06 March 2013/23 Raby’ ath-Thani 1434/16 Esfand 1391
After nine years, the U.S. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) has issued his Final Report. It proves the George W. Bush administration not only arrogant, but inept and possibly down right criminal.
First, realize that the reconstruction would not have been necessary if the Bush Jr administration had not invaded Iraq. U.S. taxpayers were forced to spend about $1 trillion USD on invading and occupying Iraq (that does not include tax money spent in 2012). Another $60 billion tax dollars were spent on reconstructing the country after we destroyed it!
The Final Report from SIGIR shows that most of the corruption involving reconstruction money involved U.S. citizens, not Iraqis, and even saw the Bush administration putting convicted felons in control of untold tons of cash (yes, tons of cash, there was so much U.S. tax money being sent to Iraq they weighed it instead of counting it!).
To make matters worse, former Secretary of State, and Desert Storm hero, Colin Powell has re-admitted he lied about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction in his latest book, It Worked For Me: In Life and Leadership. Powell also says the Bushy Boy administration never debated any justifications about invading Iraq, they just wanted to do it. This makes the U.S. invasion of Iraq a war crime under international law. The very law that the United States help create.
Second, the final SIGIR report listed lessons to be learned from the Iraq occupation, lessons that were available from the British occupation of Iraq after the First World War (WW1). Obviously the Bush administration was inept when it came to learning lessons from history, even though Bushy Boy has a four year degree in History from Yale!
In 2006 I wrote my Senior Thesis on the 20th Century history of Iraq, from the end of WW1 up to the takeover by Saddam Hussein. There is plenty of historical data from the British occupation to have given any future occupier fair warning of what to expect. I concluded that the United States was making the same mistakes as the British Empire and would eventually pullout after wasting a lot of time, lives and tax money, just like the British did. One things for sure, Texans like Bushy Boy like to do things big, and he more than exceeded anything the British Empire did when they tried to directly control Iraq.
SIGIR found that many reconstruction projects, being run by U.S. contractors, were never completed, or poorly completed with at least 40% of projects being deficient, and that none of the projects actually addressed what Iraqis needed! In other words, U.S. contractors had a field day creating projects to justify taking your tax money!
And for all those main streamer media reports blaming corruption on Iraqi officials, SIGIR’s Final Report blames most of it on your fellow ‘mericans. So far 98 contractors and U.S. government personnel (including military officers) have been suspended. 104 people have been indited, 82 convicted (including U.S. military officers).
Here’s a list of a few of those honorable U.S. citizens convicted of ripping you off: U.S. Army Reserve Lieutenant Colonel Bruce Hopfengardner
Robert Stein, a convicted felon
Philip Bloom, contractor
Steven Merkes, Department of Defense (DoD)
U.S. Army Reserve Lieutenant Colonel Debra Harrison
William Driver, Harrison’s husband
U.S. Army Reserve Colonel Curtis Whiteford
U.S. Army Reserve Lieutenant Colonel Michael Wheeler
So far only $191 million have been recovered. Don’t forget, your fearless leaders are still spending your tax dollars in Iraq, while expecting you to take it in the shorts!
Now what about Afghanistan? According to Stuart Bowen, lead investigator for SIGIR, U.S. spending in Afghanistan is being investigated and it’s turning out to be bigger than Iraq, at least $90 billion spent so far for reconstruction in the Central Asian country: “…Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction [SIGAR] has his hands full…..quite a number of auditors and investigators who have served with me have now moved over to work in his office…”
Now don’t think this means U.S. military adventurism is over, Bowen warned: “Stabilization and reconstruction operations are a reality with us to stay…..we will have them again.”
Watch the PBS NewsHour interview here.