Iraq/$$$$

[JuanElGriego]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cJlJudDtVE

[PapiQueRico]

Kid Frost, you are there, care to comment? Is this a fair representation?

[guttaman]

I would bet 80% is on the money. Halliburton put out a press release after a government audit pretty much bragging that they only had to pay the government back 50 million in overcharges. The fucking stock went up 4% after the anouncement. If i could get no bid contracts from the government i would build a villa next to Bill and Hillary in Punta Cana and invite George down to meet the neighbors.

[Mr Bambino]

I am not saying that I believe overspending is untrue, but I would not take this video as being fact.



Mr Bambino

[guttaman]

I am not saying that I believe overspending is untrue, but I would not take this video as being fact.



Mr Bambino

Bambino, i am a registered Republican and a GWB supporter ( until the immigration bullshit today ) ( Ted Kennedy sucks dick in hell ) and the 99 bucks a bag of laundry i believe 1 million percent. Six figures for assigning computer terminals to GI's, hell ya. I had a supply SGT. from the 1st Iraq conflict working for me after he came home and got booted for smoking weed. The shit he told me they just left behind would make Radar shipping a jeep home piece by piece look like a kid stealing a piece of Bazooka Joe.

[gdogg]

Bambino, i am a registered Republican and a GWB supporter ( until the immigration bullshit today ) ( Ted Kennedy sucks dick in hell ) and the 99 bucks a bag of laundry i believe 1 million percent. Six figures for assigning computer terminals to GI's, hell ya. I had a supply SGT. from the 1st Iraq conflict working for me after he came home and got booted for smoking weed. The shit he told me they just left behind would make Radar shipping a jeep home piece by piece look like a kid stealing a piece of Bazooka Joe.

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
Gutta, I had NO idea you were a Republican!! You're a pretty liberal dude.

[PapiQueRico]

Interesting and scary article in the NYT today. It ain't easy being a merc.

WASHINGTON, May 18 — Casualties among private contractors in Iraq (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/iraq/index.html?inline=nyt-geo) have soared to record levels this year, setting a pace that seems certain to turn 2007 into the bloodiest year yet for the civilians who work alongside the American military in the war zone, according to new government numbers.
Skip to next paragraph (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/19/world/middleeast/19contractors.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin#secondParagraph) Enlarge This Image (javascript:pop_me_up2('http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2007/05/19/world/19contractorsCA01.span.ready.html', '19contractorsCA01_span_ready', 'width=720,height=560,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,resizable=yes'))
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/05/19/world/19contractors1.190.jpg (javascript:pop_me_up2('http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2007/05/19/world/19contractorsCA01.span.ready.html', '19contractorsCA01_span_ready', 'width=720,height=560,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,resizable=yes'))Laura Pedrick for The New York Times
“I’ve been shot at, had my truck blown out from under me, had an I.E.D. hit about six feet away from me,” said Gordon Dreher, who broke his back driving in Iraq. He is back in Brick, N.J., with his dog, Dancer.

The Reach of War

Go to Complete Coverage » (http://www.nytimes.com/iraq/)
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/05/19/world/0519-A1-webcolorCONTRACT.gif




At least 146 contract workers were killed in Iraq in the first three months of the year, by far the highest number for any quarter since the war began in March 2003, according to the Labor Department, which processes death and injury claims for those working as United States government contractors in Iraq.
That brings the total number of contractors killed in Iraq to at least 917, along with more than 12,000 wounded in battle or injured on the job, according to government figures and dozens of interviews.
The numbers, which have not been previously reported, disclose the extent to which contractors — Americans, Iraqis and workers from more than three dozen other countries — are largely hidden casualties of the war, and now are facing increased risks alongside American soldiers and marines as President Bush’s plan to increase troop levels in Baghdad takes hold.
As troops patrol more aggressively in and around the capital, both soldiers and the contractors who support them, often at small outposts, are at greater peril. The contractor deaths earlier this year, for example, came closer to the number of American military deaths during the same period — 244 — than during any other quarter since the war began, according to official figures.
“The insurgents are going after the softest targets, and the contractors are softer targets than the military,” said Lawrence J. Korb, a former assistant secretary of defense for manpower during the Reagan administration. “The U.S. is being more aggressive over there, and these contractor deaths go right along with it.”

[Dark Knight]

Are you in favor of immigration amnesty, or opposed to it?

Reading the stipulations, it doesn't seem as if they are cutting anyone any breaks. It will still be very destructive to families and/or those who have been toiling here for many years. It won't even start until the technology is in place.

And the future crackdowns at the borders will be downright draconian.


Bambino, i am a registered Republican and a GWB supporter ( until the immigration bullshit today ) ( Ted Kennedy sucks dick in hell ) and the 99 bucks a bag of laundry i believe 1 million percent. Six figures for assigning computer terminals to GI's, hell ya. I had a supply SGT. from the 1st Iraq conflict working for me after he came home and got booted for smoking weed. The shit he told me they just left behind would make Radar shipping a jeep home piece by piece look like a kid stealing a piece of Bazooka Joe.

[guttaman]

Are you in favor of immigration amnesty, or opposed to it?

Reading the stipulations, it doesn't seem as if they are cutting anyone any breaks. It will still be very destructive to families and/or those who have been toiling here for many years. It won't even start until the technology is in place.

And the future crackdowns at the borders will be downright draconian.

Very much opposed. The Keddedy bunch did it back in 86 and it only gave a bigger incentive for more illegals to come, drop anchor babies and wait for the next round of amnesty laws.

[PapiQueRico]

Very much opposed. The Keddedy bunch did it back in 86 and it only gave a bigger incentive for more illegals to come, drop anchor babies and wait for the next round of amnesty laws.

Gutta, you surprise me! I understand your oposition to the bill, but your discription of the source of the '86 bill is partisan and just not correct.

The Bill was brought forth by Rep. Mazzoli, Democrat of Kentucky, and Sen Simpson Republican of Wyoming. It was signed into law by Ronald Regan.
The following quote is from Regan's statement:

***The act I am signing today is the product of one of the longest and most difficult legislative undertakings of recent memory. It has truly been a bipartisan effort, with this administration and the allies of immigration reform in the Congress, of both parties, working together to accomplish these critically important reforms.***


I never thought anyone would call Ronald Regan "part of the Kenedy bunch."

[JuanElGriego]

And the future crackdowns at the borders will be downright draconian.

There will be no "crackdowns" on the Mexican border, just the illusion of one ....

and that "fence" being proposed would be as useful on a submarine as it will on that border.

It's very simple, the easiest way to keep illegals from coming in would be to severly punish the people who hire them. If people stopped hiring them because they feared the size of the fine or whatever else the penalty would be, the illegals would stop coming. Contrary to some people's beliefs, the vast majority of people come here to work, not make babies and leech off the system. If they knew they couldn't get hired here, they wouldn't bother coming over.

[PapiQueRico]

There will be no "crackdowns" on the Mexican border, just the illusion of one ....

and that "fence" being proposed would be as useful on a submarine as it will on that border.

It's very simple, the easiest way to keep illegals from coming in would be to severly punish the people who hire them. If people stopped hiring them because they feared the size of the fine or whatever else the penalty would be, the illegals would stop coming. Contrary to some people's beliefs, the vast majority of people come here to work, not make babies and leech off the system. If they knew they couldn't get hired here, they wouldn't bother coming over.

Excuse me, but busines owners are not employees of the Federal Government. It is not their responsibility to do the job our government is elected ande funded to do. We have a justice department and we also have police. Your sugestion simply places the governments resposibility on the backs of a small segment of our citizens. I don't even notice where you explain how you would at least pay these folk for forcing them to do the job of the government.

BTW, have you ever seen the quality of the false documents floating around these days? They are pretty fucking good. What equipment and training do you plan to give all employers to enable them to enforce the law in place of our government? If you want to make employers la migra you at least have to give them the tools to carry out this job.

The reality is that the penalties for hiring illegals are already severe. Fines of over $20,000 per incident are on the books. They are not enforced for the same exact reason the borders are not protected. For the most part we want the illegals here. Sure we bitch and moan about them and use them as a scapegoat for a lot of our problems, but in the end we like the fact that they wash our dishes, pick out fruit and vegetables, cut our grass and care for our kids. If we really wanted to we could guard the border, it is clear that we do not want to.

[Dark Knight]

They wouldn't stop coming here because they couldn't get hired by companies any more than people stop smoking pot because they can't buy it in 7-11.

They will come because there is more money here than there. They just wouldn't be able to have the illusion of legitimacy. Instead of washing our dishes and picking our vegetables, they would be washing our dicks and picking our balls. Instead of living in shantes on the outskirts of town, they would be living in the woods away from town.

Actually, that wouldn't be bad. Women would come, not to sew in our factories, but to sell themselves to us. And, if the service wasn't good, or we had any complaint at all, we could threaten them with being detained and sent back as an illegal. Much like many employers, and even landlords, do now.

And, you're right, Juan. For the most part, these are honest, hard working, industrious, cream of the crop people. Without them, our country couldn't survive, just as it couldn't without all of the other ethnic groups that have come over the years. It's just that these people are not white and European, and so they are despised.


There will be no "crackdowns" on the Mexican border, just the illusion of one ....

and that "fence" being proposed would be as useful on a submarine as it will on that border.

It's very simple, the easiest way to keep illegals from coming in would be to severly punish the people who hire them. If people stopped hiring them because they feared the size of the fine or whatever else the penalty would be, the illegals would stop coming. Contrary to some people's beliefs, the vast majority of people come here to work, not make babies and leech off the system. If they knew they couldn't get hired here, they wouldn't bother coming over.

[kiddfrost]

LOL... WOW... Okay I can't say alot since I'm affiliated with Halliburton, but I will say this. In 2003-2004 35 haliburton employees (mostly exec) was arrested for fraud and and stealing goverment money. One if the departments I work for is audited once a month since I have worked in Iraq. Since this department has it's hands on $300,000 a month for spending. Now some depts need to watched closer because I know they are dirty... As far as that hotel villas. That's in Kuwait it's called the Kalifa. Nice spot off the beach... But it no longer rented by Halliburton.

[PapiQueRico]

Kidd, you said a lot without saying much. One thing no one has mentioned is the working gig VP Cheney held down before his current job. President of Haliburton.

To be fair there are those who claim that the Dems also would have hired Hali. because they were the only ones equipped to do the work.

[kiddfrost]

Yes Cheney ran Halli. But remeber one thing Halli. held and currently ran 3 main military contracts in 7 different countries. So Halli was the best bet to get Iraq started... But there contract is running out. So the new Question is who will step in and do shit correct (or steal money next)?