Getter dun

Posted by Rapchik Items

August 11, 2008

This is what happens when guys whos previous job was something like “greeter at hooters” or “fry man at McyDeez”, joins EOD. Special forces like EOD are supposed to be the best of the best: they pride themselves on it, but this video shows something very different.

It is hardly popular to say, but isnt it possible, or even likely, that thousands of US troops are actually immature teenagers from some poor town out in the country or some urban housing project? And in a post-war occupation, is there anything we need less than a bunch of crude teenagers who spend most of their time shooting things, blowing things up, torturing kids with candy and water bottles, throwing dogs off cliffs, etc? Even if these are isolated events (unlikely, eg: Abu Graib), they have a disproportional effect on the already rock bottom morale of the local population, and make us look like a bunch of barbarians. Yes the pointless war did that already, but the flawed occupation only adds to that perception.

There are countless issues to deal with when it comes to Iraq: the greatest would be the lies used to start the war, part and parcel of the mistake of the war itself (the very idea of invading Iraq at an inappropriate time for false reasons). But soon after that on the list would be the almost ubiquitous incompetence on almost every level in the war. Yes even the average soldier, they are simply not equipped or trained to do what needs to be done in Iraq: they are like the sledge hammer used to thread a needle.

BTW: all this EOD fun comes at a fairly high cost: around $12 billion per month, or about $5000 per sec. Each one of these EOD pros costs on the order of (congress estimate) $400,000 a year (10x their salary). The total war spending is closing in on $800 billion, among those 800 are these fun nuggets:

“Lost & Unaccounted for in Iraq - $9 billion of US taxpayers’ money and $549.7 milion in spare parts shipped in 2004 to US contractors. Also, per ABC News, 190,000 guns, including 110,000 AK-47 rifles.

Missing - $1 billion in tractor trailers, tank recovery vehicles, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and other equipment and services provided to the Iraqi security forces. (Per CBS News on Dec 6, 2007.)

Mismanaged & Wasted in Iraq - $10 billion, per Feb 2007 Congressional hearings

Halliburton Overcharges Classified by the Pentagon as Unreasonable and Unsupported - $1.4 billion

Amount paid to KBR, a former Halliburton division, to supply U.S. military in Iraq with food, fuel, housing and other items - $20 billion

Portion of the $20 billion paid to KBR that Pentagon auditors deem “questionable or supportable” - $3.2 billion”

Over 4,125 troops killed - more than half of them under 25 (younger than me).

Number of locals killed? Unknown: too many to keep track of. Almost certainly more than 100,000. Possibly as many as 500,000.

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