Wednesday, August 30, 2006
The Mess in Iraq, I mean Aghanistan, I mean New Orleans
So another anniversary of a BushTeam debacle has come and gone. I couldn't watch him actually go to New Orleans and speak concerned platitudes with so many still suffering. But it indeed got me to thinking, what do all of these Bush blunders from 9/11 until the present day have in common?
Two big things: Cronyism and Privatization. Is that really just one thing? They certainly are hand-in-hand. We have since the Reagan years paid lip-service to the idea that the private sector can do it better, cheaper, more efficiently. The process of this move to the private has been greatly accelerated during TeamBush's reign, with the compliance of a GOP-dominated Congress. Part of the 'Government Bad' rhetoric. And its time to stop that crap right now! Let's take a look at each of these circumstances, detailed by writers and thinkers far better than moi.
Thomas Rick's new book Fiasco is as even-handed as it can be while decrying and lamenting over the horrible miscalculations and fraud and hubris that has characterized the US in Iraq. (You can also listen to him discuss it with Bill Maher on the link above.) My favorite part is when we learn the people in charge of reconstruction were discovered in fact to be GOP college kids or recent grads who had Zero Zip Nada experience with these extremely complicated budgeting issues. As they all began to talk about what they had in common that would bring them to Baghdad to control a monster project, one whose failure would engender the discontent to get us where we are today in that wretched country, the single thread was that they had all applied for internships at The Heritage Foundation. Some neocon in the Government had simply taken the resumes for interns, and hired them on the spot to lead this crucial project.
But then again, they might have been signing the checks, but the real decisions had all been made back in DC. The most-connected good ol' boy loyalists were given no bid contracts. Halliburton led the pack, in Iraq and after Katrina interestingly enough, but are far from the only culprits. Which leads me back to the twin pillars of cronyism and privatization. Here's a fine example from Afghanistan, where our efforts might have had a chance if they were executed with some sense of responsibility and oversight. Or as Naomi Klein notes, Katrina was only the first major US instance of a future in which the level of service you get (from pensions, to healthcare, to education, even to emergency response) is solely dependent on your ability to pay. Or be well connected, which in large part is the same thing once again.
So another anniversary of a BushTeam debacle has come and gone. I couldn't watch him actually go to New Orleans and speak concerned platitudes with so many still suffering. But it indeed got me to thinking, what do all of these Bush blunders from 9/11 until the present day have in common?
Two big things: Cronyism and Privatization. Is that really just one thing? They certainly are hand-in-hand. We have since the Reagan years paid lip-service to the idea that the private sector can do it better, cheaper, more efficiently. The process of this move to the private has been greatly accelerated during TeamBush's reign, with the compliance of a GOP-dominated Congress. Part of the 'Government Bad' rhetoric. And its time to stop that crap right now! Let's take a look at each of these circumstances, detailed by writers and thinkers far better than moi.
Thomas Rick's new book Fiasco is as even-handed as it can be while decrying and lamenting over the horrible miscalculations and fraud and hubris that has characterized the US in Iraq. (You can also listen to him discuss it with Bill Maher on the link above.) My favorite part is when we learn the people in charge of reconstruction were discovered in fact to be GOP college kids or recent grads who had Zero Zip Nada experience with these extremely complicated budgeting issues. As they all began to talk about what they had in common that would bring them to Baghdad to control a monster project, one whose failure would engender the discontent to get us where we are today in that wretched country, the single thread was that they had all applied for internships at The Heritage Foundation. Some neocon in the Government had simply taken the resumes for interns, and hired them on the spot to lead this crucial project.
But then again, they might have been signing the checks, but the real decisions had all been made back in DC. The most-connected good ol' boy loyalists were given no bid contracts. Halliburton led the pack, in Iraq and after Katrina interestingly enough, but are far from the only culprits. Which leads me back to the twin pillars of cronyism and privatization. Here's a fine example from Afghanistan, where our efforts might have had a chance if they were executed with some sense of responsibility and oversight. Or as Naomi Klein notes, Katrina was only the first major US instance of a future in which the level of service you get (from pensions, to healthcare, to education, even to emergency response) is solely dependent on your ability to pay. Or be well connected, which in large part is the same thing once again.
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