trblmkr

This blog aims to accomplish two things. Given how quickly events are reported, misreported, and dropped by the MSM, we want to go back and see if we can't find some answers to questions that were and were not asked. Second, because the lazy MSM's chief tool for what passes as journalism is to quote pundits without having done any homework,the right questions don't get asked. We want to provide our readers the contact information for these pundits so we can ask them directly.

Monday, July 18, 2005

Hello and welcome

This blog initially aims to accomplish two things. Given how quickly events are reported (if they are picked up at all), misreported, and then dropped by the MSM, we want to go back and see if we can't find some answers to questions that were and were not asked. Second, because the lazy MSM's chief tool for what passes as journalism these days is to quote pundits/experts/politicos without having done any prepatory homework, oftentimes the right questions don't get asked. We want to provide our readers, with their help, the contact information for these pundits/experts/politicos so we can ask them directly. Maybe by doing this they might be a bit more careful about what they say (one can dream) or become more reluctant to go on these shows or be quoted in an article.
Let's start the ball rolling:
For this first one, we have to go back about 2 years (there's alot of that going around, just ask Scott McClellan).
Does anyone remember the 9/03 Madrid donors' conference? It was attended by Colin 'the vial' Powell. It was intended to get our pesky peacenik friends in 'old Europe" to pony up money for the reconstruction of a new west-loving, democratic Iraq.

At the time, the BIG STORY was wmd, as in, where are they? That's a very important story that is still very much alive. But the whole Iraqi Survey Group project under Kay then Duelfer cost $1-2 billion tops, that's about 1-2 weeks worth of our current spending.
What if I told you there was another scandalous claim, based on lies, that is costing us far more in dollars and blood?
It is this, at that Madrid conference, Powell was asked how the US could have so drastically underestimated the cost of rebuilding Iraq. Does anyone remember the answer? Was it because Iraq had less oil than we thought? No. Was it because we didn't have hundreds of defectors to tell us about the state of Iraq's infrastructure before the war? No, Powell's own State Dept. interviewed hundreds for a 2000 page report on postwar Iraq. Was it because we didn't control Iraq's airspace and didn't have our best satellites trained on the country? No, we controlled Iraq's skies for 12 years prior to the war and we certainly had shifted the bulk of all our intel assets (including imaging) to Iraq from, guess where, Afghanistan.
So what was the reason we went from Wolfowitz: "Iraq will pay for it's own rebuilding", to the head of USAID: "The cost to US taxpayers will not exceed $1.7 billion" (in Senate tesimony, no less!) to the Madrid conference, where we hoped to garner commitments of, now seems paltry, $50 billion?
Powell's reason, which was repeated by various administration and really only reported overseas was, "We had no idea how 30 years' of neglect under Saddam had damaged Iraq's infrastructure."
No idea? Is anyone besides me even a little suspicious of this claim? As I mentioned above, we were watching this country like a hawk. But I want to bring up another point. Unlike wmd's, roads, power plants, water treatment centers, etc. are not hidden, they exist in plain sight. So even if, in our endless generosity, we could give Bush & Co. as "pass" on wmd's (hey, we were all wrong!) Do we have to give them a "pass" on this too? After all, this "misread" is costing us much more than the wmd snafu.
So, are you with me? Does anyone have any link to any info that will help us answer how we got this even wronger than wmd's? Of course, I have some theories. Like, why spend $10 million refitting an old Soviet-era power plant with parts that are either sitting in Iraq or Russia when you can 1) bomb it to smithereens and 2) rebuild it from scratch with gold-plated US materials and expensive "expertise?"
James Glanz of the NY Times wrote an article about unused construction materials being smuggled to Jordan and sitting in neat little piles to be auctioned off, possibly back to Halliburton. This is the closest I have seen a journalist get to this issue.
Does anyone know how to find our bombing target lists? Could this be the reason we were so nonchalant about the looting? Could this all be about profiteering? This is important. Because if we knowingly damaged that country's infrastructure more than was necessary in order for US corporations to make more money, well, that keeps our boys and girls there longer than it would have otherwise.
So you see, this is important on many different levels and barely one drop of ink has been spilled to shed light on it.
We await any response or leads/links on this.

Our second goal, to make talking heads a little uncomfortable will start with this guy. His name is Robert D. Luskin, he is an attroney with Patton Boggs, a heavyweight firm in DC. He has been all over the news both quoted by name and as "someone who has been briefed..." regarding the Karl Rove/CIA case. Even though every day sources "close to the case" request anonymity because "all parties have been requested by the prosecutor not to comment" Luskin is out there doing what poor Scottie McClellan can't(or won't, take your pick). If he can use the public airwaves and media to defend the indefensible, the public should be able to holler back at him.
Well we can!
You too can communicate with a legal titan! Let him know how great it is that he can make $500 an hour to defend a toad.
Robert D. Luskin's direct telephone number at his firm, Patton Boggs, is 202-457-6190. His e-mail address is rluskin@pattonboggs.com.Here is Luskin's bio page on the PB website:http://www.pattonboggs.com/Attorneys/detail.aspx?id=96ea6d2c-0a8f-4cac-9155-620a5fe0dbc4

I'm sure he will be happy to hear from you!

Ciao for now.

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