The Front - International Social/Political

It is unfortunate that some political commentators and analysts, who should know better, seem to derive satisfaction from the fact that ‘America lost out’ in Iraq after blowing trillions of its toilet paper dollars on the illegal war – whose war?

Think again, the winners of the Iraqi oil auction are not nation states they are Transnational (borderless) Oil Companies – precisely the forces that orchestrated the war in the first instance! They got EXACTLY what they wanted, the O-I-L!

It serves the interests of these borderless, politically anarchic, Corporations to present nations/governments or political parties to the masses as the loci of power while they work their evil machinations behind the scenes – I use the word evil as the human cost of STEALING Iraq’s oil was/is HORRENDOUS! Over one million innocent men, women and CHILDREN slaughtered; four million displaced persons and a ruined, terrorised society!

Now consider the attitude these CORPORATIONS have toward human life, the environment and everything that sane, rational, people hold of value, clean air, water, food and a sustainable environment for our kids. Also consider the callous disregard these MALEVOLENT corporate forces display for the sanctity of ALL life and REALISE that the source of ALL pollution on the earth is these SAME CORPORATIONS!

Are WE as misguided as the pimply-faced youths that demonstrate in ALL the WRONG places, Copenhagen, G7, G8, APEC etc – THE FRONT is in CORPORATE BOARDROOMS; the enemy is CLEARLY the CORPORATISTS, not their LACKEY politicians!

Citizen’s Brigades of the past were absolutely CORRECT in targeting CORPORATE EXECUTIVES and the FINANCIAL ELITE. To be effective strike at the hidden roots not the leaves or politicians, presented to the public as scapegoats to attract the wrath and popular discontent of the people! Politicians, as every corporatist knows, are totally expendable.

Directing the attention of the masses to the source of ALL their woes proves the most effective strategy for all commentators and independent journalists today. We already have them on the run, they are acutely aware their days are numbered – remain anonymous/invisible but HIT THEM HARD – they are killing us and the PLANET for personal gain and perverse pleasure -- the sick fucks!

Stunning Statistics About the War Every American Should Know

Contrary to popular belief, the US actually has 189,000 personnel on the ground in Afghanistan right now—and that number is quickly rising.

A hearing in Sen. Claire McCaskill’s Contract Oversight subcommittee on contracting in Afghanistan has highlighted some important statistics that provide a window into the extent to which the Obama administration has picked up the Bush-era war privatization baton and sprinted with it. Overall, contractors now comprise a whopping 69% of the Department of Defense’s total workforce, “the highest ratio of contractors to military personnel in US history.” That’s not in one war zone—that’s the Pentagon in its entirety.

In Afghanistan, the Obama administration blows the Bush administration out of the privatized water. According to a memo [PDF] released by McCaskill’s staff, “From June 2009 to September 2009, there was a 40% increase in Defense Department contractors in Afghanistan. During the same period, the number of armed private security contractors working for the Defense Department in Afghanistan doubled, increasing from approximately 5,000 to more than 10,000.”

At present, there are 104,000 Department of Defense contractors in Afghanistan. According to a report this week from the Congressional Research Service, as a result of the coming surge of 30,000 troops in Afghanistan, there may be up to 56,000 additional contractors deployed. But here is another group of contractors that often goes unmentioned: 3,600 State Department contractors and 14,000 USAID contractors. That means that the current total US force in Afghanistan is approximately 189,000 personnel (68,000 US troops and 121,000 contractors). And remember, that’s right now. And that, according to McCaskill, is a conservative estimate. A year from now, we will likely see more than 220,000 US-funded personnel on the ground in Afghanistan.

The US has spent more than $23 billion on contracts in Afghanistan since 2002. By next year, the number of contractors will have doubled since 2008 when taxpayers funded over $8 billion in Afghanistan-related contracts.

Despite the massive number of contracts and contractors in Afghanistan, oversight is utterly lacking. “The increase in Afghanistan contracts has not seen a corresponding increase in contract management and oversight,” according to McCaskill’s briefing paper. “In May 2009, DCMA [Defense Contract Management Agency] Director Charlie Williams told the Commission on Wartime Contracting that as many as 362 positions for Contracting Officer’s Representatives (CORs) in Afghanistan were currently vacant.”

A former USAID official, Michael Walsh, the former director of USAID’s Office of Acquisition and Assistance and Chief Acquisition Officer, told the Commission that many USAID staff are “administering huge awards with limited knowledge of or experience with the rules and regulations.” According to one USAID official, the agency is “sending too much money, too fast with too few people looking over how it is spent.” As a result, the agency does not “know … where the money is going.”

The Obama administration is continuing the Bush-era policy of hiring contractors to oversee contractors. According to the McCaskill memo:

The private security industry and the US government have pointed to the Synchronized Predeployment and Operational Tracker(SPOT) as evidence of greater government oversight of contractor activities. But McCaskill’s subcommittee found that system utterly lacking, stating: “The Subcommittee obtained current SPOT data showing that there are currently 1,123 State Department contractors and no USAID contractors working in Afghanistan.” Remember, there are officially 14,000 USAID contractors and the official monitoring and tracking system found none of these people and less than half of the State Department contractors.

As for waste and abuse, the subcommittee says that the Defense Contract Audit Agency identified more than $950 million in questioned and unsupported costs submitted by Defense Department contracts for work in Afghanistan. That’s 16% of the total contract dollars reviewed.

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