Freely Imperial:

Remember how Safiar and the other righties went on and on ... and on... about the UN "Oil for Food" Program?

Well, looks like what is good to accuse the goose of, is definitely good for the Bush Administration's corporate buddies to gander at...and take.

Holy Strained Metaphor!

The Bush Plan for Iraqi money, make sure that you take that money out, and give it to your American Company buddies so it doesn't stay there.

Brilliant! That sounds like the old Spanish form of imperialism. That sure worked out great for them. Add to that we have our very own Cardinal Torquemada Ashcroft and we are all set.

From today's Washington Post:

First, set up the lie,

For the first 14 months of the occupation, officials of the Coalition Provisional Authority provided little detailed information about the Iraqi money, from oil sales and other sources, that it spent on reconstruction contracts. They have said that it was used for the benefit of the Iraqi people and that most of the contracts paid from Iraqi money went to Iraqi companies. But the CPA never released information about specific contracts and the identities of companies that won them, citing security concerns, so it has been impossible to know whether these promises were kept.

Then, execute the lie:

The CPA has said it has awarded about 2,000 contracts with Iraqi money. Its inspector general compiled records for the major contracts, which it defined as those worth $5 million or more each. Analysis of those and other records shows that 19 of 37 major contracts funded by Iraqi money went to U.S. companies and at least 85 percent of the total $2.26 billion was obligated to U.S. companies. The contracts that went to U.S. firms may be worth several hundred million more once the work is completed.

Oh, Simone Ledeen how could you? Hillary should have given you the finger! Apple doesn't fall far from the tree does it. And of course nothing spells "Imperialism" like putting the children of idealogues overseas to carry out the policy of the Chimperor.

And what is the story of Iraqi corruption without the obligatory notice that Halliburton was involved?

Kellogg Brown & Root Inc., a subsidiary of Halliburton, was paid $1.66 billion from the Iraqi money, primarily to cover the cost of importing fuel from Kuwait. The job was tacked on to a no-bid contract that was the subject of several investigations after allegations surfaced that a subcontractor for Houston-based KBR overcharged by as much as $61 million for the fuel.

Surely, the Iraqis had no problem with this right, including our buddies?

Even Iraqi officials who served in the government while the CPA was in charge complained they had little say in the use of their own country's money. Mohammed Aboush, who was a director general in the oil ministry during the occupation, said he and other Iraqi officials were not consulted about expanding the KBR contract. But he said he informed his American "advisers" at the CPA that the Iraqis felt KBR's performance had been inadequate and that he'd prefer that another company take over its work.

Aboush said that he was ignored and that he believes the decision to go with KBR was political. "I am old enough to know the Americans and their interests and they are not always the same interests as the Iraqi interests," he said.

Oops.