Report Shows Lawmakers Heavily Invested in War
A new report out reveals that top legislators have millions of their own dollars invested in the military-industrial complex. By Pat Shannan A new study by a nonpartisan research group shows that lawmakers’ stock holdings in various companies doing business with the Defense Department totals more than $196 million, earning the congress critters millions in profits individually since the start of the war in Iraq. The Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics says that 2006 financial disclosure statements suggest that members’ holdings could pose a conflict of interest as they decide the fate of Iraq war spending. Several members who earned the most from defense contractors have plum committee or leadership assignments, including Democratic Sen. John Kerry, independent Sen. Joseph Lieberman and House Republican Whip Roy Blunt. The study found that more Republicans than Democrats hold stock in defense companies, but that the Democrats who are invested had significantly more money at stake. In 2006, for example, Democrats held at least $3.7 million in military-related investments, compared to Republican investments of $577,500. Overall, 151 members hold investments worth $78.7 million to $195.5 million in companies that receive defense contracts that are worth at least $5 million. These investments earned them anywhere between $15.8 million and $62 million between 2004 and 2006, the center concluded. It is unclear how many members still hold these investments and exactly how much money has been made. Disclosure reports for 2007 are still being vetted. Also, members are required to report only a general range of their holdings. According to the report, presidential hopefuls Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain did not report any defense-related holdings on their filing. Not all the companies invested in by lawmakers are typical defense contractors. Corporations such as PepsiCo, IBM, Microsoft and Johnson & Johnson have at one point received defense-related contracts, the report notes. “So common are these companies, both as personal investments and as defense contractors, it would appear difficult to build a diverse blue-chip stock portfolio without at least some of them,” wrote the center’s Lindsay Renick Mayer. Still, earning dividends from companies tied to the military “could be problematic” for members that oversee defense policy and budgeting, Mayer adds. Democrat Kerry, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is identified as earning the most—at least $2.6 million between 2004 and 2006 from investments worth up to $38.2 million. Spokesman David Wade said Kerry, who opposes the war in Iraq, is one of many beneficiaries of family trusts which he doesn’t control. Wade also noted that Kerry does not sit on the Appropriations Committee, which has direct control of the defense budget. “He has a 24-year Senate record of working and voting in the best interests of our men and women in the military, not of any defense contractors,” Wade said. Lieberman, an independent and chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and a member of the Armed Services Committee, held a considerably smaller share at $51,000. A spokesman for Blunt, a senior member of House Republican leadership who held at least $15,000 in Lockheed Martin stock in 2006, said the insinuation that lawmakers’ votes might be affected by their portfolios is “offensive.” “I don’t pretend to speak for other offices, but I am fairly certain that no member would consider their personal finances when voting on issues as important as sending our men and women in uniform into harm’s way,” said Blunt spokesman Nick Simpson. Reporters were expecting then to hear an offer of ocean front property for sale in Missouri, but none was forthcoming from Simpson at this time. Both Lieberman and Blunt support continued operations in Iraq. http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/lawmakers_invest_war_62708.html ~~~ A Look at President Bush's Private Army The Bush administration has its own private army operating inside Iraq that is not accountable to Congress or the American people.. By Pat Shannan One of the most frightening developments in the occupation of Iraq and the so-called “War on Terror” is actually something most of the American people have never heard of. In addition to the 150,000 troops on the ground in Iraq, the Bush administration has deployed a shadow army of some 100,000 contractors. Of these tens of thousands of heavily armed mercenaries that roam Iraq with impunity, among the most powerful of the companies involved is Blackwater USA, a secretive company headquartered in the wilderness woods of North Carolina. It is headed by a bankroller of President Bush and his allies, Erik Prince. Blackwater considers itself the “Fed Ex” of the national security apparatus, but the reality is that Blackwater has become a prime player in the War on Terror and is nothing short of the Bush administration’s Praetorian Guard. Prince, 39, became an instant billionaire when his father, Edgar, passed away in 1995. He had developed Prince Manufacturing, a leader in automotive innovation over the years, and became best known for his invention and development of the lighted vanity mirror now found behind nearly every sun visor in every American car. Blackwater USA largely operated in the shadows of the U.S. war machine, until the morning of March 31, 2004, when four Blackwater contractors were ambushed and killed in the city of Fallujah, Iraq. Their bodies were burned and dragged through the streets. Two of the mercenaries were hung from a bridge over the Euphrates River. For most people, it was the first that they ever heard of private military contractors operating in Iraq. That was the day the war turned. Unlike Somalia, when the Clinton administration pulled out, the Bush Administration initiated a massive revenge attack. The American army laid siege to the city of Fallujah, killed hundreds of people, displaced tens of thousands of others and in the process enflamed the Iraqi resistance that haunts the American occupation forces to this day. Unofficial estimates now claim over one million Iraqi civilians have died since the U.S. occupation in 2003. The Bush administration came to power with a radical privatization agenda. “We see it in our schools, prisons, healthcare systems and law enforcement in the United States,” says investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill, who has taken on exposing the Blackwater secrets with a vendetta. “The occupation of Iraq and the War on Terror have brought the greatest privatization of warfare in modern history.” Blackwater USA has become one of the most powerful private actors in the so-called war on terror, and it provides the Bush administration with an extraordinary amount of political cover. The deaths of Blackwater contractors and other mercenaries are not included in the total death count, even though estimates place it at around 1,000 killed In Iraq. Their injuries do not get calculated either, and their crimes do not get punished. “What we have here is a revolving door” reports Scahill. “Blackwater and other companies benefit the Bush administration, and in turn the Bush administration and its allies in congress protect the shielded military contractors from any effective oversight, any effective accountability, and effective legal system. The operations are shrouded in secrecy, and people in Congress find it almost impossible to get any information about Blackwater and other companies in operation.” Illinois Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) expressed her frustration: “We know virtually nothing about this. We think that about 40 cents of every dollar goes to private military contractors. We think about 800 of them have been killed in Iraq, but we don’t know that, they’re not even counted. We think that about 25,000 to 40,000 have been engaged in military activities and combat related activities, but we don’t know, and we can’t find out.” Blackwater USA has 2,300 men actively deployed in nine countries around the world. They have another 20,000 “contractors” at the ready. Scahill says that while Blackwater is operated in Iraq and Afghanistan, it increasingly has its sights set on deployments inside the United States. It is setting up a new facility in Illinois and another one in California. http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/bushprivatearmy_62608.html ~~~ Radioactive Waste From Iraq Wars Dumped in U.S. By Doug Rokke, Ph.D. Issue # 30, July 28, 2008 During the summer of 1991, the United States military had collected artillery, tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles, conventional and unconventional munitions, trucks, etc at Camp Doha in Kuwait. As result of carelessness, this weapons depot caught fire with consequent catastrophic explosions resulting in death, injury, illness and extensive environmental contamination from depleted uranium and conventional explosives. Recently the emirate of Kuwait required the U.S. Department of Defense to remove the contamination. Consequently, over 6,700 tons of contaminated soil, sand and other residue was collected and shipped back to the United States for burial by American Ecology at Boise, Idaho. When Bob Nichols, an investigative journalist, and I contacted American Ecology we found out that they had absolutely no knowledge of U.S. Army regulations and all of the medical orders dealing with depleted uranium contamination, environmental remediation procedures, safety and medical care. They had never heard of Environmental Protection Agency guidelines for dealing with hazardous waste such as radioactive materials and conventional explosives byproducts. The trans-shipment across the ocean, unloading at Longview, Washington State port, transport by rail, and burial in Idaho not only endanger the residents of these areas, but pose a significant agricultural threat through introduction of pests, microbes etc. foreign to our nation. Sadly, the known adverse health and environmental hazards from uranium weapons contamination are in our own backyard. The EPA has listed the former Nuclear Metals-Starmet uranium weapons manufacturing site in Concord, Mass. on the EPA’s Superfund National Priority List because it poses a significant risk to public health and the environment. Consequently, the community in which our nation was born on April 18, 1775, is now the location of America’s own closed dirty bomb factory that will endanger the health and safety of the descendants of the Minutemen. The previous delivery of at least 100 GBU 28 bunker buster bombs containing depleted uranium warheads by the United States and their use by Israel against Lebanese targets has resulted in additional radioactive and chemical toxic contamination with consequent adverse health and environmental effects throughout the Middle East. Israeli tank gunners are also using depleted uranium tank rounds, as photographs verify. Today, U.S., British, and now Israeli military personnel are using illegal uranium munitions—America’s and England’s own “dirty bombs.” The U.S. Army, Department of Energy, Department of Defense and British Ministry of Defense officials deny that there are any adverse health and environmental effects as a consequence of the manufacture, testing and/or use of uranium munitions. They do so to avoid liability for the willful and illegal dispersal of a radioactive toxic material— depleted uranium. The use of uranium weapons is a crime against humanity. All governments must force cessation of uranium weapons use. Israel should provide medical care to all DU casualties in Lebanon and clean up all DU contamination. U.S. and British officials have arrogantly refused to comply with their own regulations, orders and directives that require U.S. Department of Defense officials to provide prompt and effective medical care to all exposed individuals. They also refuse to clean up dispersed radioactive contamination as required by Army regulations. Dr. Doug Rokke is the former director of the Army’s Depleted Uranium Project. It was his task to clean up the radioactive battlefields of the Gulf War. http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/waste_from_iraq_143.html
