Abdicating Responsibility – It’s Not Just for Wall Street

At the same time the elite of Washington were bickering over writing Paulson a $700 billion check, they were happily agreeing to sign off on a check for $611 billion in Defense spending including “about $68 billion for expenses related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the initial months of the fiscal year.” Senator Carl Levin was particularly proud of the achievement though a bit misty eyed “ because it marked the end of his long, effective teamwork with [Republican Senator John] Warner.”

Congressional leadership was so interested in seeing the bill pass quickly that they threw in a few extra gifts for BushCo:

The bill would require the administration to bring to Congress for review — but not approval — any agreement it reaches with Iraq on the future of U.S. forces there.

… To make [Bush’s signature] more likely, they rewrote or deleted provisions that had triggered veto threats, including … a ban on using private contractors as interrogators in U.S. military detention facilities…

No timeline, no requirement that SOFA get congressional approval, no accountability – but they did manage to include step one of Rahm’s Iraqi Skin in the Game:

…the bill would bar the use of Pentagon funds for large-scale infrastructure projects in Iraq, with certain exceptions. And it would call on the federal government to begin negotiating a cost-sharing agreement for joint U.S.-Iraqi military operations and act to ensure that Iraq pays for the costs of its own security forces.

Great timing as the destruction of Iraqi infrastructure – electricity supply, water supply, medical care – leads to a new cholera outbreak.

I seem to remember a time when we noticed – and even fussed – about blank checks for the illegal occupation of Iraq … makes me a bit “misty eyed” too.

Video from LinkTV’s Mosaic – A Syrian report on cholera and the request of the UN for a total of $37 Million to improve the living conditions of Iraqi children – a contribution that could easily be made from the billions being tossed around DC this week. Perhaps we should ask our congressional representatives to reconsider their priorities?

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4. Failed Models are a Fixture on Wall Street
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