I'm sure most of you have heard of the various private contractors working in Iraq, such as Halliburton, Blackwater and Titan. They provide various services to support the US Army, such as prison guards, sanitation facilities, mercenary troops and construction. However, did you know that they seem to be extraordinarily corrupt and negligent? To give some examples:

- Contaminated shower water was supplied to US troops, leading to serious gastrointestinal illness.

- Prisoners died suspiciously in prisons at the hands of contracted mercenaries. The offenders were sent home, but just joined a different company and came straight back to Iraq.

- Army laundry is not washed properly (at $100 per bag...).

- Empty trucks are driven up and down Iraqi highways so that expenses for fuel etc. can be claimed. This of course endangers the drivers.

- Trucks with minor damage (e.g. flat tyres) are blown up and written-off as losses, again so expenses can be claimed.

Personally I think this is unacceptable (if indeed it is true) but not unexpected. I think it's a big mistake for the US to use private contractors in a warzone. There is little law and order, so companies' activities are not policed by anyone but themselves, and their motive is profit, not ethics. The US government has practically limitless money and has given these contractors the ability to claim expenses. The contractors know that the government is able to pay them insane amounts so they really take the piss and push things to the limit.

One of the biggest problems seems to be the fact that there is little investigation of the corruption by the government, and nothing has been done about it. Is it possible that the US political system is corrupt in itself?

Source:
http://iraqforsale.org/profiteers.php

With the national debt skyrocketing and the economy its current shape, I'm not so sure the US government can really afford to pay them insane amounts of money... but that's never stopped Bush before...


I agree, that is a major problem. And is it possible that the US political system is corrupt? Yes, yes, yes, on so many levels.

I didn't click the link but unless you have video footage of that, it's hard to claim and prove it correct.

But I don't doubt it. If you've seen "Lord of War" it costs more money to repair things and bring them back then to just leave them there. So they're normally abandon or blown up. That other stuff is pretty stupid though.

I'm just going to mention something. It's very healthy for democratic nations to go through revolutions. We haven't had one since we departed from British rule, that's a very bad thing. Americans are sitting around not caring waiting for Spiderman 4 to come out when there's serious problems going on.

OMG, <3