"Karzai wants U.S. to reduce military operations in Afghanistan" Partlow

 
""How come we are now so luxury-oriented today?" he asked. "The transparency of contracts is not there. Why is the U.S. government giving contracts to the sons and relatives of officials of the Afghan government? We don't do those contracts. I don't have an authority over a penny of those contracts. . . . and we've been protesting against this for years.""  Partlow

-----------------------------------------

This is the dirty big "secret" of this era of war without end.  In the last nine years of war in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the world, the borrowed US Government money has flowed and flowed and flowed.  Some of it has gone into extravagant but understandable expenditures for O&M, equipment, force expansion, bureaucratic growth in the federal government, etc., but a lot of it has gone into the pocket of predatory US, European, and Australian contractors and their local allies in these various god forsaken places.  what Karazai has pointed out here is that we have encouraged the natural rapacity of the elites in these countries by participating in their corruption.  The rot and profits run very high up the civilian authority structure on our side.  There is so much money that it, in itself, is a silent factor in policy decisions.

Smedley Butler would recognize this phenomenon.  pl

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/13/AR2010111304001.html?hpid=topnews

Comments

[Clifford Kiracofe]

Absolutely on point.

For those interested in background on the present militarization of US foreign policy, to include General Butler:

1. George Wolfskill, The Revolt of the Conservatives. A History of the American Liberty League (Boston: Houton Mifflin, 1962).

"Conservative" NOT in the American Constitutionalism sense but in the European sense of the "Conservative Revolution" of the 1920s and 1930s...the rise of Fascism.

I explain some of this in my book Dark Crusade (London: Tauris, 2009).

2. An essential book on Fascism:

Gaetano Salvemini, The Origins of Fascism in Italy (New York: Harper and Row, 1973. Edited from his 1942 manuscript.)

3. Both the Luce publishing empire (Time-Life-Fortune) and the Hearst empire endorsed European Fascism in the 1920s and 1930s...it can happen here.

[steven gandy]

Col Lang:

Glad you mentioned Gen.Butler. Participated in a Marine Corps birthday
celebration at a local bar
in Mpls. The pub owner an
ex-Marine. Over a hundred or more in attendance,including those from various eras. Talked to a couple of current reservists from the local air wing attachement. One a sargeant major was only 38 yrs old, 8 active and 12 reserve. Quite young I thought. Another, a fifty one year old Lt. Col.was quite conversive to all.Had gone to Quantico of course. The topic turned to all our present wars. I asked him what he thought Smedley Butler might say and to my astonishment he said he never heard of him. As an enlisted 67 to 70 we learned about many such Marine Corps icons but not necessarily their political beliefs after their time in service. To be an officer of this rank an not heard of this legend might mean the whitewashing of not only history but those who did not agree with our countries current and past policies. If this is the case across the service branches the Long War will no doubt be generational in nature.

[flite]

Some things never seem to change; but only if we allow them... as we have.

[BillWade]

Mr Kiracofe, I believe fascism is already here in the guise of the Testicular Sqeezing Authority (TSA), you either get naked for them or have your genitals fondled thereby forcefully taking away our claims to self-ownership.

[William R. Cumming]

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act prohibits US corporations from bribing foreign governments to get contracts. Apparently DOD and DOJ have a hands off policy in Afghanistan and Iraq and elsewhere (Israel?)!

[Jake]

"KABUL- President Hamid Karzai said on Saturday that the United States must reduce the visibility and intensity of its military operations in Afghanistan and end the increased U.S. Special Operations forces night raids that aggravate Afghans and could exacerbate the Taliban insurgency."

Yeah and the Government of India (the one we just did the kissy, huggie thingy with) also demands .....

[jonst]

'Yeah,' an honest reply would start with, 'but if we can't make the big money what the hell is the point of US being there?'

[William R. Cumming]

So after the election of Karzai are the US forces not in Afghanistan at the request of that government?

Since the establishment has struggled so hard to insist Karzai is a democratic leader, if he insists we leave or modify our conduct what is the US rationale for not doing so?

Or does civilian control of US Armed Forces only apply when they are deployed domestically?

[2nd Op]

Col Lang states that "rot and profits run very high up" in our cvilian authority. I agree and share flite's apparant frustration that we have been unable (unwilling?) to change this pattern of corruption.
Is there any way for honest Americans to join together to force change?