While private contractors working in Iraq driving trucks, pumping gas and doing KP duty earn upwards of $100,000 a year, the troops, who earn about $1300. a month or $15,600. a year were denied a $6. a month raise. So it begs the question: is this appropriation bill that Congress is wrestling with Bush over, money to support the troops or money to support Halliburton, Blackwater and Dyncorp and their hires who make $100,000. a year? Please remember that Halliburton et al are reaping massive profits from their no bid contracts to supply "war services." Isn't this really where the money's going ... not to the troops?
According to ThinkProgress:
As ThinkProgress noted yesterday, President Bush has threatened to veto a House defense bill over a provision that raises the pay for U.S. soldiers by 3.5 percent, instead of the 3 percent preferred by the White House.
Last night on MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Todd Bowers — an Iraq war veteran and director of government affairs for the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America — broke down the White House’s position in dollar terms. Bowers explained that the difference between a 3 percent and 3.5 percent pay raise is the difference of six bucks a month for the average servicemember. Bowers said:
[The average servicemember] gets $1300 a month. You got expenses that you have to cover for. You got to take care of family members, car payments. It essentially adds up. This 3% raise would give them approximately $29 extra dollars, alright. Point five percent gives them an extra $6 dollars. We’re talking about $6 for someone that is serving over in Iraq and Afghanistan that is away from their families. It’s not too much to ask.
At the same time, according to US News & World Report the troops are being ripped off to the tune of $75. a month for internet access:
After we reported here yesterday that soldiers on large bases can purchase Internet access from a private contractor for around $70 a month, allowing them to circumvent the Department of Defense's ban of YouTube.com, MySpace.com, and 10 other popular websites from their servers, several readers wrote in questioning why the access is so pricey compared with rates back home. (We're hearing today that the figure is $75 a month.)
Beth in Kentucky asks, "Do the soldiers with Internet access on base know how badly they are being ripped off? $75 for Internet access? My broadband service costs half that. We don't pay them enough to begin with, we give them low-rent hospital care when they come home, and now, we can't even give them a decently affordable internet service? What no-bid contractor got a hold of this one?"
U.S. News Pentagon reporter Anna Mulrine did some asking around and found out that Internet access at Iraqi bases is provided by a company called Jackal Wireless, which operates a service called "Operation Internet Freedom" in Baghdad International Airport and several other bases in Iraq.
Bush has also shorted funds for troop health care:
The Bush administration, already accused by veterans groups of seeking inadequate funds for health care next year, acknowledged yesterday that it is short $1 billion for covering current needs at the Department of Veterans Affairs this year.
The disclosure of the shortfall angered Senate Republicans who have been voting down Democratic proposals to boost VA programs at significant political cost. Their votes have brought the wrath of the American Legion, the Paralyzed Veterans of America and other organizations down on the GOP.
Notice that the Senate Republicans were not displeased that the vets were being shorted only that their role in the shorting was made public. So much for these hypocrites. But then we've known all along that they (the Republicans) were hypocrites. They wrap themselves in the flag and "support our troops" rhetoric while, at the same time, profiting themselves and their cronies from war. But every time they want more money for Bush's insane war policy, they phrase their request in terms of supporting our troops while in actuality they are supporting the war services corporations and ther highly paid "shadow army" who get $100,000. a year for pumping gas, driving trucks and pulling KP duty. That's where the real money's really going. The trigger pullers make $15,600. while the private contractors make upwards of $100,000. We the tax payers are paying for no bid profits and huge salaries but not for our troops!
Military analysts say the private security arrangement allows regular military troops to concentrate on fighting. But they are concerned that the lucrative pay offered by private contractors -- often more than $100,000 a year -- is depleting the ranks of the special forces.
There are other contractors who support the U.S. military in Iraq.
Halliburton, the largest civilian contractor, has a Web site which currently lists more than 450 openings in Iraq. When the company threw a job fair last week in Houston, Texas, hundreds of applicants showed up.
"You know, there's not that many jobs," said driver Bobby Johnson.
FACT — PENTAGON WORKING ON PROPOSAL TO TRIPLE COSTS OF MILITARY HEALTH INSURANCE (TRICARE): The Penatgon is proposing to “triple some Tricare insurance costs for military retirees and their families.” “Increases would be substantial — as much as $1,200 more a year by 2009 — with no end in sight because the plan calls for annual rate hikes in 2010 and beyond that would match inflation.”
Bush has also chintzed the troops on body armor:
FACT — THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION’S FAILURE TO PROVIDE BODY ARMOR HAS COST LIVES: The New York Times reported that a “secret Pentagon study has found that as many as 80 percent of the marines who have been killed in Iraq from wounds to the upper body could have survived if they had had extra body armor.” Body armor “has been available since 2003, but until recently the Pentagon has largely declined to supply it to troops despite calls from the field.” Additionally, the Pentagon has refused to reimburse troops who purchased their own armor. [New York Times, 1/7/06; AP, 9/30/05]
There are almost as many private contractors (100,000) in the private shadow army as there are troops (140,000). Take a look at the Appropriations bill for $125 billion. The President asks for zero, zip for Veterans' Health. The Democratic Congress proposed $1.8 billion. Bush proposed zip, nada for Homeland Security. Congress proposed $2.25 billion. Operations and Management accounts for some $50 billion. This is what goes to the war profiteering corporations to provide the shadow army of private contractors making over $100,000. a year. Procurement of $25 billion also goes to the "traditional" defense contractors. So the lion's share of the budget does not go to pay the troops. They are the peons, the cannon fodder, the trigger pullers. Four times as much as the troops get goes to the shadow army for war profits and $100,000 a year salaries. The troops who used to provide their own support personnel are increasingly just used as trigger pullers. Twice what goes to the troops goes to defense contractors for procurement.
We have blogged before about how stingy the Bush Administration is to the troops when they come home injured, denying them health care, disability and even making them pay back their signing bonuses! So when Bush makes a pitch to support our troops, he is really asking for money to support our war service corporations such as Halliburton, Blackwater and DynCorp. He is asking for huge amounts for private contractors making upwards of $100,000. a year, and he is asking for large amounts for traditional military-industrial complex corporations. Oh, and by the way, could he please have some chump change for the troops doing the actual fighting? The current poverty rate in the US for a family of three is $16,600. That means that our troop families consisting of a husband, a wife and one kid are living below the poverty rate! And Bush threatens a veto over giving them $6. a month more than what he has proposed!
