Pinocchio Rising

by pessimist

With George's latest nationally televised bleating about how hard he's going to work to rebuild New Orleans, Americans should be taking Deep Throat's advice and follow the reconstruction money - closely. Why?

All one has to do is look at the previous Bu$hCo reconstruction effort - Iraq. In doing so, one won't gain a great deal of confidence toward achieving any positive results, as one Vermont citizen expresses:

No faith in Bush

Are we blind, stupid, or just too busy to think about the implications of the crisis in New Orleans, Mississippi, and Alabama? ... all those National Guard in Iraq and Afghanistan, all that machinery, all that equipment, unavailable for Americans, here, in America.

As Michael Moore asked: "Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for 5 days?"

Yes, Michael. With Bush in the White House, I can.

Merry Gangemi
Woodbury

Lack of trust in King George isn't such a rare thing anymore, even in Red States, and individuals aren't the only ones skeptical that pRedzident George W. Bu$h isn't going to play it straight in New Orleans:

Funds will blow away with no one watching
Tuesday, September 13, 2005

When the administration parceled out billions of dollars in no-bid contracts for work in post-invasion Iraq, the results were messy - to say the least. Those same mistakes must not be allowed to be repeated in Louisiana, but that is exactly what will happen unless someone is charged with keeping an eye on the reconstruction money.

The no-bid contracts that those companies - and others - have been given include a provision that ensures they make a profit no matter how much they spend. That is hardly a recipe for thriftiness.

Congress has already approved $51.8 billion for post-Katrina work, and there is sure to be much more money where that came from. It must not be allowed to flow unfettered to companies that are favored by the president's friends.

No one did that in Iraq, and there is no good reason to expect that it will be done in New Orleans, either. Far too much money to be had not to stick some into 'Unka' Dick's Sekrit Hideyhole Rainy Day Cookie Jar.

This is what we have to look forward to in New Orleans - just substitute 'New Orleans' for 'Iraq':

Iraqis To Bush - Where Did All Our Money Go?

Bush was quick to criticize the UN over millions of dollars stolen from the Oil-for-Food Program under Saddam. But the CPA, as the successor to Oil-for-Food Program, aka Development Fund for Iraq, involves the swindling of billions of dollars.

According to a report released in March 2005, by Transparency International (TI), an international organization that focuses on matters of corruption, Iraq could become 'the biggest corruption scandal in history'. "I can see all sorts of levels of corruption in Iraq," report contributor Reinoud Leenders told the Christian Science Monitor, "starting from petty officials asking for bribes to process a passport, way up to contractors delivering shoddy work and the kind of high-level corruption involving ministers and high officials handing out contracts to their friends and clients."

Once the reconstruction money is gone, what will happen to all of those fine sounding programs, like 'urban homesteading' and jobs?

This:

As funds dwindle, U.S. halts work on Iraq water, power plant projects

The United States is halting construction work on some water and power plants in Iraq because it is running out of money for projects, officials have said. No overall figures are available, but one contractor has stopped work on six of eight water-treatment plants it was assigned to. Electricity and oil production remain at or below prewar levels, and unemployment remains high.

Now substitute 'storm' for 'war' in the above sentence and read it again. Makes perfect sense, doesn't it? It seems to be making some sense to Congresscritters - even with Republicans who supported the Iraq Oil War:

The slow pace of progress appeared to exasperate Democratic and Republican lawmakers, who compared the situation with the Bush administration's handling of damage from Hurricane Katrina.

Previously, Republican criticism of the U.S. reconstruction effort in Iraq had been rare, a sign that bipartisan discontent with the White House response to Katrina might be spreading to other areas. "It seems sort of almost incomprehensible to me that we haven't been able to do better on" restoring power to Iraq, said Rep. Don Sherwood, a Pennsylvania Republican who recently visited areas damaged by Katrina. "Coming back up through Mississippi and Louisiana after being down on some relief effort, you know, when power shuts down, everything shuts down."

Sherwood's support for the Oil War here.

Rep. Jim Kolbe, an Arizona Republican who has previously criticized the Iraq rebuilding effort, said the Bush administration's vision for using reconstruction funds to stabilize Iraq 'was largely a chimera, a castle built of sand'. "Reconstruction in Iraq has been slower, more painful, more complex, more fragmented and more inefficient than anyone in Washington or Baghdad could have imagined a couple of years ago," said Kolbe, chairman of the subcommittee.

“I think it is fair to say that the administration made some fundamental mistakes in the planning and execution of its post war strategy.” [Rep. Jim Kolbe – (R-AZ), Reuters, 9/25/04]

Kolbe's support for the Oil War here.

We're also going to hear (remember to substitute 'New Orleans' for 'Iraq'):

Lack of funds slows Iraqi reconstruction

Key reconstruction projects in Iraq are "grinding to a halt" because of lack of funds. The Guardian reports that this is the word from US officials in Iraq. On Wednesday, they told the Subcommittee on Foreign Operations of Appropriations that plans to "overhaul" the country's infrastructure have been "downsized, postponed or abandoned" because the $24 billion that Congress authorized for the task has turned out to be not nearly enough.

Are things so bad economically (SHOCK! GASP! Oh! The Tax Breaks For Humanity!) that is Bu$hCo seeking to pass the hat for Iraqi Reconstruction, especially since the world was so generous in donating money for Katrina Relief?

Iraqi reconstruction money runs dry

The US special inspector general for Iraqi reconstruction, Stuart Bowen, said he was reluctant to ask for cash immediately after Hurricane Katrina, and said non-US sources might be asked to plug the gap. "It is an issue that we need to address at the right time," he said.

This is a forecast of how things might be in New Orleans soon - a sample of Bu$hCo 'competence':

Some areas now get less than four hours of electricity a day, and there's been a surge in dehydration and diarrhea cases among children and the elderly. The cost of providing enough electricity for the country by 2010 is put at US$20 billion. Fuel shortages have produced mile-long queues at gas stations.

Remember this also - the Gulf Coast is one of the most productive oil drilling areas in the nation. In Iraq, things haven't gone as well as the war plans desired:

Crude oil production is around 2.2 million barrels a day, still below its pre-war peaks, according to the Brookings Institution.

Please - PLEASE - try to convince me that the Brookings Institution is run by a bunch of bleeding heart liberals! I could use a good laugh. How DARE they not support Owwer Braev Leedur and his Crusade For Crude???

But I digress.

I plan on watching this domestic petroleum production situation. What I can report right now is that a very old oil field here in California - Brea Olinda - (oil was first found in 1892) is pumping full-time from every available well. If such an old field is busy producing (and the easiest extractions were taken long ago), how desperate are the Bu$hCo Oil Pioneers working to keep things from skidding out of control and causing gas prices to rise much higher than they already are?

Would Americans remain as calm as the Brits when gas is $7/gal.??

One thinks not. The future sounds of gunfights at the gas station are already ringing in my ears.

If I'm afraid, is it any wonder that those who are politically connected in Louisiana have Blackwater Security patrolling their streets of New Orleans as if they - and not the 'federalized' National Guard - are responsible for maintaining law and order? Will Blackwater do much better with the Louisiana locals than they have in Iraq? After all - the situation is virtually martial law - even if not legally in force there nor officially invoked.

But based on this report, one has to wonder if that thought - how to protect themselves from the rioting rabble - hasn't already occured to Bu$hCo Pioneers in Louisiana. They have a lot of money to 'make' and don't want to be interrupted in the course of such a pursuit. They would be looking at past results when shoosing someone to protect them, and Bu$hCo isn't going to pass their test. They will choose these guys instead (final sentence is most significant):

The Daily Telegraph reports that the Iraqi government wants to expel "thousands of heavily armed private security contractors":

There are over 25,000 private security guard in Iraq. Most of them are British, American and South African ex-servicemen lured by wages of up to $1000 a day, and they are extremely "unpopular" with local Iraqis. Adorned in sunglasses and bullet-proof vests, they travel in white four-wheel-drive vehicles with gun barrels protruding from the windows. Many refuse to obey road signs and consider traffic jams a security risk so barge through the lines of vehicles which are often forced to pull over rapidly on to pavements.

Their lack of official status has long been a concern and those operating on US department of defence contracts are free from risk of legal penalty under the Iraqi judicial system if they killed anyone in a firefight. But under the new rules confirmed yesterday [Thursday] all such firms will be brought under the authority of the Baghdad government.

Meanwhile, USA Today reported Wednesday that August saw one of the highest levels in the past year of attacks on contractors working on US-funded projects. Insurgents killed seven contractors, and injured 11. Sixteen others were suspected or confirmed kidnapped. Almost all of those killed were Iraqis, who "rarely have security," unlike American contractors who travel with the kind of security personel mentioned above.

At least Halliburton and Shaw Group employees in New Orleans won't have Iraqis to worry about. That way, their employers can rake it in, and Blackwater can practice for the next time they are 'called' to 'police' an American city by Bu$hCo.

After all - Bu$hCovites are doing such a fine job in Iraq and Afghanistan, aren't they?

Certainly we can expect the same level of performance in New Orleans!

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