LAT: War Advocates Profit from Iraq Reconstruction (rep contract-seekers)

[DeepModem Mom]

THE CONFLICT IN IRAQ
Advocates of War Now Profit From Iraq's Reconstruction
Lobbyists, aides to senior officials and others encouraged invasion and now help firms pursue contracts. They see no conflict.

By Walter F. Roche Jr. and Ken Silverstein, Times Staff Writers


WASHINGTON — In the months and years leading up to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, they marched together in the vanguard of those who advocated war.

As lobbyists, public relations counselors and confidential advisors to senior federal officials, they warned against Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, praised exiled leader Ahmad Chalabi, and argued that toppling Saddam Hussein was a matter of national security and moral duty.

Now, as fighting continues in Iraq, they are collecting tens of thousands of dollars in fees for helping business clients pursue federal contracts and other financial opportunities in Iraq. For instance, a former Senate aide who helped get U.S. funds for anti-Hussein exiles who are now active in Iraqi affairs has a $175,000 deal to advise Romania on winning business in Iraq and other matters.

And the ease with which they have moved from advocating policies and advising high government officials to making money in activities linked to their policies and advice reflects the blurred lines that often exist between public and private interests in Washington. In most cases, federal conflict-of-interest laws do not apply to former officials or to people serving only as advisors....

***

Former CIA Director R. James Woolsey is a prominent example of the phenomenon, mixing his business interests with what he contends are the country's strategic interests. He left the CIA in 1995, but he remains a senior government advisor on intelligence and national security issues, including Iraq. Meanwhile, he works for two private companies that do business in Iraq and is a partner in a company that invests in firms that provide security and anti-terrorism services....


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-advocates14jul14,1,278590.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[Cooley Hurd]

1. Woolsey's been Crashcart's biggest defender as of late...

...in regards to Coronary Kid's latest blubbering about Iraq-al Qaeda's ties, hitting the news shows hard.

This quote from the article made me laugh:

Michael Shires, a professor of public policy at Pepperdine University, disagreed. "I don't see an ethical issue there," he said. "I see individuals looking out for their own interests."

Would we expect anything different from a professor from fucking Pepperdine???:eyes:

[Judi Lynn]

2. The source of your quote is exactly as you'd possibly imagine him!

Faculty
Michael Shires, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Public Policy
Director, Murray S. Craig Digital Democracy Lab


Michael Shires is assistant professor of public policy and director of the Murray S. Craig Digital Democracy Laboratory, an initiative examining ways that technology can enhance government official accountability. He previously was a research fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California and a doctoral fellow at RAND’s Graduate School of Policy Studies, concentrating on domestic education policy, California fiscal policy, and international trade policy.

His works in higher education include: “Alternative Approaches to Funding Higher Education in California,” “The Future of Public Undergraduate Education in California,” and “The Redesign of Governance in Higher Education.” His state and local finance titles include: “The Development of Counties as Municipal Governments: A Case Study of Los Angeles County in the 21st Century,” “The Effects of the California Voucher Initiative on Public Expenditures for Education,” “A Review of Local Government Revenue Data in California, Has Proposition 13 Delivered?,” “The Changing Tax Burden in California,” and “Patterns in California State and Local Government Revenues Since Proposition 13.” He has also co-authored work on United States-Japan and United States-European community trade relations.

His primary areas of teaching and research include state, regional, and local policy; technology and democracy; higher education policy; strategic, political, and organizational issues in public policy; and quantitative analysis.
(snip/...)

http://publicpolicy.pepperdine.edu/academics/faculty/shires/

Swoons at the thought of school vouchers!

They've got a million of these _guys.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From DeepModemMom's article:

The group, in addition to Woolsey, includes:

• Neil Livingstone, a former Senate aide who has served as a Pentagon and State Department advisor and issued repeated public calls for Hussein's overthrow. He heads a Washington-based firm, GlobalOptions, that provides contacts and consulting services to companies doing business in Iraq.

• Randy Scheunemann, a former Rumsfeld advisor who helped draft the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 authorizing $98 million in U.S. aid to Iraqi exile groups. He was the founding president of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq. Now he's helping former Soviet Bloc states win business there.

• Margaret Bartel, who managed federal money channeled to Chalabi's exile group, the Iraqi National Congress, including funds for its prewar intelligence program on Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction. She now heads a Washington-area consulting firm helping would-be investors find Iraqi partners.

• K. Riva Levinson, a Washington lobbyist and public relations specialist who received federal funds to drum up prewar support for the Iraqi National Congress. She has close ties to Bartel and now helps companies open doors in Iraq, in part through her contacts with the Iraqi National Congress.

They're not shy, are they? They waste our country's resources and honor.

[mallard]

3. It's great to find out...

how these inside players, like james Woolsey, "see no conflict" in there contracting out the spoils of the 'flawed decisioning process' they used to promote the war.

A trip to the eye doctor's won't help their vision

[Judi Lynn]

4. You bet. Looks as their blindness is a matter of spirit, and permanent.n/t

[enough]

5. kick

[struggle4progress]

6. and again

:kick: