In his State of the Union speech this week, President Bush went after his favorite political whipping post: Congressional earmarks -- "special interest projects that are often snuck in at the last minute, without discussion or debate."

Congressional pork does add up -- last year, Congress approved some 11,700 totaling $16.9 billion (more here).

But such pet projects are chump change compared to that great wasteland of taxpayer dollars, the defense budget. The same day as the State of the Union, Bush signed a $696 billion military spending bill -- and while signing, promised to defy key provisions that would heighten oversight of how the money is spent.

And, as usual, the bill is loaded with budget-busting boondoggles.

Consider, for example, the F-22 air fighter. Last Sunday's Dallas Star-Telegram featured a devastating analysis by three military experts, Pierre Sprey, James Stevenson and Winslow Wheeler that shows the futility of this weapons scheme that will cost taxpayers a minimum of $65 billion -- $355 million per aircraft:

On Dec. 12, the Air Force announced with considerable fanfare at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia that its F-22 fighter had reached “full operational capability.” Air Combat Command commander Gen. John Corley called it a “key milestone.” Brimming with pride, a spokesman for the manufacturer, Lockheed, stated: “The F-22 is ready for world-wide operations”–and then added, “…should it be called upon.” His afterthought makes the point: There are, of course, two wars going on, and the F-22 has yet to fly a single sortie over the skies of Iraq or Afghanistan. Nor has the Air Force announced any intention of sending the F-22 to either theater. The Air Force is quite right to keep the F-22 as far as possible from either conflict. The airplane is irrelevant to both, and were it to appear in those skies, it almost certainly would set U.S. and allied forces back.

The piece ends by saying that perhaps "Congress' lust for pork, and the perverted thinking that jobs and profits (not the threat) should drive defense spending, will determine the size of the F-22 fleet."

How come that didn't make it into the State of the Union?

(H/T Ken Silverstein at Harper's)

Labels: militarism, peace and security

Yesterday's Raleigh News & Observer ran a terrific story on last week's surprise victory by the grassroots movement fighting the U.S. Navy's plans to build an outlying landing field for fighter jets in one rural Eastern North Carolina community. The OLF was to be sited near critical habitat for migrating water fowl, and on land farmed by families for generations. Reporter Jerry Allegood recounted how OLF opponents met in farm garages, raised money at pig pickings, and drove to rallies in tractor convoys. As No-OLF leader Doris Morris told the paper:

"We would just sit around the table and try to come up with ideas about what to do and how to do it," Morris said. "We were often told we were not following protocol, but we were fighting with all our hearts and souls."

It's an inspiring story, and that inspiration is needed -- because as a leader of the N.C. Coastal Federation points out, the battle to keep the OLF out of other rural Eastern North Carolina communities will continue.

(Photo from Citizens Against OLF.)

Labels: militarism, north carolina, organizing

That's what journalist Jeremy Scahill said about North Carolina-based military security contractor Blackwater during an interview last night on MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann." Scahill, author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, was commenting on new revelations that the State Department's initial report of last month's incident in which Blackwater guards were accused of gunning down Iraqi civilians was actually written by Darren Hanner -- a Blackwater contractor working in the embassy security detail.

An article that appeared yesterday in the online magazine Salon.com backed up Scahill's charge by detailing the Bush administration's extensive ties to Blackwater. They include Blackwater founder and CEO Erik Prince's generous donations ($300,000 between him and his wives) to Republican candidates and political action committees, Blackwater Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel Joseph Schmitz's former Bush-appointed position as the Defense Department's Inspector General, Blackwater Vice Chair J. Cofer Black's job as director of the CIA's Counterterrorism Center at the time of the 9/11 attacks, Blackwater Vice President for Intelligence Rob Richer's former position as head of the CIA's Near East division and the man who in 2003 briefed President Bush on the growing Iraq insurgency, and Blackwater's former outside counsel Fred Fielding's current role as White House counsel. In addition, the company's current outside counsel is Ken Starr, the independent counsel who investigated Bill Clinton's relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, was on President Bush's short list to replace William Brennan on the Supreme Court and served as U.S. solicitor general under Bush's father.

Which renders rather ironic Republican charges that the congressional investigation into Blackwater's behavior in Iraq is "partisan."

BLOGGING BLACKWATER: If you're interested in following the growing Blackwater scandal in detail, you should add to your reading list "Blackwater Current," a new blog by Raleigh News & Observer investigative reporter Joe Neff. He has covered the company extensively since 2004, when his series "The Bridge" chronicled the death of four of the company's contractors in Fallujah.

Labels: blackwater, contracting, iraq, militarism, politics

Today marks four years since the U.S. began bombing Iraq in this latest war. While there's been a great deal of discussion in the U.S. media about the considerable toll the war has taken on American and other coalition soldiers, let us take time today to contemplate the death and suffering the violence has caused for Iraqi civilians:

* An estimated 59,000 to 65,000 civilians -- Iraqi men, women and children -- have been reported killed by the U.S. military intervention and occupation, according to Iraq Body Count.

* Other estimates of the war's toll on Iraqi civilians have been even higher. A study by researchers with Johns Hopkins University and Al Mustansiriya University published in the British medical journal The Lancet in October 2006 estimated that there have been 655,000 "excess deaths" in Iraq since March 2003.

* The U.N. High Commission on Refugees estimates that as many as 2 million Iraqis have been forced to flee to other countries -- about 16 percent of the total Iraqi population. To put that in perspective, 16 percent of the population of the United States would be more than 48 million people.

* UNHCR estimates that there are as many as 1.7 million internally displaced people in Iraq -- civilians who've been forced from their homes as a result of violence or threats, and who are unable or unwilling to leave the country. UNHCR predicts that this number may rise above 2.3 million by the end of this year.

* Mental health professionals in Iraq say they are seeing a disturbing spike in mental health disorders, and the problem is compounded by the country's lack of facilities and services, according to a report from the San Francisco Chronicle.

* Iraqi women are suffering an explosion in gender-based violence since the war began. According to a study released earlier this month by the human rights group MADRE, "Under US occupation, Iraqi women have endured a wave of gender-based violence, including widespread abductions, public beatings, death threats, sexual assaults, 'honor killings,' domestic abuse, torture in detention, beheadings, shootings, and public hangings. Much of this violence is systematic -- directed by the Islamist militias that mushroomed across Iraq after the US toppled the mostly secular Ba'ath regime."

* The use of depleted uranium weapons by the United States is taking a toll on Iraqis' long-term health. In the wake of the first Gulf War, where DU munitions were also used, cases of lymphoblastic leukemia in Iraq more than quadrupled, according to a study that appeared in The Lancet in February 1998. Other radiation-related cancers also increased at an alarming rate, along with birth defects and diseases of the immune system.

For information on what you can do to promote peace in Iraq, visit the Web site of United for Peace and Justice.

Labels: militarism