Posted by Jankdc
on 10/13/2009, 6:24 pm
get out of Afghanistan:
He sent me the link to this videos website: http://rethinkafghanistan.com/
He sent this without a link:
i believe i snagged that at LRC
this is from antiwar.com
Feinstein plugged the nation-building strategic doctrine now being pushed by the Pentagon’s best and brightest, as well as the Democratic "national security" crowd over at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), where the theoreticians of COIN hold court. The timeframe of this strategy went unmentioned by the senator, but it is measured in decades. Also unmentioned: the costs, not only in lives but in tax dollars.
Feinstein has personal knowledge of those expenditures, not only as former chairwoman and ranking member of the Senate’s Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee (2001-2005), but also as the spouse of one of the biggest war profiteers in the business. Reporting in one of our excellent local northern California papers, The Bohemian (yes, as in Bohemian Grove), Peter Bryne notes:
"Feinstein supervised the appropriation of billions of dollars a year for specific military construction projects. Two defense contractors whose interests were largely controlled by her husband, financier Richard C. Blum, benefited from decisions made by Feinstein as leader of this powerful subcommittee.
"Each year, MILCON’s members decide which military construction projects will be funded from a roster proposed by the Department of Defense. Contracts to build these specific projects are subsequently awarded to such major defense contractors as Halliburton, Fluor, Parsons, Louis Berger, URS Corporation, and Perini Corporation. From 1997 through the end of 2005, with Feinstein’s knowledge, Blum was a majority owner of both URS Corp. and Perini Corp."
Blum and Feinstein are laughing all the way to the bank as URS Corp and Perini grow fat on the military appropriations gravy train – the only sector of the U.S. economy that seems to be thriving. Perini, in which Blum owns a controlling interest, is the Democrats’ Halliburton – indeed, Cheney’s old corporate digs is Perini’s chief competitor. Blum bought it when it was nearly broke in 1997. In 2005, Feinstein’s membership on the subcommittee was "routinely" rotated, as the Soros-funded shills over at Media Matters made sure to point out, contrary to Bryne’s assertions that she might have resigned under pressure. By that time Perini was raking in $1.7 billion in annual income
and also this:
FEINSTEIN: OBAMA SHOULD APPROVE MCCHRYSTAL’S RECOMMENDATIONS
Senator Dianne Feinstein told me [George Stephanopoulos] this morning that President Obama must approve General McChrystal’s recommendations for an additional 40,000 troops on the ground in Afghanistan. “I don’t know how you put somebody in, who is as ‘cracker jack’ as General McChrystal who gives the president very solid recommendations and not take those recommendations if you are not going to pull out,” Feinstein told me on ‘This Week.’ “If you do not want to take the recommendations then you put your people in such jeopardy.”
Or, perhaps this is the good reason why Democratic Senator Feinstein approves of additional U.S. troops in Afghanistan:
WAR BRINGS BUSINESS TO FEINSTEIN SPOUSE
When it comes to scoring mega-military-related contracts, Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s multimillionaire husband, Richard Blum, is right in the thick of things. First up: a contract announced last week between the Army and URS Corp., the San Francisco planning and engineering company that specializes in defense work — and that happens to be partly owned by Blum’s investment firm. The contract — which could grow to $600 million — is to help with troop mobilization, weapons systems training and anti-terrorism methods. That’s on top of a $3.1 billion Army contract that URS snared back in February for weapons systems and homeland defense.
Today Glenn Greenwald chimed in: Democrats and Afghanistan: what's at stake
Responses: