Im reading James Risens recent book Pay Any Price. Risen finally won a 7-year battle with the Dept. of Justice and will not be jailed for failing to name sources for his past investigative reports and books. It is a victory for freedom of the press, necessary for preserving whats left of our democracy. But when thinking (which I sometimes do....you think?!?) about the degree of corporate control over American domestic and foreign policy I still cringe when learning more. Heres a quote from Risens book: Far more than any other conflict in American history, the global war on terror has been waged along free-market principles. In Iraq and Afghanistan, American soldiers actually on the payroll of the U.S. Army were outnumbered by independent contractors working for private companies hired to provide services from meals to base security. From Pakistan to Yemen to Somalia, American counter terror operations have relied heavily on outside contractors to provide intelligence and logistics. As a result, the tenets of twenty-first-century American capitalism have become the bywords of twenty-first-century American combat. That includes the most infamous catch phrase of the global financial crisis - too big to fail. Risen paints a vivid picture of the political power of Halliburton, its offspring, KBR (both connected to Dick Cheney) and other private contractors that have become insatiable behemoths swallowing up our defense dollars while enjoying impunity while committing habitual fraud and disregarding regulations. Now where is that money we need to shore up our nations infrastructure?
Posted on: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 02:54:51 +0000
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