You are Paying to Kill our Troops

While the Holy Land Foundation is being prosecuted on suspicion of funding terrorism, the U.S. is giving money directly to the insurgents in Iraq. Yes, that's what I said. The war criminal that is claiming to support the troops is supplying its killers.

Anyone wanting to fund the insurgency? Your tax dollars are right now doing just that. In the traditional way of doing business, contractors giving security to troops and vendors in Iraq have to pay the insurgency to let it operate. The insurgents also accept guns and bombs.

Forget accusations that Iran is supplying those that are shedding our soldiers' blood. We're giving it direct.

Iraq's deadly insurgent groups have financed their war against U.S. troops in part with hundreds of thousands of dollars in U.S. rebuilding funds that they have extorted from Iraqi contractors in Anbar province, Iraqi contractors and politicians say.

The payments, in return for the insurgents' allowing supplies to move and construction work to begin, have taken place since the earliest projects in 2003, they say.

The contractors and politicians warned that a fresh round of rebuilding spurred by the U.S. military's recent alliance with some Anbar tribes – 200 new projects are scheduled – provides another opportunity for militant groups such as al-Qaeda in Iraq to siphon off more U.S. money.

"The violence in Iraq has developed a political economy of its own that sustains it and keeps some of these terrorist groups afloat," said Iraq's deputy prime minister, Barham Saleh.

The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad declined to provide anyone to discuss the allegations. An embassy spokesman, Noah Miller, said in an e-mailed statement that "in terms of contracting practices, we have checks and balances in our contract awarding system to prevent any irregularities from occurring. Each contracted company is responsible for providing security for the project."

Providing that security is the source of the extortion, Iraqi contractors say. A U.S. company with a reconstruction contract hires an Iraqi subcontractor to haul supplies along insurgent-ridden roads. The Iraqi contractor sets his price at up to four times the going rate because he'll be forced to give 50 percent or more to gun-toting insurgents who demand cash payments in exchange for the supply convoys' safe passage.
(snip)
One Iraqi contractor who is working on a U.S.-funded rebuilding project in the provincial capital of Ramadi said he faced two choices when he wanted to bring in a crane, heavy machinery and workers from Baghdad: either hire a private security company to escort the supplies for up to $6,000 a truck or pay off locals with insurgent connections.

He chose the latter and got $120,000 for a U.S. contract he estimates to be worth no more than $20,000. The contractor asked that specific details of the project not be disclosed for fear he'll be identified and lose the job.

"Insurgents control the roads," he said. "Americans don't control the roads – and everything from Syria and Jordan goes through there."(Emphasis added.)

There is absolutely no excuse for continuing operations that pay for the bombs and bullets to kill our own troops. If anyone had an ounce of sense, they'd have all come home when no WMD's were found. With half an ounce of sense, they'd have come home after Saddam Hussein's capture.

There isn't enough sense in this whole administration even to get an incompetent Attorney General to resign, we had to throw out enough GoPervs to get investigations started. Even then, it took too long to see the writing on the wall. These cretins don't think, they can only react. Let's give them lots and lots to react to.