Asking a BIG favour, fellow DUers ... - Democratic Underground

NanceGreggs

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Sat May-20-06 07:51 PM
Original message

Asking a BIG favour, fellow DUers ...

Edited on Sat May-20-06 07:57 PM by NanceGreggs

The details of the US Embassy currently being built in Baghdad are finally beginning to trickle out, and this obscenity (currently budgeted at around $600,000,000 plus) is an outrage, as you will no doubt agree.

Below is a letter I have just sent to Senator Richard Lugar, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee that has oversight of this project. This story has been kept quiet by the administration, allegedly for 'national security' reasons -- even though it is widely known throughout Iraq and the ME.

We all know why this story is being quashed; this type of expenditure (at the taxpayers' expense, of course) will OUTRAGE American citizens, something the GOP (who voted this crap into existence) don't want publicized in the lead-up to mid-term elections.

While I realize that Lugar is not the only guilty party in this debacle, I think it best to attack one person rather than dilute our outrage by sending letters, faxes, emails, etc, to any number of parties.

The favour I am asking is two-fold:
(1) Please send an email, letter, fax or phone message to Lugar's office expressing your anger in no uncertain terms. Google 'US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations' for email/snail-mail addresses and the phone number.

(2) Please cross-post either the letter below, or one of your own creation, to every website you normally frequent, asking the posters there to again cross-post to every website they frequent, with the same request -- you get the idea, a chain-letter effect that will spread this story across the internet within a matter of days.

Never forget the lesson we learned with the Stephen Colbert story: We ARE the MEDIA. We have the power to make the MSM take notice by the sheer numbers we represent.

I know there are a million stories out there that touch Americans, and bring them to a boil-over point of anger. I think THIS is one of those stories. So I humbly ask for your help in spreading the word.

The Honorable Richard G. Lugar
Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations

Dear Sir:

I have been reading the news stories about the American Embassy being built in Baghdad, Iraq, and I understand that the committee you chair has oversight of this project.

First, I wanted to personally thank you and your fellow Republicans for appropriating the funds necessary ($592,000,000 thus far) to bring this incredible undertaking to fruition. Second, I am sure that under your fine committee leadership, the outcome will be something truly spectacular.

When I first learned of the billions of dollars being spent on the War in Iraq, I feared that much of it would be frittered away on things like body armor for our soldiers, or uncontaminated water for their personal use. I now see that my fears were baseless, and the hard-earned money of already financially-strapped American citizens is being disbursed with the fiscal responsibility the Republican party rightfully takes such pride in.

What better way to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people than to build a palace in their midst? I am sure they appreciate the fact that the monies budgeted for rebuilding their hospitals, their schools, and the infrastructure that we destroyed during their “liberation” have been allocated to a much more majestic purpose.

As Iraqis go about their daily routine of trying to locate potable water, as they walk back to their homes to enjoy their few hours of electrical power, no doubt they will stop and admire this beautiful structure that offers the safety and comfort of its own electrical generator and water purification system! Who wouldn’t be impressed with our legendary Yankee know-how?

I am especially pleased that the major portion of this contract was awarded to First Kuwaiti General Trading & Contracting, a subcontractor of Halliburton’s Kellogg, Brown and Root. The reports I have read indicate that this company is a novice in the area of building embassies, and it is heartwarming to know that new companies are being given opportunities of this magnitude. Of course, there are also disturbing reports about their inhumane treatment of workers, but we have to expect a few glitches when a fledgling company spreads its wings, don’t we?

I have also read some interviews with the residents of Baghdad, and they seem to mistakenly believe that the prime real estate our embassy will occupy was simply appropriated without recompense to the citizens of Iraq. Well, I know that can’t be true. Americans would never occupy land that does not rightfully belong to them and utilize it for their own purposes, would they?

I am especially impressed with the sensitivity that has been displayed during the transition period the Iraqi people are currently undergoing after the despotic rule of Saddam Hussein. First we gave them arrests without cause, death squads, and torture – things they were used to. And now we build a palace that rivals the garishness and in-your-face expenditure of money that their former leader was famous for. What an incredible comfort that must be to the ordinary citizens who are still acclimating themselves to democracy and freedom!

I know that news stories about the new embassy are supposed to be kept quiet – for ‘national security’ reasons, I am told. But when you build something this incredible, word is bound to leak out. And the fact that the construction site is visible for miles in every direction makes discretion impossible.

Of course, I think there is another reason for keeping this whole project on the QT – you and your fellow party members are just too humble to take the credit for this endeavor!

But hiding your light under a bushel just won’t do, Senator Lugar. I will be posting this letter on several internet websites, and urging others to spread the good word. So I hope your office is prepared for the many letters of congratulation that will undoubtedly be pouring in over the next few weeks.

It is time for you and all Republicans who made this dream embassy possible to stand up and accept the accolades that are your due.

The thunderous applause you are undoubtedly about to hear will come from many quarters: the parents who failed to understand why their children in the military had to die for want of $700 worth of body armor, the thousands of Katrina victims who now understand why the government had no funds to assist them. And no doubt the Iraq War veterans whose pensions have been gutted yet again by you and your party, will now understand why priority had to be given to this desert-bound display of riches and wealth in the midst of devastation and death.

Since the reins of our leadership were assumed by George W. Bush, the peoples of the world have increasingly viewed the United States as a country of excess, misplaced ideals and values, controlled by wealthy politicians with a pig-at-the-trough mentality. I dare them to look at this soon-to-be-unveiled display of gaudiness and fetterless power and not admit their misjudgment of the current president and his Administration.

I sincerely hope that the incredible work that you and your fellow Republicans have been doing will not be overlooked by my fellow citizens when it comes time to vote in the upcoming mid-term elections.

And believe me, if I have anything to do with it, it won’t be.

With all due respect,
Nancy Greggs
Shocked-and-Awed American Citizen

For More INFO: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/3876208.html