On Monday, April 9, 2007, the Boston Herald reported that the US military had announced the Easter weekend deaths of 10 more American soldiers, including six killed on Sunday. The Associated Press reports that, since the war began in March 2003, over 3,000 members of the US military have been killed in Iraq, as of April 8, 2007.
The military reported the deaths of four more US soldiers on Tuesday.
Its nearly impossible to estimate the number of deaths of civilians in Iraq, but the Herald reports that at least 47 people were killed or found dead in violence on Easter Sunday, including 17 execution victims dumped in the capital.
News releases out of Iraq also report that a woman wearing a black veil and strapped with explosives blew herself up outside a police station in Iraq on Tuesday, killing 16 people.
According to the January 14, 2007 LA Times, Steven Kosiak, director of budget studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington, says that, starting with the anti-terrorism appropriation a week after the 9/11 attacks, he estimates the US has spent $400 billion fighting terrorism through fiscal 2006, which ended on September 30, 2006.
In January 2007, Marine Corps spokeswoman, Lt Col Roseann Lynch, told Reuters that the war in Iraq is costing about $4.5 billion a month for military "operating costs," which did not include new weapons or equipment.
Since this war on terror was declared following 9/11, the pay levels for the CEOs of the top 34 defense contractors have doubled. The average compensation rose from $3.6 million during the period of 1998-2001, to $7.2 million during the period of 2002-2005, according to an August 2006, report entitled, "Executive Excess 2006," by the Washington-based, Institute for Policy Studies, and the Boston-based, United for a Fair Economy.
This study found that since 9/11, the 34 defense CEOs have pocketed a combined total of $984 million, or enough, the report says, to cover the wages for more than a million Iraqis for a year. In 2005, the average total compensation for the CEOs of large US corporations was only 6% above 2001 figures, while defense CEOs pay was 108% higher.
But the last name of one family, which is literally amassing a fortune over the backs of our dead heroes, matches that of the man holding the purse strings in the White House. On December 11, 2003, the Financial Times reported that three people had told the Times that they had seen letters written by Neil Bush that recommended business ventures in the Middle East, promoted by New Bridges Strategies, a firm set up by President Bush's former campaign manager, who quit his Bush appointed government job as the head of FEMA, three weeks before the war in Iraq began.
Neil Bush was paid an annual fee to "help companies secure contracts in Iraq," the Times said.
But Neil Bush is by no means the only Bush profiting from the war on terror. The first President Bush is so entangled with entities that have profited greatly that it's difficult to even know where to begin. Bush joined the Carlyle Group in 1993, and became a member of the firm's Asian Advisory Board.
The Carlyle Group was best known for buying defense companies and doubling or tripling their value and was already heavily supported by defense contracts. But in 2002, the firm received $677 million in government contracts, and by 2003, its contracts were worth $2.1 billion.
Prior to 9/11, some Carlyle companies were not doing so well. For instance, the future of Vought Aircraft looked dismal when the company laid off 20% of its employees. But business was booming shortly after the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq began, and the company received over $1 billion in defense contracts.
The Bush family's connections to the Osama bin Laden's family seem almost surreal. On September 28, 2001, two weeks after 9/11, the Wall Street Journal reported that, "George H.W. Bush, the father of President Bush, works for the bin Laden family business in Saudi Arabia through the Carlyle Group, an international consulting firm."
As a representative of Carlyle, one of the investors that Bush brought to Carlyle was the Bin Laden Group, a construction company owned by Osama's family. The bin Ladens have been called the Rockefellers of the Middle East, and the father, Mohammed, has reportedly amassed a $5 billion empire. According the Journal, Bush convinced Shafiq bin Laden to invest $2 million with Carlyle.
The Journal found that Bush had met with the bin Ladens at least twice between 1998 and 2000. On September 27, 2001, the Journal reported that it had confirmed that a meeting took place between Bush Senior and the bin Laden family through Senior's Chief of Staff, Jean Becker, but only after the reporter showed her a thank you note that was written and sent by Bush to the bin Ladens after the meeting.
This article is a must read. We all know that The Bush family is joined at the hip with the Al Sauds and other wealthy Saudis, but this article really gets into the specifics.
It boils down to that--the longer we stay in Iraq, the more the Bush family gets tons of money in Defense contracts, all paid for by the American taxpayer--never mind all the lives lost and devastated. Win or lose, hated or not, is doesn't matter, the Bushes are laughing all the way to the bank.
Deeply disgusting, it's like the Corleones have hijacked the government. We are truly a banana republic.
by
francine (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 162 comments)
on Tuesday, April 10, 2007 at 6:28:37 AM
Little wonder that Bush prolongs the occupation. With every month that passes his family is making millions - blood money. Wasn't Bush reading Shakespeare last summer(ha ha)? "Murder will out."
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skyreader7 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 180 comments)
on Tuesday, April 10, 2007 at 9:31:51 AM
Neil Bush was involved in the "Silverado Savings & Loan" debacle (along with the Keating five)....
Neil Bush has been rumored to be involved in the "Educational Testing" industry which has evolved since the "No Child Left Behind" act......
Little George, his father, and other family members have had long standing "friendships" with the Saudi royal family for decades.......A relationship where oil & money are thicker than American blood & treasure.
If you haven't seen it yet please view the film Farenheit 9/11 you will become very angry at the way one royal family influences the other royal family.....
I guess it's difficult to get along in the world when you only make a presidents salary...........you might be tempted to develop other revenue streams.
If almost all of the perpetrators of 9-11 are from Saudi Arabia, the Mastermind of 9-11 is from Saudi Arabia; If the richest country in the middle east won't help us to secure a stable political situation with it's neighbors, and if the cost of the very commodity we are fighting to protect continues to rise at alarming rates...........you gotta ask yourself if we are fighting a war with the wrong country.
Thank you for your attention...............Mr. Brian Mathes
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Brian Mathes (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 41 comments)
on Tuesday, April 10, 2007 at 10:14:45 AM
In several Articles of late I have written about that very thing. Strip them of the Carlyle Wealth which has profited $15 Billion since the start of the war and averaged 34.7% per year for 15 years, which is about 12 times what the average huge and successful Corporation does.
Carlyle is the largest privately held equity firm in America. It consists of former dictators, generals, admirals, former repub presidents, oil company execs, arms dealers etc. It is bad enough to profit from war, but to start wars and then to profit from them is quite another "Christian Act". That is also why I have written about nationalizing oil companies and arms dealers, and making them both and all necessities non-profit and turned over to American Universities. Good article.
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Professor Emeritus Peter Bagnolo (144 articles, 1 quicklinks, 94 diaries, 1185 comments)
on Tuesday, April 10, 2007 at 12:04:03 PM
The corruption goes back to Prescott Bush and Adolph Hitler. This amoral family will do anything to make a buck. Meanwhile, all the children are enjoying the fruits of this ill-gotten money.
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LEO BOYLE (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 40 comments)
on Tuesday, April 10, 2007 at 12:10:10 PM
P. BUSH, HARRIMAN, WALKER, BROWN BROS HARRIMAN, AND UBC, WERE NOT THE ROOT, BUSH's GREAT GRAND FATHER WAS IN ON SIMILAR DEALS BEFORE HIS SON PRECOTT BECAME OF AGE IN THE FAMILY BUSINESS OF WAR PROFITING.
CHENEY'S FAMILY SCOTTISH WAR PROFITS GO BACK SEVERAL HUNDRED YEAR'S, MY ANCESTORS TANGLED WITH THOSE HORSE THIEVES EONS AGO. I HAVE SEVERAL LARGE ARTICLES UP IN 2007 ON THE PRESCOTT BUSH CONNECTION, WHICH RESEARCH I DID WHEN BUSH SENIOR RAN.
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Professor Emeritus Peter Bagnolo (144 articles, 1 quicklinks, 94 diaries, 1185 comments)
on Tuesday, April 10, 2007 at 1:41:49 PM
All you have to do is google the 'ol boy's name, scroll down to "NAZI DEALINGS" , and it will tell you everything about it. These people are beyond criminal, THEY ARE MONSTERS!!
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mike wygant (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 287 comments)
on Tuesday, April 10, 2007 at 7:02:21 PM
" .......starting with the anti-terrorism appropriation a week after the 9/11 attacks, he estimates the US has spent $400 billion fighting terrorism through fiscal 2006, which ended on September 30, 2006."
And some still don't understand how or why 9/11 changed so much. Why, it's the crux of the biscuit ; 9/11 was the enabler !
Yes, Congress must cut of Bush family war profits. Wouldn't it be wonderful if ALL WAR PROFITS could be cut off ? After all, war is a lucrative business.
by
Tony Forest (4 articles, 10 quicklinks, 115 diaries, 996 comments)
on Tuesday, April 10, 2007 at 12:46:57 PM
PETE ROSE WAS BANNED FOR BETTING ON HIS OWN TEAM. HERE ARE THE BUSHITES PROFITING AND HARDLY BETTING ON THEIR OWN TEAM AND EVERYONE ELSE'S TEAM PLUS STEALING FROM THE IRAQI'S AND AMERICANS. CHENEY MAY BE RUNNING IRAN CONTRA-TYPE INSURRECTIONS IN TRAN, IRAQ, AND SOON HERE WITHJ ALQAEDA, AND PERHAPS BLACKWATER AND OTHERS.
I PREDICTED THAT HALLIBURTON, SEVERAL YEARS AGO AND AGAIN SEVERAL TIMES LAST YEAR AND SINCE, WOULD MOVE OUT OF THE USA TO SECURE THEIR FUTURE. ARE THEY GOING TO BE THE NEW AL QAEDA COORDINATORS OF ATTACKS AGAINST USA TO FRIGHTEN YELLOW AMERICANS TO VOTE RED AGAIN? IS THAT HOW THE BUSHITES INITIATED, WITH BUSH'S KNOWLEDGE, 9/11? I SAY W/OUT HIS OKAY, BECAUSE HE LOOED GENUINELY SHOCKED IN THE THAT SCHOOL. CHENEY MAY HAVE BROUGHT HIM UP TO DATE LATER.
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Professor Emeritus Peter Bagnolo (144 articles, 1 quicklinks, 94 diaries, 1185 comments)
on Tuesday, April 10, 2007 at 1:51:27 PM
aren't left up to Dubya alone. I doubt he has a word in the matter, yet.
He (Dubya) did look like a kid left out in front of the barbershop that day. That is to say, to look at Dubya in search of the 9/11 perps is to follow the carrot dangling from the stick. Just look at who all profits from all this....since 9/11. Lots of names, lots of money. I had come up with some damned good reasons for 9/11 but this one (money) tops them all. The global strategy reasoning never made sense...to me.
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Tony Forest (4 articles, 10 quicklinks, 115 diaries, 996 comments)
on Tuesday, April 10, 2007 at 2:43:14 PM
That another bush bro.....Marvin....was CEO of the security co. that was in charge of security for .....THE WORLD TRADE CENTER, right up until the day the buildings fell? You put all the pieces of the puzzle together,and it tells one hell of an evil story.
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mike wygant (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 287 comments)
on Tuesday, April 10, 2007 at 9:56:51 PM
All dead soldiers should be reimbursed with a million dollars, taken out of the pockets of the Bushes and the Cheneys. If Abraham Lincoln left the presidency broke, so should these morons. But, ... we can be rest assured that this administration will go down in history as, not only the worst president in history, but also, the laughing stock of every historian who studies presidential administrations.
The Tillman's should reap millions off of Bush and Cheney, but also the Pentagon. Both of the wannabe sheriffs, should have their boots kicked up in their butts until we can see the tips in the eyes.
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Dale Hill (55 articles, 0 quicklinks, 97 diaries, 340 comments)
on Tuesday, April 10, 2007 at 2:41:48 PM
Email this to everyone you know. I have tried to follow the money trail with help from the internet and really appreciate the efforts of those who put it all together. We need to spread this far and wide. Maybe some where ,some one will be able to get Congress to look beyond the end of their terms. I do feel for the people who lost loved ones to this greedy horde. But the truth must be told .The deceptions are endless and it boggles the mind how duplicitous this gang of thieves are. It has taken 3 lifetimes for this plot to come to fruition. They can not be allowed to continue to get away with this. It is one case that does need a very Speical Prosecutor. See if we can find any volunteers.
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cluelessfl (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 184 comments)
on Tuesday, April 10, 2007 at 3:02:17 PM
Who can we get in Congress to submit a bill that would word the withdrawal funds that way? Limit the funding to safe withdrawal of troops. Also, how to get the information about Bush family war profiteering to everyone in Congress and in the media?
by
Marg (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 7 comments)
on Wednesday, April 11, 2007 at 1:44:35 PM
