant government contract for her investment banker husband. Both Blum and Feinstein have refused to produce copies of the ethics commitee’s rulings on Perini and URS, leading to considerable suspicion.
Few Iraq contractors have come under fire as much as Parsons, who reportedly mismanaged the construction a police academy so poorly that human waste dripped from its ceilings. Far from being an isolated incident, reports from federal government auditors revealed lackluster work on 13 of the 14 Iraq projects entrusted to Parsons. Unfortunately, that hasn’t stopped the Pasadena-based firm from making off with $540 million in U.S. government funds for the poorly executed reconstruction projects at Iraq’s healthcare centers and fire stations. For obvious reasons, Parsons’ work in Iraq has generally been considered an embarrassment.
“This is the lens through which Iraqis will now see America,” lamented Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said. “Incompetence. Profiteering. Arrogance. And human waste oozing out of ceilings as a result.”
(SO IS IT REALLY SO HARD TO HOLD PEOPLE ACCOUNTABLE AND GIVE THEIR ASSETS AND MONEY TO DISABLED VETERANS TO GIVE THEM BACK THE FREEDOM THEY FOUGHT FOR?)
L3 Communications has carved out a neat $359 million slice of Iraq’s security screening needs as of fiscal 2006. The New York-based company has been charged with overseeing the screening and training of law enforcement personnel for the growing all-Iraqi security force, as well as replacing equipment in the field. Linguistics is another one of L3’s specialties, one that is heavily relied upon to interface with native speaking Sunni and Shia forces.
L3 Communications has also purchased Titan, a corporate intelligence company with a $1 billion Iraq contract. Prior to being acquired by L3, Titan pleads guilty tointernational bribery charges (a felony) and paid a record-breaking $28.5 million under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Already the third largest financial institution on the planet, HSBC has seen itsfortunes brighten beyond its wildest dreams since the start of combat. It has purchased a controlling stake (70%) of the newly created Iraqi national bank, Dar es Salaam Investment Bank, which, though small, has already amassed assets of $91 million. HSBC’s chief executive of Middle East operations, David Hodgkinson, was quoted as saying HSBC intends to “develop the bank’s services by investing in computerised payment systems and cash machines.’
HSBC’s stake in the fledgling Iraqi bank could turn out to be a significant strategic foothold in the developing country. According to a BBC report, the bank already has 14 operating branches across Iraq and a modest but growing staff of 450. It is also the first private bank in Iraq since the toppling of Saddam Hussein, as the late dictator did not allow them during his rule.
Bechtel is yet another Iraq contractor who seems to have benefited from close ties to the Bush Administration. How else would a company recommended by the man who oversaw the Big Dig disaster possibly be awarded a $2.4 billion, no-bid reconstruction contract for Iraq’s infrastructure? Journalists and competitors are scratching their heads at why the Bush Administration trusted the choice of USAID chief Andrew Natsios after his woefully ineffective tenure at the head of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority. While in that capacity, the Big Dig’s operating costs ballooned from an initial $2.6 billion to $14.6 billion, and the job still took years to complete!
In line with Natsios’ track record of recommendations, this one turned out to be a flop. Bechtel proceeded to lose its contract for the Basra Children’s Hospital Project after falling a year and a half behind schedule and $70-$90 million over budget.
Custer Battles has the dubious distinction of being the first Iraq war contractor to be found guilty of fraud. In March 2006, a jury ordered Custer to pay damages in excess of $10 million for 37 counts of fraud, including what the judge called “false and fraudulently inflated invoices.” While Custer wriggled out of serious penalties on a technicality (the Coalition Provisional Authority is not part of the U.S. Government and therefore crimes against it cannot be tried under U.S. law), the whole ordeal has muddied the company’s reputation greatly, possibly beyond repair. It also seems to have opened the floodgates for similar cases of contractor fraud. As of fall 2006, a backlog of 70 fraud cases were pending against Iraq contractors doing all manner of work.
During the trial, a retired Army general testified that the inflated invoice scandal stood out to him as “probably the worst I’ve ever seen in my 30 years in the Army.”
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