A Complete and Utter Waste of US Tax Dollars

Donald Rumsfeld has lost the war of spin on Iraq. So he has now reverted to this "brilliant" strategy Military To Pay Millions For “Positive” Iraq News Coverage. Its outrageous. Instead of actually coming up with an effective exit/redeployment strategy, or even some semblence of a right now, win the war strategy, Rumsfeld is willing to pay 20 MILLION DOLLARS to the PR firm who can most successfully spin the war.

Hey Don, I have an even better idea. Why don't you allocate that 20 MILLION DOLLARS to the Veterans Administration? Seems to me that money would be much better spent than on helping our wounded troops in their recoveries.

Its funny, I'm 37, and when I was a kid (late 70s, 80s), 20 million dollars was a number the average consumer could barely fathom in a real sense. Now, numbers like that are just bandied about as if there were money orchards all across the land.

Here's the link to an article on the subject of this thread:

Positive Press on Iraq Is Aim of U.S. Contract
By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 31, 2006; A20

U.S. military leaders in Baghdad have put out for bid a two-year, $20 million public relations contract that calls for extensive monitoring of U.S. and Middle Eastern media in an effort to promote more positive coverage of news from Iraq.
www.washingtonpost.com...

That looks and smells suspiciously like propaganda.
And Im not sure I would call it a 'waste' as much as a gross mishandling of our money.
The worst part is that if we werent in this illegal war, we wouldnt need to spend 20 million to spin it in a posative way.
This is just icing on the (yellow?) cake.
You cant make war for very long without convincing the masses that it is going well.
On a side note, did you happen to train at Ft. Irwin NTC in '89?

Originally posted by 11Bravo
That looks and smells suspiciously like propaganda.
And Im not sure I would call it a 'waste' as much as a gross mishandling of our money.
The worst part is that if we werent in this illegal war, we wouldnt need to spend 20 million to spin it in a posative way.
This is just icing on the (yellow?) cake.
You cant make war for very long without convincing the masses that it is going well.
On a side note, did you happen to train at Ft. Irwin NTC in '89?

It is definitely propaganda.

It is definitely a gross mishandling of funds.

Shows how bankrupt BushCon policy is.

Never trained at Ft. Irwin, but knew people who did. I was in 89-92. And you?

Donald Rumsfeld:

And it all boils down to the darn enemy lying and being better at communicating. "That's the thing that keeps me up at night," he says.

The man has completely lost it. I say that b/c he is actually deluded enuff to try and pass this crap off on us. The enemy (i.e. ragtag terrorists) are better at communicating than we (the world's sole "super power") are.

Its beyond absurd.

Mr. Rumsfeld Has a Glass of Whine
Robert J. Elisberg

In a talk before members of the Navy on Monday, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said, "What bothers me the most is how clever the enemy is."

Interestingly, I am in balanced harmony with Secretary Rumsfeld in a very Eastern Zen way. That whole yin-yang "opposites" thing.

What bothers me the most is how stupid the Administration is.
www.huffingtonpost.com...

Oh, and how about the cuts the Pnetagon plans in healthcare for veterans who have been braindamged from these wars? Sure they are good enough to go guard Rummy's ill begotten oil fields, but once they are cripple, they are useless.

Id like Rumsfeld to be sent to Iraq to fight.

Rumsfeld should be forced to live in Iraq for the entire duration of this ill-begotten venture.

I believe he would be killed. At some point.

That would never happen, though, because Donald Rumsfeld is a coward of the highest order.

Wow the hatred sheesh. It sure is nice to live where you have the right to express your views no matter how insulting you can be to someone you don't know lol. Try
hating the ideas, not the human.
Vance
Proudly served so people could preach love, hate or what ever they choose. "Get 'em boys!"
Lol

Originally posted by vance
Wow the hatred sheesh. It sure is nice to live where you have the right to express your views no matter how insulting you can be to someone you don't know lol. Try
hating the ideas, not the human.
Vance
Proudly served so people could preach love, hate or what ever they choose. "Get 'em boys!"
Lol

I see how much you value the troops. Nice.

Throughout his tenure at Defense, Donald Rumsfeld has done more damage to our military due to his arrogance, ignorance and incompetence, than anyone has ever done. In short, more people have died (as his worthless fodder) because of him and his Godforsaken policies. He should be brought to trial. He should also be tried for war crimes.

Originally posted by vance
Try hating the ideas, not the human.

I dont "hate", but I do strongly dislike the IDEAS that seem to eminate from this MAN. The IDEAS that he has IMPLIMENTED in his vision to create a 'leaner, faster, more deadly military' if I remember correctly.
AS ECK has said, Rummy has done more to destroy the US Military than Saddam ever dreamed of. I suspect he has his reasons for this tho.

ECK 88-91 1st ID 2/16

Actualy, I hold the troops in high regards how you could make out my feelings about them from my post, I am at a loss lol. I also believe the Rumsfeld takes his policies based on Bush's decisions. I guess in other words, I hold Bush responsible for what Rumsfeld does or doesn't do. I am not informed enough nor have i sat in on any secret briefings considering national security so, I can't really judge on what is the best policy in the world and particularly Iraq. After 9/11 it was more then clear to me that there are people out there who really hate my Country. I don't really give a damn why. I regret the loss of U.S. and allied forces fighting but I also am damned gald we are fighting back. I don't have any real proof of this next statement but, I feel strongly that Mr. Clinton would not have given much of a challange to our foes in the world despite 9/11. It is just watching his 8 yrs. I found myself quite angry at the results of going so long without one incedent of us getting payback. Well, I said that and was wrong. There is indeed one. The 98' bombing of Iraq ordered by Clinton. Some have said he did it to take attention away from the "Monika Incedent" I don't really care. When our Country is attacked, I am quite pleased with very hard attacks. And I'm not a very P.C. kinda American.
Vance
Oh if it matters:
Bco 2/75 80'-86' All active and a long 6 yrs. lol!


[edit on 31-8-2006 by vance]

I love how money is wasted in my country, while we have to make end met because our administration has other pressing needs to do with our tax payer money.

Like war propaganda, so members in these boards can talk like they know how great wars are to the world and fighting terrorism is working.

Or how we should all support our great leaders endeavors fighting the enemy all in our best interest.

And if you dare to criticize well we have words that we can call you

How about making sure that our wounded soldiers get what they need and their families too instead of depending on charity so they can survive in the nation of pleanty.

Originally posted by marg6043
And if you dare to criticize well we have words that we can call you

I laughed out loud when I read that. So true.

How about making sure that our wounded soldiers get what they need and their families too instead of depending on charity so they can survive in the nation of pleanty.

What I'd like to know is how far would 20 million go through the VA? That's how much Rummy's now spending on consultants to spin the war. Its despicable.

Twenty millon dollars is being spend just so the Bush admin and its supporters can maintain there deslions . Im sure glad that my Tax dollars arent going towards such a farce. Reality isnt a concept that the Bush admin has ever experienced .

Twenty millon dollars is being spend just so the Bush admin and its supporters can maintain there deslions

Amen.

I think Bush and Rummy smoke crack right before they devise strategies.

Remember the whole "shock n awe" thing at the beginning of the war? I guess psychological experts predicted everyone would just fall in line out of fear after seeing our wrath... It seems they weren't experts. We destroyed much of the iraqi army. Then it turned into a street fight. You are asking soldiers to be police over there. I'm still not sure why we attacked iraq?? Is it about Saddam trying to break the petro-dollar cycle? Or is Bush on crack. That's a possibility too!