



LAWMAKERS AVOID NATION’S REAL PROBLEMS…

In his opening statement, Gates fervently appealed for funds requested by Gen. David Petraeus for equipment to protect troops in Afghanistan. The money has been held up because it would be taken from a project benefiting a major contributor to the committee chairman, Bill Young, R-FL.

“Mr. Chairman, our troops need this force-protection equipment, and they need it now,” Gates pleaded. “Every day that goes by without this equipment, the lives of our troops are at greater risk.” He urged action “today” on the funds, admonishing: “We should not put American lives at risk to protect specific programs or contractors.”

The State Department’s inspector general says bomb-sniffing dogs used in Afghanistan and Iraq aren’t being tested properly and may not be able to detect explosives. The inspector general said its review found that the companies hired to supply and train the dogs weren’t testing them for the most commonly encountered explosives, increasing the chance of a dog missing a bomb in a vehicle or luggage. The companies also used expired or contaminated materials for the scent tests. That [also] puts U.S. lives at risk.

Gates warned that the military would “face a crisis” if Congress continues to fund the government with short-term spending resolutions, or if it enacts the spending bill recently passed by House Republicans. Gates said it would leave the military unable “to properly carry out its mission, maintain readiness and prepare for the future.” But the members of Congress could not function at such a high level of thought.

Secretary of Defense Gates couldn’t get the lawmakers to agree to his urgent request to shift $1.2 billion in Pentagon funds to protect soldiers’ lives in Afghanistan. He had asked for the money a month previously, but Young’s committee hadn’t acted because Young objects to the money being taken away from the Army’s Humvee program. Never mind that the Army has more Humvees than it wants. They are manufactured by AM General, which happens to be Young’s third-largest campaign contributor. Its executives have funneled him more than $80,000, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Gates told Young that his delay was putting lives at risk, but the gentlemen from AM General was unmoved.

WHY ARE WE STILL AT WAR? FOLLOW THE MONEY….

151 Congressmen Derive Financial Profit From War

Congressmen gave themselves a loophole. Republican and Democratic lawmakers invested $161.3 million in companies under contract with the DoD. Investments in these contractors yielded Congress members $62 million annually. They also profit from taxcuts and the bailouts.

Who profits from war?

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) $5,015,001

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) $500,000

Rep. Kenny Ewell Marchant (R-Tex.) $162,074

Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.) $300,000

Rep. Sam Farr (D-Calif.) $100,000

Sen. Joe Lieberman (IConn.) had at least $51,000 invested in these companies.

Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), who voted for Bushs war, had stock in defense companies, such as Honeywell, Boeing and Raytheon, but sold the stock in May ’07.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) $227,000

Rep. Stephen Ira Cohen (D-Tenn.) $150,000

President Barack Obama says he will: leave 80,000 troops, thousands of private contractors, and 17 permanent bases in Iraq; send 30,000 more troops into Afghanistan. Deploy nuclear carriers with enough firepower to annihilate any country in the Mideast; keep the government spying on citizens; keep in place the secret rendition program Bush used to torture detainees; refuse to investigate & prosecute the war and torture crimes of the Bush regime.

When you’re the world’s sole superpower, and you’ve been bogged down for eight years by pismire adversaries who don’t have an air force or a navy or an army or even a defense budget, you’re not fighting a “war on terror”, you’re getting fleeced by Congress and crooked private contractors.

MUST SEE VIDEO:

http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=e6d59c26c710c41ad8703b&skin_id=1602&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

Sources:

LA TIMES 3/6/2011 Dana Milbank “Congress earns low reputation”

The Sun 10/9/2010 AP “Bomb-sniffing dog tests fall short”