Crossing Interests
War Profiteers Flourish; Soldiers and Their Families Pay the Price
By Jeri L. Reed Mother of a US soldier in Iraq
30/10/2003
Close associates of George Bush, Dick Cheney and other key American officials scramble to enrich themselves from the suffering of the Iraqi people, while soldiers’ families and other concerned Americans collect old clothing to send to military hospitals in Germany and the United States. Wounded soldiers, risking their lives - not to “free the Iraqi people,” but to transform Iraq into a safe haven for investment - are flown from Iraq in flimsy hospital gowns or torn and bloody uniforms, missing not only a hand, an arm or a leg, but also all of their possessions. Soldiers are lucky to arrive at Landstuhl, Germany, where wounded soldiers from Iraq are processed, or a stateside hospital such as Walter Reid Army Medical Center in Washington DC, with their few belongings in plastic garbage bags. In the Danvers, Massachusetts post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (VFW), VFW members are so upset by this idea that they collect duffle bags or other luggage so that the soldiers do not suffer the additional indignity of arriving with their belongings in garbage bags, which appears to be the Army way.
“I asked the nurses and the chaplains what the soldiers needed; and they said warm clothes, such as coats, sweaters, gloves, hats, long underwear, sweat pants and sweat shirts, sneakers, socks, new underwear… and anything else you can think of,” wrote a visitor to the military hospital at Landstuhl. The weather in Germany is already cold, and soldiers are dependent on the work of the chaplains at the hospital who collect clothing and toilet articles for the soldiers’ use. The Army, unable to provide adequate equipment or supplies in Iraq, is even unable to provide those basic things for young soldiers who will spend their lives suffering from the serious injuries they received in this unjust war.
As if this was not enough insult, war profiteers do not bother to conceal their activities or their ties to Bush Administration officials; they promote them. “When Iraq is ready to rebuild, we will be there,” reads the website of the Bush-connected consulting firm, New Bridge Strategies. “The opportunities evolving in Iraq today are of such an unprecedented nature and scope that no other existing firm has the necessary skills and experience to be effective both in Washington, D.C. and on the ground in Iraq.” The firm proudly displays biographies of its leaders, listing their ties to George Bush, leading potential clients to believe that they offer not only easy access to government contracts, but also the protection of the US Army in Iraq, an essential factor for doing business there.
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http://www.islamonline.net/English/In_Depth/Iraq_Aftermath/2003/10/article_20.shtml#*