Land of the free?!

This story clearly illustrates that the land of the free is indeed a myth. War profiteering is a felony under US law, but that has not deterred Haliburton whose back is covered by the real power at the Oval Office, Dick "Dodgy Ticker" Cheney. War is good for the MIC, whose more prominent members are BAE, Blackwater, Haliburton, KBR and countless others who are a little more discreet than the four that I've mentioned.

It's good to talk or is it

Using the Bushman's illogical logic (that's a Rumsfeld - remember the unknown knowns?!), the ANC should never have talked the National Party which would probably mean that South Africa would still be an international pariah and Nelson Mandela would be celebrating his 90th birthday in jail. Talks between the ANC and the National Party paved the way for a relatively smooth transition of the power to the black majority. Likewise, the ceasefire between the IRA and the British government would never of happened without a lot of jaw jaw.

But no, the insatiable warmonger that is Bush says that talking with Mr. Ahmadinejad is on par with Neville Chamberlain's pathetic attempts to persuade Hitler not to invade Poland back in 1939. Like I said here, Mr. Ahmadinejad is a man of bombast, he likes to shoot his mouth off, but considering the fact that Iran has a sizeable population of Jews who are represented in the Iranian parliament, I would posit that Mr. Ahmadinejad is all mouth no action unlike you know who.

War!! What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing (unless you are Haliburton, Kellogg Brown and Root and can engage in profiteering at the expense of the American taxpayer because Dick Cheney has got your back)

Pot calling kettle black

Transparency International has in the recent past labelled Nigeria as the most corrupt nation on earth. I'm not sure where the US ranked or the UK for that matter, but if one is looking for corruption on a monumental scale, one need look no further than what Haliburton is doing in Iraq. Paul Wolfowitz was caught with his hand in the cookie jar - he influenced/intimidated the powers that be to ensure his Iraqi girlfriend got jobs in Iraq and later at the State Department. In Kenya, we call that nepotism, the World Bank's board, calls it acting in good faith because the guidelines weren't clear. The board of the World Bank should tender their resignation with immediate effect because any integrity they may have had, has gone along with their absolution of Wolfie.

Whoever sang that war is good for absolutely nothing, got it totally wrong as the profit earnings of Haliburton and KBR can attest. Haliburton was awarded contracts on the basis of their links to Dick Cheney and despite this, they still overcharged the US Army when it came to fuel, as the US Army's own Inspector General discovered. I thought war profiteering was a felony - evidently the some animals are more equal than others rule applies here. In the UK, the AG halted an investigation into how BAE came to win a contract with the Saudis for fears it would jeopardise future multi-billion pound contracts. BAE, a significant contributor to the UK's GDP, exerted considerable pressure on Downing Street to halt the investigation.

So the next time the US and the UK see fit to lecture another country on corruption or lack of transparency just say Haliburton, Wolfowitz or BAE.

****UPDATE****
It has since emerged that BAE has been accused of paying ONE BILLION POUNDS STERLING to a Saudi prince, over a 10 year period, who saw to it that BAE was awarded their biggest weapons contract. What's more, it was done with the full complicity of Britain's Ministry of Defence - more details here.