The Great Iraq Swindle

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/16076312/the_great_iraq_swindle

Great reading, if you can stand to learn just how badly private contractors are bilking the American taxpayer out of billions at the expense of the safety of our own soldiers, the contractor companies' honest workers, and the Iraqi people for whom we are building all of this stuff. Oh yeah, the government hasn't brought charges against a single company or person ripping them off. Maybe they're too busy wiping off the fecal matter falling from the ceiling of the Baghdad Police College or looking for the $8.8 billion in CASH that is unaccounted for. Or, maybe they're just too busy writing up the next contract.

Firsts

Well, here it is--the first blog. Initiated perhaps by Socrates--"the unexamined life is not worth living..." although I hardly claim intellectualism as lofty as his. Maybe more of an impetus is the fact that I'm getting married in a little over a year. I've dipped my toes in the murky waters of maturity a couple of times before, but marriage is a head-first swan dive. Someone is going to be dependent upon me, and vice versa, for the rest of my life. But, I'm ready and I want it.

Get to know me better--you'll find I will typically jump from subject to subject without any smooth transition. Like right now.

I do not understand the mentality of these extremist wackos who shoot at Americans picking up trash and sewage in the streets of Iraq. I don't believe I could ever be so misguided and filled with hatred that I would desire to shoot someone who was picking up my excrement. It's just one more instance of how jacked up things are over there. I am of the belief that the Iraq War was wrong in the first place, but now that we're there we have to finish the job by instilling some sort of stability in the area. However, hope grows dimmer that we can accomplish this.

Done for now.

Cheers,
G. Wood