"Blackwater is getting a bad rap."
So who do suppose handled Obama's security when he was over there in Iraq and Afghanistan? More nutroot heartache surely to ensue.
H/T: Protein Wisdom via Hot Air
P.S. Part and parcel to BDS is the hatred and vilification of any and everything associated with Bush and particularly with regard to the War on Terror. We remember with great clarity how it was that Haliburton’s contract for their work for the military in Kosovo was renewed back in the late 90s under Bill Clinton without competitive bidding with nary a peep from anybody as by all accounts they were doing a bang-up job providing logistical and infrastructure support for the war effort there.
Its pretty simple - the U.S. military is at its best when it can devote the maximum resources possible to killing the bad guys. And when this is done overseas it requires a massive degree of logistical coordination and resources (our day job allows for some keen insight into this area). And when U.S. troops are deployed for long periods of time these logistical resources that house, cloth and feed our troops (to name just the most basic elements – there are many more) are stretched beyond the DOD’s organic capacity because it’s simply too costly and inefficient to maintain these standing resources during peacetime.
This is why outfits like Haliburton and Blackwater are so critical to the effectiveness of our armed forces. Any clear-headed rational assessment of their value will bear this out and this is why it is so frustrating to see them attacked on purely political grounds. Companies like Haliburton and Blackwater aren’t going anywhere…. woops, that’s right – Blackwater is drastically cutting back their security services because the shit they have been taking is not worth the corporate headache. Again, we hope everyone’s happy with this latest development.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Quote of the Day
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4 comments:
Any company that charges taxpayers 100 bucks a bag for laundry (that reportedly is returned to the soldiers in worse shape than when they got it), giving our soldiers crappy water to drink, letting its company secretaries drive around Baghdad in Escalades, and literally burning massive pieces of easily-repairable equipment on the side of the road so that they can charge "cost-plus" to the taxpayers for a replacement vehicle -- all this without any type of competitive bidding, mind you -- has got to be doing it right.
7 years later we've gone from "Greed is Good" to "War Profiteering is Good". Can't wait to see the next act.
- Gordon Mongo Gecko
Did all this occur in Kosovo or Iraq? Please cite.
And if those secretaries were driving around Baghdad in down-armored Celicas and were taken out by an IED, what do you think the media response would be?
Civilian military contractor admin. assistants not being provided adequate protection by (name of contractor here)!!!
All this does not excuse what you allege, the broader point is that military contractors could’ve graded-out at 100% in terms of service and efficiency and they still would’ve been despised because it has nothing at all to do with their actual performance.
I’ve trolled around the lefty blogs enough to know that the source of this hatred is not providing sub-standard drinking water to the troops, its rather this dislocated-from-reality perception of outfits like Halliburton and particularly Blackwater being a paramilitary wing of Dick Cheney’s shadow government.
$100 bags of laundry was not what was being brought up at these show hearings when Blackwater was trying to get their training facility permitted first out by Jamul and later down at Otay Mesa… it was “we don’t know what they are doing out there” implicit of nefarious and illegal activities and the outright useage of Blackwater as a proxy-punching bag for their hatred of Bush and the Iraq War.
Decrying contractor abuse and/or lack of government oversight is one (legitimate) thing, but harassing and hounding a company like Blackwater merely because you don’t concur with Administration policy is entirely another and it’s the latter that has been the exclusive M.O. of the BDS/anti-war set.
What we have is a private military, paid, provisioned and pampered at 10X the cost of what the boys clad in the natty Desert garb as issued by the Military make. Why?
We can't recruit adequately, nobody in their right mind dare say draft, and the "Gubmint" abhores a large increase in military spending.... errrr, unless it benefits their congressional district, or (wait for it) donors.
Ever heard of an S&S Batallion? Supply and Service WAS rightfully in the purvue of the military. It's more of an accounting trick that we now have a smaller military, and a larger expenditure on the war as a whole.
It's part of a frankly dishonest packaging of the war, something that happens when you take your key management examples from marketing firms and not the Military. Do whatever it takes to win, I'm fine with doing whatever it takes, but why employ Mercs (yes they are mercs in nicer gear and that pay taxes, but mercs nonetheless as they take pay to go to war) when we can do it cheaper, better, stronger and faster with our own Military? And NO, the Air Force is not included in this category!
PS. Cant BHO just rhetoric the laundry clean, water filtered, or if need be to wine? He is afterall reputed to be the Black Jesus...
Ask and ye shall receive...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBk8iQhClsw&feature=related
Unfortunately, I can't find the portion of the documentary with the most upsetting story: An American patrol convoy breaks down in the Iraqi countryside. They radio in for a military tow, but are told that Haliburton is contracted to do the job. The military tow is close by, but they are still told they must wait -- out in the open -- for Haliburton. Haliburton doesn't show up. They wait for hours, but no Haliburton. I can't recall if they ended up towing it themselves or if they abandoned the vehicle. But that's one more example of Haliburton level of response in Iraq.
The whole documentary is actually pretty good. It even hits on BwD's flavor of the month, Blackwater, in Part 1. But I figure, with this audience, just making through the one 9 minute segment I pasted above will have you all running for your local EIB affiliate and screaming, "Tell me what to think, Rush!"
- Mongo Loves Bluestar Airlines
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