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A U.S. 'legacy of waste' in Iraq

PeteEU

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A U.S. 'legacy of waste' in Iraq - latimes.com

As the rest of the world have been saying for ages... but I love this part.

The $32.5-million cost of a sewage treatment facility for the war-ravaged city of Fallouja, begun in 2005 by the U.S. military, has mushroomed to $104 million, and will now reach only 4,300 homes instead of the 24,500 originally envisioned, if it ever reaches any homes at all. Although the treatment plant is almost complete, the contract did not include a pipeline to connect the plant to the town.

or

The story was similar in other sectors. A recent audit cites the example of an unfinished slaughterhouse in Basra — price tag $5.6 million — that was undertaken without securing a supply of water to wash away the blood.


Talk about incompetence... but guessing the Bush officials in charge got promoted for this.
 
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A U.S. 'legacy of waste' in Iraq - latimes.com

As the rest of the world have been saying for ages... but I love this part.



or




Talk about incompetence... but guessing the Bush officials in charge got promoted for this.

That whole war was a massive waste of money, time, resources and most of all lives. We should NEVER have gone there in the first place, when there we should have left rapidly, not stayed and stayed and stayed. Sadly the Iraqi people will be paying the price of this war for generations to come - meanwhile Haliburton and Co made millions.
 
Every war after WWII the US has been involved in has been a waste. Korea, Vietnam, Somalia, Kosovo, Panama etc etc. None of these conflicts were any business of the US. We had no business getting involved. It's all big business buying Washington. War makes money for the elite while things go to **** for the rest of us.
 
The war wasn't a waste for the people who had designs on the nation from day one. The natural resource contracts that have been established at great cost will serve the respective industries and the western world for a long time. There is enough security in Iraq and regional support to ensure that the oil keeps flowing, even if other areas of Iraq come under siege again. The missing link continues to be Iran. If Iran could be seized, then the pipeline could run all the way to the Mediterranean and be under exclusive control of the U.S. and its Middle Eastern allies.

The thing that bugs me most about the war is that it was a corporate agenda being paid for with public dollars. It's the trend that government now supports: socialize the risk, privatize the profits.
 
Most of this conflict was fought surrounded by a God awful mess, I hope the government collectively learns from it.
 
Most of this conflict was fought surrounded by a God awful mess, I hope the government collectively learns from it.

When has that ever happened?
 
Most of this conflict was fought surrounded by a God awful mess, I hope the government collectively learns from it.

I hope the peple learn from it, but suspect that is as unlikely as the government learning.
 
That whole war was a massive waste of money, time, resources and most of all lives. We should NEVER have gone there in the first place, when there we should have left rapidly, not stayed and stayed and stayed. Sadly the Iraqi people will be paying the price of this war for generations to come - meanwhile Haliburton and Co made millions.

Oh my... this is what happens after having a massive OD of Kool Aid.

They will be paying the price?
Do you realize 1 million people died under sanctions and Maddie Albright claimed it was "worth the cost"?
Do you realize they won't have rape rooms, be throwing people off building and won't be murdered because the leader feels threatened?
Do you realize the Iraqi's are benefiting from the defeat of Saddam and the neutering of terrorists that flocked to the area after the war?
Do you realize it is now a democracy with a constitution, not a hell hole of evil run by a tyrant and his sick sons and cling-ons?
Do you realize he used WMD, had them and Hans Blix reported to the UN he lied about what he had and they believed he was in possession of WMD?

Phew... what they teach kids in school these days.

.
 
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Oh my... this is what happens after having a massive OD of Kool Aid.

They will be paying the price?
Do you realize 1 million people died under sanctions and Maddie Albright claimed it was "worth the cost"?
Do you realize they won't have rape rooms, be throwing people off building and won't be murdered because the leader feels threatened?
Do you realize the Iraqi's are benefitting from the defeat of Saddam and the neutering of terrorists that flocked to the area fter the war?
Do you realize it is now a democracy with a constitution, not a hell hole of evil run by a tyrant and his sick sons and cling-ons?
Do you realize he used WMD, had them and Hans Blix reported to the UN he lied about hat he had and they believed he was in possession of WMD?

Phew... what they teach kids in school these days.

.

Adding more needless eaths isn't a help. it's adding injury to injury and not helping.
 
Oh my... this is what happens after having a massive OD of Kool Aid.

They will be paying the price?
Do you realize 1 million people died under sanctions and Maddie Albright claimed it was "worth the cost"?
Do you realize they won't have rape rooms, be throwing people off building and won't be murdered because the leader feels threatened?
Do you realize the Iraqi's are benefiting from the defeat of Saddam and the neutering of terrorists that flocked to the area after the war?
Do you realize it is now a democracy with a constitution, not a hell hole of evil run by a tyrant and his sick sons and cling-ons?
Do you realize he used WMD, had them and Hans Blix reported to the UN he lied about what he had and they believed he was in possession of WMD?

Phew... what they teach kids in school these days.

.

Victims of Saddam's' regime, the mass graves.

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The Iraqi's are better off without Saddam. Not to mention it's probably a good thing for the Iraqi's to pick up part of the tab on some of these projects. Not that I'm saying waste didn't occur, but I will not accept that Iraqi's where better off with Saddam in power.
 

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Victims of Saddam's' regime, the mass graves.

The Iraqi's are not better off without Saddam. Not to mention it's probably a good thing for the Iraqi's to pick up part of the tab on some of these projects. Not that I'm saying waste didn't occur, but I will not accept that Iraqi's where better off with Saddam in power.

I'm surely not alone in finding it incredible people can make such ridiculous remarks, and I can say I'm tired of having to rehash the arguments that extinguish their vapid claims. There's so many of them! They're like Zombies... one wave after another keeping coming at you with the same asinine mantra. Most have given up on Halliburton, yet there are still a few. But, if you're like Michael Moore, Iraq was a little bit of heaven, perhaps Disney, with kids peacefully flying kites.

I think it is time to go back, grab a few threads and use them as the response each and every time to The Mantra of the Zombies (perhaps calling it The Education of the Lost and Deceived).
 
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I'm surely not alone in finding it incredible people can make such ridiculous remarks, and I can say I'm tired of having to rehash the arguments that extinguish their vapid claims. There's so many of them! They're like Zombies... one wave after another keeping coming at you with the same asinine mantra. But, if you're like Michael Moore, Iraq was a little bit of heaven, perhaps Disney, with kids peacefully flying kites.

I think it is time to go back, grab a few threads and use them as the response each and every time (perhaps calling it The Education of the Lost and Deceived).

My point is that most of the Dems supported the war in Iraq, especially through their representatives in Congress, very few Dems spoke out against the war, in fact most prominat Dems supported the invasion, at the time. The only thing worse then using the bad economy to funnel nearly a trillion dollars to your special interest groups is playing politics with our troops lives.
 
The Iraqi's are better off without Saddam. Not to mention it's probably a good thing for the Iraqi's to pick up part of the tab on some of these projects. Not that I'm saying waste didn't occur, but I will not accept that Iraqi's where better off with Saddam in power.

No one is saying that Iraqi's were better off under Saddam.

Not a single person.

But don't wave those civilians deaths in our faces and expect me to still think the war is justified. Yes those deaths were horrible, and Saddam deserved his fate BUT! if you use that to justify Iraq... then how come you haven't gone to Zimbabwe and sorted out Mugabe? How come you haven't gone to North Korea and sorted out Kim Jong Il, he's killed more of his own people then Saddam ever wished he could have... Why haven't you gone into Sudan and freed those people, they have oil as well...

Come on now.
 
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In English please... no comprende.

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I guess faining ignorance is a strategy. Not a particularly effective one, but a strategy. More people are dead because of the war than would liely have been by a wide margin. So, there was little particularly humanitarian about the war. We did in fact add injury to injury.
 
When has that ever happened?

Well the Army and the rest of the military has learned a lot from Iraq, so much in fact that we are a better prepared, more capable army, which if it had to re-do Iraq it could be done much better a second time around. And those COIN operations can be used all over the world, so hopefully other branches of the government learned as much as the military did.
 
No one is saying that Iraqi's were better off under Saddam.

Not a single person.

But don't wave those civilians deaths in our faces and expect me to still think the war is justified. Yes those deaths were horrible, and Saddam deserved his fate BUT! if you use that to justify Iraq... then how come you haven't gone to Zimbabwe and sorted out Mugabe? How come you haven't gone to North Korea and sorted out Kim Jong Il, he's killed more of his own people then Saddam ever wished he could have... Why haven't you gone into Sudan and freed those people, they have oil as well...

Come on now.

And let'snot forget, when Saddam was filling those graves, we did nothing. We waited until he was mostly finished, after 12 years of sanctions, and then decided to inflict war on the population. That's why I say we added injury to injury, and did nothing particularly humanitarian.
 
Of course Iraq is better of now than it was under Saadam but still, was it worth the trillions of dollars and thousands of soldiers lives?
 
My point is that most of the Dems supported the war in Iraq, especially through their representatives in Congress, very few Dems spoke out against the war, in fact most prominat Dems supported the invasion, at the time. The only thing worse then using the bad economy to funnel nearly a trillion dollars to your special interest groups is playing politics with our troops lives.
I agree, and was in agreement... my point was pointed at those foolish individuals that believed the Iraqi's are somehow worse off now than with Saddam... a viewpoint that simply boggles the mind.

First they cried about "connecting-the-dots", and then cry when the dots and evidence lead to Saddam still having WMD (you don't have to buy anything Bush said, just read Hans Blix's report to the UN) and we acted because Saddam would not follow the rules... as he hadn't for 12-years. After years of Clinton wagging his finger and doing nothing... Post 911 we didn't have that luxury of appeasing the pacifists or terrorists.

I think the Dems are despicable. They vote to send troops to war (Senate Dems asked for and got a second vote to try and cover for their decades of hostility to the military) for political expediency, then stabbed them in the back when the troops needed their support the most... also for political expediency.

Some of them like Reid and Durbin should have been brought to trial for treason.

The Dems put on a display that was so disgusting it will be difficult to top, but I'm sure they will try. As the Iraq war illustrated, they have zero shame.

.
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I agree, and was in agreement... my point was pointed at those foolish individuals that believed the Iraqi's are somehow worse off now than with Saddam... a viewpoint that simply boggles the mind.

First they cried about "connecting-the-dots", and then cry when the dots and evidence lead to Saddam still having WMD (you don't have to buy anything Bush said, just read Hans Blix's report to the UN) and we acted because Saddam would not follow the rules... as he hadn't for 12-years. After years of Clinton wagging his finger and doing nothing... Post 911 we didn't have that luxury of appeasing the pacifists or terrorists.

I think the Dems are despicable. They vote to send troops to war (Senate Dems asked for and got a second vote to try and cover for their decades of hostility to the military) for political expediency, then stabbed them in the back when the troops needed their support the most... also for political expediency.

Some of them like Reid and Durbin should have been brought to trial for treason.

The Dems put on a display that was so disgusting it will be difficult to top, but I'm sure they will try. As the Iraq war illustrated, they have zero shame.

.
.

The intell was flawed - it was from an Australian source and we KNEW it was flawed - even aired a program Pre war about the flawed intelligence.

But let us truly look at the cost

leaving-iraq
 
I agree, and was in agreement... my point was pointed at those foolish individuals that believed the Iraqi's are somehow worse off now than with Saddam... a viewpoint that simply boggles the mind.

First they cried about "connecting-the-dots", and then cry when the dots and evidence lead to Saddam still having WMD (you don't have to buy anything Bush said, just read Hans Blix's report to the UN) and we acted because Saddam would not follow the rules... as he hadn't for 12-years. After years of Clinton wagging his finger and doing nothing... Post 911 we didn't have that luxury of appeasing the pacifists or terrorists.

I think the Dems are despicable. They vote to send troops to war (Senate Dems asked for and got a second vote to try and cover for their decades of hostility to the military) for political expediency, then stabbed them in the back when the troops needed their support the most... also for political expediency.

Some of them like Reid and Durbin should have been brought to trial for treason.

The Dems put on a display that was so disgusting it will be difficult to top, but I'm sure they will try. As the Iraq war illustrated, they have zero shame.

.
.

Wrong question, not to mention a misrepresentation of what people are actually arguing. The fact is we cost the lives of thousands up on thousands of Iraqis (a low ball estimate of some 100,000) when any number of less costly measures could have been taken that would not have cost near as much money or lives. Being reckless can't be excused even if iraq becomes heaven on earth.
 
A U.S. 'legacy of waste' in Iraq - latimes.com

As the rest of the world have been saying for ages... but I love this part.



or




Talk about incompetence... but guessing the Bush officials in charge got promoted for this.

I know we're horrible about waste.
But GD - that's pathetic.

*cue the sarcastic clapping family* WTF

Future lessons to be learned from this - if you're rebuilding an area, region, country or nation - do NOT do it while you're still quelling the upheaval. Seems like common sense (which has left the building).

Can't completely blame Bush, though - it's just one of many in a long line of government waste (cue Tea Party Rhetoric here) and futher leads to the sense that government is run by idiots who have absolutely no concern for our money which they so gleefully spend.

It's like those home-rebuild shows where they rebuild the house in a week and leave the occupants with spiked taxes, maintenance cost and basic utility increases - but aren't concerned with all that, tossing it aside as trivial 'details' to be swept under the rug.

The story was similar in other sectors. A recent audit cites the example of an unfinished slaughterhouse in Basra — price tag $5.6 million — that was undertaken without securing a supply of water to wash away the blood.

Gesus - anyone home? Hellloooo.


But what did they/we/anyone expect, really? Great land of waste and poor taste - anything good happen?

It's a reality check - us Americans have no control over money, budgeting and this thing called 'planning' doesn't really exist, either - and starting things that come in WAY over budget (if at all finished) is nothing new in the USA. The problem, I guess, is that this is fact - and other countries can't afford our bull****.
 
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well, we all know everything govt touches turns to waste, what were we to expect

meanwhile, cbo elmendorf accounted just last week that SEVEN YEARS of w-stands-for-what's-his-name's war cost a full twenty percent CHEAPER than president pie-in-the-face's massive 09 STIMULUS (which word you really shouldn't use, it's rude, the white house prefers "recovery act")

Little-known fact: Obama's failed stimulus program cost more than the Iraq war | Washington Examiner

yup, numbers and elmendorfs, unlike dp forums members, don't lie

at least, in iraq, where the presidential putz this pm will proudly proclaim MISSION ACCOMPLISHED, we all have something big (according to the white house) to show for SEVEN HUNDRED AND NINE b's

as for the stimu... err, recovery act, michael bennet says 8 hundred and sixty two b's later there's NOTHING TO SHOW

Bennet Bombshell: Trillions in Debt, ‘Nothing to Show for It’ - Battle

is THAT spin?

are SENATOR BENNET and the C-B-O spinning?
 
I know we're horrible about waste.
But GD - that's pathetic.

*cue the sarcastic clapping family* WTF

Future lessons to be learned from this - if you're rebuilding an area, region, country or nation - do NOT do it while you're still quelling the upheaval. Seems like common sense (which has left the building).

Can't completely blame Bush, though - it's just one of many in a long line of government waste (cue Tea Party Rhetoric here) and futher leads to the sense that government is run by idiots who have absolutely no concern for our money which they so gleefully spend.

It's like those home-rebuild shows where they rebuild the house in a week and leave the occupants with spiked taxes, maintenance cost and basic utility increases - but aren't concerned with all that, tossing it aside as trivial 'details' to be swept under the rug.



Gesus - anyone home? Hellloooo.


But what did they/we/anyone expect, really? Great land of waste and poor taste - anything good happen?

It's a reality check - us Americans have no control over money, budgeting and this thing called 'planning' doesn't really exist, either - and starting things that come in WAY over budget (if at all finished) is nothing new in the USA. The problem, I guess, is that this is fact - and other countries can't afford our bull****.

Oh! yes I can blame Bush - and so do the Iraqi's who hit back. Just think for a minute if this had been you. Let us say China comes marching into your country to do away with the "tyranny of commercialism" that is killing American people. After all it makes many live in abject poverty and homelessness. How would the American people have reacted? Now China having occupied your land tells you it is going to rebuild what it bombed, only the contractors it is using are not hiring the American people, who are now at over 50% unemployed - it is going to bring in outsiders to do the work. The rebuilding is so shoddy that the bombed ruins would have been better but OOOOOPS! guess what you cannot make the contractors do any better because the people in charge have decided that nobody can be sued.

468030532.jpg


Just in case anyone forgets the real cost of the Iraqi war
 
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double post
 
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