Wow! CNN Front page photo! Maimed contractor pic

[Worst Username Ever]

Poor guy. I am glad he made it. 5 others did not.

[proud patriot]

1. Ow

that hurts just looking at it . :-(

[TahitiNut]

27. Maybe Mel Gibson will make a movie about him.

:evilgrin:

[OutsourceBush]

2. I'd hate to see the pics of the ones who didn't make it

with this guy looking so messed up. Man...

[Zuni]

3. what happened to him?

it looks pretty painful

[Worst Username Ever]

4. The bombing in the green zone yesterday

[puddycat]

5. Its hard to feel sympathy for war profiteers, but I do feel sorry for him.

[prayin4rain]

6. I don't understand how everyone in Iraq is a war profiteer

I am not trying to be argumentitive, but somebody has to do these jobs right? I understand the government should handle it differently but since they don't- still SOMEBODY has to get some of this rebuilding done. Could someone explain this to me?

[TahitiNut]

8. So, Iraqis can't drive trucks?

Iraq has 50% unemployment and has a highly-educated and highly-skilled population.

[prayin4rain]

9. Again I am not saying the GOVERNMENT shouldn't handle it differently

I agree that from an administrative standpoint it should be handled differently. Iraqis and other countries should be a major part of the rebuilding effort. BUT since it has not been organized differently, I am saying why are the people, the workers, who take the jobs judged so harshly? It is not their decision to not hire Iraqi truck drivers.

[zbdent]

10. Mrs. Edwards was speaking about how the no-bid contracts for

creating a cement factory cost millions of dollars and were taking so long that the Iraqis decided to do it themselves and had the factory up and running within about a tenth of the time and for about 50 grand.

Cheney was "fraternizing with the enemy" all through the 90s while Saddam was "the enemy". Oil industry, you know. Halliburton. Halliburton gets no-bid contracts for Iraq. Wonder why?

Oh, and to clarify why we don't have sympathy for these guys, let me put it this way. These guys went in there knowing that Iraq was dangerous. Any time you have to work with an armed guard with all the guns pointed outward, that's a dangerous job. You could get killed. So when one gets hurt in a situation where he's only in it for the bucks (tell me, would you go into Iraq right now for less than a million bucks?), there's a lot less sympathy to go around than for the guys who actually went through the normal route used for going into a country and pointing a gun at someone, a la - THE MILITARY. At least, with a military injury or casualty, you can feel sorry for the guy who has to carry out orders, illegal or not.

[prayin4rain]

12. No I wouldn't go into Iraq...

for less than a million bucks, but I don't have seven year old at home with cancer and no health insurance and no prospects. Or a million other hardships some of these people may be facing. To put this blanket motivation on these workers is wrong. I understand the anger at the way this entire situation is being handled it is sickening. I just don't understand the EXTREME hostility to these low (position wise, not money wise) workers who don't have any power to change things.

[puddycat]

14. A war profiteer is still a parasite, no matter what the motivation.

Halliburton et al are not only stealing money from the American people, they are stealing jobs from Iraqis. A war profiteer is still a parasite, no matter what the motivation.

[prayin4rain]

15. Jeez again again again... I understand how the corporations and the people

in CHARGE are war profiteers. What you are saying is the janitor at Enron is guilty of the same things the CEO's are guilty of...AGAIN I understand Haliburton the company, Haliburton's DECISION makers, government DECISION makers who put up the no-bid contracts are war profiteers.

The man who applies for and then takes a job offered to him is not "stealing" a job from someone else, it is not his decision who gets hired. Not what firms are hired to do the rebuilding nor the workers the firm then hires.

Jeez, I just must not be making my point or my question clear, I continue to get responses that add no insight to my question.

[puddycat]

23. why defend war profiteering?

War profiteers are not only Halliburton CEO's, but their employees in Iraq who are getting paid huge salaries to perform jobs that Iraqis could do and should be doing. This is the essence of war profiteering. My question is why on earth would any of you want to defend these people?

The Iraqis have been slaughtered, and much of their culture destroyed, and you want only to pin this on the very top leaders? Let's face it, if good people would refuse to take part in these activities, then the war and the occupation could not exist. To fulfill their imperialistic intentions, the neo-conservatives need lots of willing workers and its evident they have them, and their defenders exist even here at DU.

[prayin4rain]

24. I am not defending war profiteering

First of all you seem to like to take cheap shots. Second, I have stated from the beginning I do not agree with war profiteering. I do not see how these low level workers are guilty of war profiteering.

It seems to me by your logic; if no one would work at oil companies as secretaries and janitors, or gas stations as cashiers, the country would be forced to find new and better ways to fuel our cars, therefore no war in Iraq. All of them war profiteers. All of us war profiteers.

Really though are you really suggesting everyone who works for Haliburton, Kellog Brown & Root, Nortel, Qwest and every single company hired to rebuild Iraq quit their jobs? What if a secretary coming home from work at Haliburton here in the United States fell upon tragedy(car wreck or such) would she be undeserving of compassion because she is a war profiteer?

I simply cannot find a thread of logic in your argument, and actually it seems quite judgemental and mainly just mean spirited to me.

[puddycat]

26. The definition of war profiteer is not hard to understand.

A janitor cleaning the toilets of Halliburton back in the States is certainly not, under any definition, a war profiteer. But a contractor making large sums of money in Iraq is a war profiteer by definition. So he's making a hundred grand instead of a hundred billion, so what? He's still making profits off of war.

[Bridget Burke]

19. The corporate honchos at Halliburton, etc., are the profiteers.

Most of the contractors are just people who need work. They didn't start the war.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

11. You know, I'm 110% against the war in Iraq and I have been since....

...the subject of invasion first came up, but comments like yours make me want to get physically ill.

The people going over there to be contractors have families to support and debt to pay off. Just in case you haven't noticed it, the jobs aren't exactly falling off trees here in the States, and I doubt seriously that they have skills that are in great demand anyway.

Despite what they're paying him in Iraq, he's not a war profiteer by any stretch of the imagination. The REAL war profiteers are the folks that are running the corporations doing the work in Iraq for vastly inflated sums of money.

Can you imagine how difficult it was for this guy and his family to make the decision for him to go to Iraq? Can you even imagine how bad our economy really is to drive someone to make that kind of decision?

But, hey...it's REALLY nice to know that in the middle of your sanctimonious, holier-than-thou attitude that you can lower yourself to feel sorry for a guy that was just trying to take care of his family.

[puddycat]

16. You must get sick quite a lot !!!

That kind of rationalization is why half of America thinks its okay to illegally invade a nation, bomb her innocent citizens, and think the man who ordered it should be re-elected: anything goes, if it can be explained away by our "needs".

I find your defense of war profiteers strangely inconsistent with your avowed anti-war stance.

[geek tragedy]

18. It's called having compassion for human beings--especially workers.

You should look into it.

[puddycat]

21. You evidently have little compassion for the poor Iraqis.

These contractors are certainly war profiteers. Research the term.

I do have lots of sympathy for them as human beings if they are suffering, but that doesn't mean I will defend what they do.

[geek tragedy]

22. I know what a profiteer is, and this guy ain't one.

If you can tell me where I referred to Iraqi civilians as "parasites" your title is fair. Otherwise it's a dishonest cheap shot.

[Bridget Burke]

20. Glad you've come to DU.

We really need somebody to monitor our incorrect thinking.

Where have you been?

[puddycat]

25. Thank you. But right now I'm wondering if I'm in the Twilight Zone

Never thought I'd be bashed for criticizing war profiteers here at DU! And some of the attacks are weirdly personal and hostile. Perhaps its because I'm a newbie and I'm supposed to stick to the kitty-cat threads?

[TahitiNut]

7. I've seen worse resulting just from "road rash."

This guy's lucky. He's paid maybe $80K-$120K taxfree, can walk, talk, and kiss (and has someone to kiss). It looks like he's still got both eyes, both arms, both hands, and both legs.

Compare that to the poor cannon fodder from a poor neighborhood with a poor education who loses a leg or two, an eye or two, an arm or two, or wounds that result in a lifetime of pain and disfigurment. Imagine what that guy has to look forward to in his life. For what?

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[alexisfree]

13. it is horrible!

Ouch........how sad and horrible and I bet he is proud...

I swear that was a war that should have never happen.