Betraying our Troops: The Destructive Results of Privatizing War

[maddezmom]

Book: American troops betrayed
Accounts of privatization of war collected
By Barbara Grady, STAFF WRITER
Article Last Updated: 05/01/2007 02:45:12 AM PDT


E-mails from soldiers in the Iraqi desert would appear on her computer each morning.
One lamented that water supplies had gotten so low that they were rationed to one bottle of water a day — in 120-degree heat. Another told how his unit regularly scavenged for parts and armor off abandoned Iraqi vehicles to keep their own trucks going. Then there was the unit forced to use barely filtered wastewater for showers.

To El Cerrito resident Dina Rasor, a federal contract investigator long accustomed to hearing about contract fraud, the soldiers' stories of trying to make do in battle zones withoutthe supplies promised were heartbreaking.

"These are our troops we are putting in harm's way," she said in an interview. "A lot of them were getting sick and dehydrated," because of lack of water. "Some of these guys were going into shock in their sleep, they were so dehydrated."

Others were slogging through the desert in taped-up boots and unarmored vehicles.

When the occasional e-mail turned into a deluge with dozens of calls and testimonies about soldiers deprived of basic supplies and services, Rasor felt compelled to do more than document the contract waste for later pursuit of refunds to the government, her usual task. She wanted to bring it public.

She wrote a book.

more:http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_5791321?source=rss

[Monkeyman]

1. K&R

[wakeme2008]

2. This just points out things I have said about Viet Nam vs Iraq before.

In Viet Nam we had Army cooks and Army mail. No matter what you may want to say about the Army food, :rofl: the cooks went with the units. Unless you were in the field, you had cooked meals at base camp and up. Not with Today's Army. You only get cooked meals if KBR thinks it is safe enough for their people to be there.

As a side issue, we have become a Bottle Water Nation. :shrug: In Nam the water we showered in was also the water we drank. Because the troops live on bottle water, this allows their shower water to be undrinkable.

[tech3149]

3. This paragraph pissed me off. If it were me, I don't think the reaction

would be viewed too kindly.

"It meant that several thousand soldiers at Camp Speicher near the Iraq-Iran border faced the possibility of an instant cutoff in food, fighting gear, water, truck parts and even generated electricity as the contractor, KBR, threatened a work stoppage after a dispute with the Army about its invoices."

I don't think it's too smart to tell armed military that we're gonna cut you off because of a disagreement.

[vickitulsa]

6. True. But what are they going to do if KBR responds by pulling out completely?

Go without any food, water, or other supplies indefinitely while some "peace" between the contractor and the Army is negotiated?

Halliburton has the military by the short hairs, and they know it. To my way of thinking, it's the worst possible scenario -- well, except for all the other crappy scenarios out there, thanks to the war-profiteering criminals in the White House and all their corporate cronies who just can't get enough money in their coffers to satisfy.

Reminds me of that famous quote by -- who was it? J. Paul Getty? When someone asked him after he'd topped one billion in net worth when he would have "enough" money, and he replied, "You can't have too much money." ........

[paparush]

4. Bush is Avoiding the Draft Again

Bush/Cheney and the neocons KNOW that the one thing that would end any support for this war is THE DRAFT. The poison pill of reality.

Bush is once again avoiding THE DRAFT by:

A. Recycling Our Troops (The only thing Bush recycles is our Troops).

B. By spending billions of our tax dollars on an illegal, private, army.

Remove either A or B and THE DRAFT becomes reality (which is what Bush avoids like the plague).

[bonito]

5. K&R n/t

[vickitulsa]

7. My online pal Armymom has been sending "care packages" to troops

ever since Vietnam. Her then-husband was incountry, but she didn't stop with sending him the little extra goodies and odd items that made life a tiny bit better -- she became a penpal and care package sender to at least a dozen other soldiers, some of whom remain in touch with and grateful to her even 30 years later.

Thing was, back then we could, as a poster upthread noted, pretty much count on the military providing our troops in Nam with all the basics to meet their needs in the field or at the bases. We didn't need to send them body armor or essential food items or -- to many troops the most important things -- personal hygiene supplies.

The soldiers then did appreciate getting their favorite brand of toothbrush or -paste, or mouthwash or snacks, of course. But we knew they could at least -- thanks to the quartermaster corps and many other units within the military -- have what they needed to clean themselves up.

It can't be any better to be stationed in the torrid desert environment of Afghanistan or Iraq than it was to find yourself humping the soggy boonies in the sweltering jungles (or highlands or deltas) of Vietnam.

Armymom has continued sending those care packages through the years to our troops wherever they've been deployed, from Bosnia and Somalia to Kosovo and Kuwait to Afghanistan and then Iraq.

She is a member of several groups of military families and support organizations that are civilian but geared toward taking care of those who serve our country in uniform. From SafeHaven to Sanctuary, from VetWives to SoldierMoms and more, she has organized or participated in some pretty massive shipments to our troops on a very regular basis.

Yet this time, now, since Bu$hCo launched their wars for profit and power, Armymom is having to work harder than ever before to help soldiers in dire need of supplies with basic needs, which means fewer "extras" or "treats," since the size of their packages must be limited.

When I heard the first stories of U.S. troops going hungry in Iraq because their meals were rationed to one MRE a day while on repeated 20-hour shifts patroling Baghdad, I emailed my friend Armymom to ask if she had heard of this happening.

That was a couple of years ago and she seemed dubious, even though she knew how bad it was getting as the months and years dragged on. Now she tells me she can't sleep nights thinking about our men and women in the field, "incountry," and dependent on commercial contractors for everything.

The SoldierMoms used to get together wonderful care packages (and they jam-pack them full) for family members and loved ones of servicepeople who basically just needed a lift from their depression and worry. They even sent one to me during a tough, despairing time I had in 2003, when it meant the world to me and achieved the desired effect ... a positive uplift. Their encouragement is still felt, reinforced over and over again, even now, every time I look around my house and see the knick-knacks, the little stuffed bunny or fridge magnet, or use the special scented soaps or write with the gold pen on the lovely stationery they sent me.

Nowadays Armymom's groups don't get to lavish their love on the families and loved ones of our troops nearly as much with packages, simply because all their members feel such urgent pressure to send more and more essential items to the troops! The very people who might have received a package like I did now tell Armymom to use the money, time, and effort to HELP THE TROOPS DIRECTLY, as much and as frequently as possible.

What has been done to our military by the Bu$h crime syndicate is beyond forgiveable! United States soldiers are like mafia "soldiers" to them -- deployable for any reason and for any length of time, to do any manner of foul deeds.

The deterioration in support services for our troops has gone so far that it's going to be very difficult to repair.

And don't even get me started on mail delivery to our troops! The very system that Armymom and her friends have to depend on to get their treasured packages to those that need them is, of course, also a commercially contracted, no-bid mess.

I'll bet that small minority of our soldiers "over there" who are older and can remember clearly what it used to be like are even more furious than the younger servicemembers because they know it could be so much better -- and WAS so much better when the military provided supplies and support services for the military!

My friend Noonie who served in the quartermaster corps during Vietnam is still proud of the work they did then, even if they were often frustrated by conditions on the ground or what used to be referred to as the clusterfuck of the "Army way" of doing things.

Turns out now that Halliburton, operating without oversight by the thugs who hired them and concerned not one whit with how their performance damages and deprives our troops, has surpassed any degree of clusterfucking the military of the past could deliver....

Even if Halliburton were compelled eventually to pay back every dime they stole (which of course we know they will NOT do), it would not help our servicemembers NOW when they need it!

Belated, token oversight and the settlement of lawsuits down the road won't do a thing to help the soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines that are enduring great hardships even as we speak.

Seems to me that Bu$hCo has found a way to get an early start on fucking over those who will be veterans in time, rewarded at the end of their military careers with abusive and neglectful treatment by the VA.

We should be calling what Halliburton does "UNsupport."

Which reminds me of one of my favorite poems called "Eternal Truce" by Armymom:

ETERNAL TRUCE

Let the cannon be unused -
rusted, and shrouded in
clouds of snow -
Let the bullets be unfired -
relics of the long ago -
Let the stretchers be un-borne
and the cries of the wounded
be unknown
Let the nurses all stay home.
Let the widows all un-wail
and the mighty ships of war un-sail.
Let the bullets be unused
and the cannons be unfired -
Let the stretchers be un-borne,
and the barbed wire fences
come unwired.
Let the Wars be all un-fought -
and the Art of War be all untaught -
Let the Poets have empty pages -
Let there be Peace throughout
the Ages.

©Copyright December 2000 by Christina

If you're interested, you can read more of Armymom's tribute poetry here.

http://armymomhaven.com/a_war/index.php

[Morgana LaFey]

8. This makes me simply

murderous.

What we have allowed to happen to our troops on a daily basis enrages me. And I don't think the Dems in Congress have done nearly enough about it up til now -- and even now. I know the bill they passed had a lot of GOOD things, but they need to ramp up that bullypulpit horn and make sure the public is better informed on the subject.

And KBR needs to be put out of business. NOW. Nationalize the sucker.