Former Bush officials ‘are leading a new business push into Iraq.’
Former Bush officials ‘are leading a new business push into Iraq.’
In 2008, Tim Shorrock reported for Salon that while “working inside America’s ’shadow’ spy industry, George Tenet, Richard Armitage, Cofer Black and others are cashing in big on Iraq and the war on terror.” Now, the Financial Times reports today that even more Bush administration officials are eyeing profits in Iraq:
Senior Bush administration figures including Zalmay Khalilzad, former US ambassador to Baghdad, and Jay Garner, the retired general who led reconstruction efforts immediately after the war, are leading a new business push into Iraq.
The two one-time senior officials are among a raft of former US soldiers and diplomats either leveraging their war experience helping foreign companies to enter the Iraqi market or starting businesses there themselves.
Recently, former American diplomat Peter Galbraith, who was a key adviser to Iraqi Kurdish politicians, admitted that “he has had business dealings involving oil companies in Iraqi Kurdistan since 2004.” “The business interest, including my investment into Kurdistan, was consistent with my political views,’’ he told the Boston Globe. “These were all things that I was promoting, and in fact, have brought considerable benefit to the people of Kurdistan, the Kurdistan oil industry, and also to shareholders.’’
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now there’s a shock…
One might almost think that this whole debacle in Iraq was more about how much money Bush supporters could make than for any victory in the War on Terror….
November 10th, 2009 at 11:45 amFirst rape, THEN pillage…
November 10th, 2009 at 11:46 amAnd to think, all these guys are walking free when they should be prosecuted. The war in Iraq was an obvious scam to exploit the regions resources. I ask myself, ‘Will MSM ever try to uncover this?’ The answer is a resounding ‘NO’.
November 10th, 2009 at 11:47 amThe Iraq invasion was intended as a stimulus package for the defense and industrial contractors, along with their friends in the banking oligarchy.
So many died, and so many lives were ruined for financial gain, sugarcoated with “morality” and “patriotism.”
November 10th, 2009 at 11:47 amThe Shock Doctrine.
Create a catastrophe and then make money off of it.
November 10th, 2009 at 11:49 amThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
Why doesn’t the Son of Sam law apply to these dirtbags?
November 10th, 2009 at 11:51 amThe only surprise here…is that it’s taken the Bushites 6 years to start plundering.
Massive foreign investment is needed in Iraq, but these are people that live by a system that ensures corporations pay ZERO back to government in which they are located, all the while employing as few native workers as possible.
In other words, the ruling elites in Iraq reap the profits, while 95% of the country continues to scrape by in abject poverty. All the while, a cadre of opportunistic American warmongers strike gold!
November 10th, 2009 at 11:52 amCan’t help but wonder if there were a law prohibiting anyone (or their children or spouses) who was involved in any wars, in any way, from making money off of it that we wouldn’t have a lot less war!
November 10th, 2009 at 11:52 amHow much has Cheney made off of the war. We should be able to use RICO to take it all back from him.
November 10th, 2009 at 11:52 amFormer Bush officials ‘are leading a new business push into Iraq.’
Yeah , because the last “endeavor” they led into there was such a smashing success …………
November 10th, 2009 at 11:52 amI guess Disneyland-on-the-Tigris must have folded, since there hasn’t been any news of it in over a year.
November 10th, 2009 at 11:52 amDead brown-skinned people:
Don’t you just love the smell of Capitalism early in the morn?
November 10th, 2009 at 11:53 amHF: “Shocking…”
Yes, it is… to people who have the ability to feel sympathy and empathy.
To sociopaths, not so much.
Can you relate?
November 10th, 2009 at 11:54 amLosers who worked for/under a life-long moron and business failure somehow believe they’re suddenly going to become captains of industry in a country they’re responsible for decimating ?
Wow ; talk about being callous and having a delusional self-worth and self-view ………..
November 10th, 2009 at 11:56 amProfiting from war , wrapping themselves in greenback insulated flags . Sick .
November 10th, 2009 at 11:57 amI hate to say it but President Obama is playing right into their hands…there has been no real reduction in Iraq, and CBS reported that McCrystal (who should be fired) was going to get everything he wants…and why is Blackwater and Halliburton still on the payroll with still with no competitive bids?
November 10th, 2009 at 11:58 amI’m guessing they’ll all have corner offices in the massive US Embassy.
November 10th, 2009 at 11:58 amThinkProgress should supply some names and pictures of these dirtbags.
It’s time to start shaming these people publicly and internationally.
November 10th, 2009 at 11:58 amYes Bobwurst! An anti-war(or any other kind of military engagement)-profiteering version of the Son of Sam law!
I’d suggest The Carlyle Group law but I can’t imagine in my wildest dreams that the powers-that-be would ever allow that.
November 10th, 2009 at 11:59 amThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
SOOOOOoooo then the Iraqis were right . .
It was all about the O-I-L !!
And the ‘collateral damage’ “YEAH, WHATEVER”
November 10th, 2009 at 11:59 amAnd people often ask why we are in Iraq. These neocons are the most hypocritical bunch of patriots imaginable. Dick Cheney cynched (pun) the deal on the Iraq war with his energy butties before WTC and used that excuse to implement the decisions made during the meetings on his energy policies. It was always an obvious point, WMD was an invention of their PR people to gain support for their inept folly in the middle east. They must be called to account for this every day from now on.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:00 pmevangenital says:
So many died, and so many lives were ruined for financial gain, sugarcoated with “morality” and “patriotism.”
you forgot one biggie GOD wants
November 10th, 2009 at 12:02 pmAh yes, cue the trolls celebrating the ‘rebuilding phase’. After we bombing the place into rubble, steered hundreds and hundreds of billions of taxpayer money into questionable contracts with dubious results, well aren’t we special.
Gee, they’ll be talking about our fruitful efforts for centuries in the history books!
November 10th, 2009 at 12:02 pmEnd the American imperial occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq. These seemingly endless hostile military occupations are just plain wrong, as well as being stupid, expensive and counter-productive.
End American robotic drone murdering of Pakistanis. It is just plain evil, as well as being inflammatory and counter-productive.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:02 pmO peration
November 10th, 2009 at 12:05 pmI raqi
L iberation
Londra kulesi muhaf?z? says:
——————————————————————————–
Excellent news! Let the rebuilding phase begin.
This is just like what we did for Europe and Japan after WW2, maybe if these people get a shot a sustainable economic base they’ll become more peaceful productive members of the worlds community.
November 10th, 2009 at 11:59 am
Rebuilding consummated in Europe and Japan after the Axis SURRENDERED , you ignorant bastard ; who in Iraq has surrendered or even given the slightest quarter , dipshit ?
November 10th, 2009 at 12:05 pmNo it’s not. You don’t get to re-write history anymore. In fact, I don’t even know why you think anyone cares what you think!
Take your lies to redstate where you belong.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:05 pmWebs
of
Mass
Deception
November 10th, 2009 at 12:06 pmWhat was accomplished for the better with this invasion?
Women in Iraq have far less freedom now than under Sadaam Hussein.
Gay men, and those that are suspected of being gay, are being murdered left and right in the most sadistic manner possible.
The major accomplishment of this invasion has been the establishment of yet another corrupt Islamic theocracy in this region.
Way to go, Bush/Cheney loonies…
November 10th, 2009 at 12:07 pmLondra: “This is just like what we did for Europe and Japan after WW2…”
Wow, an historian! Tell us, great Londra – how many American servicemen were killed by insurgents in Europe during our great rebuilding process there?
November 10th, 2009 at 12:08 pmChristians and Jews, who lived openly with their Muslim neighbors in the Sadaam era, have fled Iraq, or have been chased out by the Muslim majority.
Their churches and synagogues have all been virtually destroyed by the Islamists.
This is progress?
November 10th, 2009 at 12:09 pmmary lacewing says:
Ah yes, cue the trolls celebrating the ‘rebuilding phase’. After we bombing the place into rubble, steered hundreds and hundreds of billions of taxpayer money into questionable contracts with dubious results, well aren’t we special.
Smiles well see those billions of tax payer money, is still there thats the profit that thses jerks are talking about, now that its in the bank they can now legally get it threw business they will start.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:10 pmSo you hear about the money thats lost well we have found it and its call profits from war.
The result, other than the mass killing of Iraqis, has been a dramatic increase in the political power of Shiites in the middle east. This has brought potentially more chaos to the area…
Just what disaster capitalists want!
November 10th, 2009 at 12:11 pmLondra and his fellow repiggie jackasses would have denounced the Marshall Plan and the rebuilding effort in Japan as “socialism” or some other bit of nonsense.
The Becksturbators would have had a shite-fit with the Marshall Plan, were they around back then.
Thank God they weren’t…
November 10th, 2009 at 12:11 pmThis not all that surprising as the main reason why we attacked Iraq was so that the corporations could go on in and exploit the country and get federal money to do it.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:12 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
And truth be known, Iraq is a better ally now with Iran than they are with us for the very reason you mention.
Iraq is not a democracy, it is a theocracy.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:15 pmWell the cowards and jackels are comeing out of holes they live in to cash in on are dead troops it makes us vets sick, Obama needs to get out of both of these wars asap every senator and congressmen own stocks and money in all these defence business.there nothing short of money pits for some and full of innocent american blood if we stayed 100 years it will be no diffrence now or then.Makes me sick in my stomach, hope those business men get there heads blown off by some iraq person since they plan to make money on there dead to.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:16 pmAnother troll making another specious argument. Taking another War with, in no way, has anything to do with this War of choice. We DIDN’T have to go into Iraq, we were lied into going. They had no WMDs. Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. It’s like comparing apples to oranges,
November 10th, 2009 at 12:17 pmHardly surprising, since profiteering is why we went into Iraq in the first place.
Hope this turns out at least as successful as the actual war…
November 10th, 2009 at 12:18 pmIt’s so funny when trolls try to compare Iraq to WWII.
Please try to remain in reality trolls. They are not the same little ones.
When you educate yourselves maybe you can come back and have a rational discussion. Until then, you just make yourselves look ignorant.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:18 pmLondra kulesi muhaf?z? says:
——————————————————————————–
mary lacewing says:
Ah yes, cue the trolls celebrating the ‘rebuilding phase’. After we bombing the place into rubble,
And we didn’t “bombing” (sic) Germany and Japan to rubble 1st?
November 10th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
They also attacked us 1st ; when did the Iraqis , moron ?
And , as I posted previously : THEY SURRENDERED , DIPSHIT ….
November 10th, 2009 at 12:18 pmFtred@43, The trolls do that because they have run out of excuses. I’ve seen many Repugs do the same thing.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:21 pmYeah, and once we finally leave Iraq, the Iraqi people will rise up and support these businessmen with their wallets, or something.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:22 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
The repiggies lie and lie and lie.
They are very dishonest people at their very core.
They are so arrogant or so poorly educated that they begin to believe their own lies.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:25 pmAll the more reason to pull the plug on Iraq and leave the Bushies to themselves. They can probably hire their own private thug army but we shouldn’t be using the US armed forces to protect anyone’s private interests. Are you listening Mr. Obama?
November 10th, 2009 at 12:25 pmI hope all the friends and relatives of the lost and injured troops know that their loved ones lives have were lost so that these greedy, inhuman rethuglican zealots can make even more dollars. disgusting.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:26 pmSaddam was an installed decades ago by the US as a puppet-regime leader in the hope of forming a strong ally within the Mid-East, economically and militarily.
When that failed miserably, we went in and killed him.
Let the Bells of Freedumb Ring.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:26 pmRepublicans are the only truly criminal class.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:26 pmThis is why wars are a scam
November 10th, 2009 at 12:27 pmWhen this insanity started I saw people protesting Oil for Blood. I’d Hoped they were wrong. To each and every one who had the courage to speak up, please accept my sincere apologies.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:33 pmGeorge Tent should have that ‘Medal of Freedumb’ stuck right up his rectal orifice so he could walk around Baghdad making big business deals with other foreign interests with the medal dragging along behind him, while showing the Iraqi people what Republics think of human rights and real freedom.
The only victor in Iraq is the CIA.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:34 pmWell, now we know what all the former Bushies are doing. And MSM will NEVER report this. And so, the Neo-cons can have another party and awards ceremony congradulating themselves on being ‘Masters of the Universe’ while Americans go on about their day. This is the second time today I’ve needed a drink.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:36 pmOver the years, we found the same thing to be true in business. For over a decade now, we’ve been striving to apply the principles of a free society to running our business. We call this market-based management, <strong<which begins with a commitment to profiting only by the economic means, not by the political means. That is, profiting only by creating value in the economy, value in society, not from getting protection — government protection — from competition and government subsidies. -Charles Koch to the, what I call unholy alliance, to the Council for National Policy.
They are doing just what they SAY they are against, using government, buying off congress basically thru lobbyists, to protect the profits of the dubious health insurance ‘industry’
November 10th, 2009 at 12:37 pmZalmay Khalilzad (one of the original 25 signatories to the PNAC), an Afghan-American who was the only Muslim among the group’s original signatories and the only signatory who was not a native-born U.S. citizen.
Khalilzad acted as a special liaison between UNOCAL and the Taliban regime
November 10th, 2009 at 12:39 pmLondra kulesi muhaf?z? says:
Excellent news! Let the rebuilding phase begin.
Yes, we need more of your tax dollars going to KBR and shocking people to death for the enrichment of sociopathical business folks.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:40 pmIraq was always in the plans for the Neo-Nitwits from PNAC. It was very easy to beat the drums for war in Iraq after the new Pearl Harbor we experienced on 9/11. We sent troops to Afghanistan to hunt down those who attacked us, only to have our attention diverted to Iraq, which was the “real” target of the Neo-Nitwits all along.
All this was under the direction of Dick Cheney, a Neo-Nitwit and founding member of PNAC, a group that was attempting to sell a prememtive war in the Middle East to the Clinton administration in the early ’90’s. The Clinton administration laughed the fools out of the room, but when Cheney was asked to help Bush the minor find a VP to run with him, Cheney, after vetting a number of VP candidates, selected himself as the VP candidate best suited to control…..errrr run with George the minor.
Cheney had a foot in the oil business with Haliburton and another foot in the Neo-Nitwit war camp with the nimrods at PNAC. War with Iraq, with its vast untapped fields of oil, was a foregone conclusion after the (s)election of Bush the minor in 2000.
It’s no big suprise that the moneymaking based on the power and influence of the Neo-Nitwit war machine continues today. For in the great chaos of war much money can be made…….and stolen.
“War is a racket. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.” – General Smedley Butler – USMC
November 10th, 2009 at 12:42 pmI can just see these morons of war sitting behind their desk as innocent people are bombed into mist their eyes bugging out with dollar bills signs floating over their head — our plan is working!! Im gonna be rich!!
November 10th, 2009 at 12:42 pmAs Ms. Maddow would say, somebody please talk me down.
I just had a thought go through my mind as I read this, along with the comments – BushCo used the invasion of Iraq (and used US troops, as well) as a way to level the country and later get themselves and their cronies some reconstruction work on the federal dime. They justified the invasion by using the phony WMD story. The WMD story was hatched as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
See where I’m going here? Please tell me I’m barking up the wrong tree…
November 10th, 2009 at 12:43 pmRichard Armitage eh? (jeez, another ‘dick’)
In 1998, Armitage signed “The Project for the New American Century” letter (PNAC Letter) to President Bill Clinton. The letter urged Clinton to target the removal of Saddam Hussein
Anyone who signed that PNAC Letter should be automatically disqualified to profit from the ‘removal’ of Saddam Hussein.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:43 pmBut, hey, this was NEVER about oil. Or business. Or Big Business. Ever. Really. No, seriously.
Mo Rage
November 10th, 2009 at 12:46 pmThe Blog
Dave N: “See where I’m going here? Please tell me I’m barking up the wrong tree…”
God, Dave, I hope you’re kidding. But, just in case you aren’t, yes, you’re barking up the right tree. That’s what happened and that’s why it happened.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:49 pmBLOCH News
[Bircher Libertarian Koch/Murdoch not to mention AFP [Armey]]
The BLOCHTOPUS
Bircher Libertarian koCH murdoCH Teabagger Privatization to Usurp Salus populi
November 10th, 2009 at 12:50 pmTachinidae Leporello says:
When this insanity started I saw people protesting Oil for Blood. I’d Hoped they were wrong.
Greenspan said it best…
“I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil.” – Alan Greenspan
“Don’t quote me on this. Sometimes the truth is so precious, it must be accompanied by a bodyguard of lies.” - Ronald Dumsfeld -Used Car Salesman
“It just isn’t. There are certain things like that, myths that are floating around. I’m glad you asked. This war has nothing to do with oil, literally nothing to do with oil.”
- Ronald Dumsfeld Secretary of War and Used Car Salesman
“There are a lot of people who lie and get away with it, and that’s just a fact.” – Ronald Dumbsfeld, Circus Clown… He would know…
November 10th, 2009 at 12:53 pmBircher
Libertarian
kOCH
murdOCH
Teabagger
Privatization
to
Usurp
Salus populis
Maye the BlOCHTOPUS will get anally poisoned by a sperm whale
November 10th, 2009 at 12:54 pmNiner,
Man, maybe I’m being naive, but even as crooked as the previous administration was, I just can’t fathom the prospect that they would hatch a scheme that included killing 3,000 people, crashing 4 airplanes, knocking 2 skyscrapers down, and using US troops (as collateral damage) all for making a profit.
I always thought it crazy when people would say 9/11 was an inside job.
Now I’m not so sure.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:55 pmIt’s the Repuke Trifecta. Supply the military with the tools to destroy Iraq, then supply the military with the sub-contractors for all of their needs; food, laundry, mail, etc., then supply the material to rebuild the country. It is the perfect war. 4500 dead soldiers and hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqi citizens? Well, ya know, ya gotta break a few eggs if ya wanna make an omelet.
November 10th, 2009 at 1:08 pmDave N says:
“Man, maybe I’m being naive, but even as crooked as the previous administration was, I just can’t fathom the prospect that they would hatch a scheme…….all for making a profit.”
I’ve had this screenplay running in my head for years since 9/11.
“LORD OF WAR”
by
COProgressive
Fade In: In a ski chalet in the rocky mountains early January 2001
Sitting in comfortable leather chairs in front of a roaring fire in an expensively decorated den are two men drinking Cognac from sniffers and smoking Cuban cigars. One man, the chalet owner is a Prince from an oil rich country in the Middle East, the other man, older statesman and former Secretary of War sit talking.
Prince
Well, now that you’ve got your man in place, I expect you will start the plan you’ve been working on all these years.
Former Secretary
Well, yeah Prince. With my input the new president will be putty in my hands. He’ll follow orders, but he just won’t understand they’re orders as he’ll come to the conclusions I put into his head. The guy doesn’t have a clue and all I have to do is explain thing in a way that the only choice is to do just what I want him to do.
Prince
I never thought he was very smart. How did he come to be your president?
Former Secretary
Well he’s not my president. (Laughter…) How he became president is with some political slight-of-hand and friends in high places. It’s amazing what you can do when you game the system real well.
Here’s were you come in Prince. We need something to engage the American people to do whatever we say must be done. I’m thinking of an attack by terrorist here in America, you know, a new Pearl Harbor. I don’t want to know the details, but it needs to happen early in the new presidency so we can make maximum use of the attack. That way, once we have thing moving on our side we can go after those that attacked then move into that Iraq thing we talked about before the election.
Prince
There have been some discussions with a family friend you know about. He would like to finish a job started by others in the 90’s. If we pay him he will come up with something quickly I think. If I give the go ahead, I think you should have your attack within, oh, six months, maybe a little longer.
Former Secretary
Okay, Prince. Make it happen. Let me know that it’s rolling, but nothing more until it’s ready to go down.
Prince
Good, I’ll contact our secret services and have them pass along the go ahead to (redacted).
Fiction?
November 10th, 2009 at 1:08 pmNo, Dave. I’m not saying the 9-11 attack was an inside job. I’m saying they used it in a way “disaster capitalists” use all disasters – they figure out a way to profit from them.
Now, that is not to say that the attack definitely wasn’t an inside job. We simply don’t know. It is astonishing to me that those who seek a better account of what actually happened are demeaned with silly names like “truthers.” There are things I certainly don’t get and I’m informed. I still don’t know why Cheney would call on NORAD to stand down after receiving over 55 specific warnings from the FAA and a very specific warning from the CIA. I still don’t know why Deutchbank was trading the two airlines involved at 4000 times their normal rate while the other airline trading remained normal. I still haven’t heard an explanation for why they wouldn’t allow normal forensic testing on the infrastructure of the buildings. Until some of these very elementary issues are answered, I don’t know why anyone even thinks he understands the event.
November 10th, 2009 at 1:11 pmJust remember, the Iraq war had nothing to do with oil and profit.
Afghanistan had nothing to do with oil and profit.
We didn’t give Haliburton a no-bid contract because Haliburton/KBR/Xe has never heard of oil.
November 10th, 2009 at 1:56 pmWhat’s the matter? Africa isn’t large enough for your greedy, bloody mitts?
November 10th, 2009 at 2:07 pmMore than just oil. Early in the occupation it was made illegal for farmers to buy non-GM seed. The wholesale destruction of Iraq was step one in a neo-liberal economic experiment. Operation Shock and Awe was year zero. Iraq has been divided and sold to corporations.
November 10th, 2009 at 2:14 pm“I’m shocked and outraged…” etc, etc.
November 10th, 2009 at 2:44 pmAnd Obama is apparently content with allowing this crap by not prosecuting these war criminals and traitors.
November 10th, 2009 at 7:43 pm