Nation For Sale

As another scandal surfaces from a corporation who became a government office by way of auction, one must wonder, how much of America will George Bush and co. sell to the highest bidder? How much of our nation is for sale and to what extent? Then again, we are a free country, and as any good capitalist knows, you get what you pay for.

Most in this country (including myself until about 15 minutes prior to now) have no idea that yet another scandal has arisen from a government “contractor” in Iraq, but this time the mercenaries remain, relatively at least, innocent. This time the real motive for US presence in the country lies under a bit of scrutiny, Halliburton and its former construction subsidiary KBR.

During her stint in Iraq as an independent contractor, a woman named Jamie Lee Jones was brutally gang-raped, drugged, and imprisoned for 24 hours without food or water by unknown assailants, presumably co-workers, in the American-controlled “green zone.” To this day, the Justice Department has made no progress in her case and the cases of many other women involved, and the DOJ and the Department of the Defense both refuse to comment on any other of these cases.

Currently, Congress has formally began an inquiry of these cases, and as of today, the Department of Justice has refused to send any representatives to Congress to answer questions regarding the process and nature of their investigations. Why the inactivity and lack of cooperation? KBR remains the number one contractor for construction of any large government project such as the rebuilding (for lack of a better word) of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, the $200 million US embassy in Afghanistan, $28 million POW camps in Iraq, soldiers barracks in Iraq and Afghanistan, and also the no-bid process of “securing” Iraq’s oil.

This type of refusal of cooperation by government organizations to protect the interests of corporations and special interest groups typifies the entire current political environment of our country. This administration continues to defy any action that exemplifies any characteristics of a free society, and they instead attempt to promote some sort of quasi-laissez-faire capitalist delusion on a country where everything but exportation of goods remains neglected. Yet, these men also either refuse or remain indifferent to understand that the main premise of productive capitalism lies on the idea of competition, no-bid contracts and exclusivity undermine everything this on which this nation was built. The control of government by exclusive corporations or entities is NOT the idea of capitalism, but in its stead, fascism.

And as the sale of America continues, the average consumer remains willfully ignorant and indifferent to their countries actions—more interested in the 50% off Christmas… excuse me… “Holiday” sale at Wal-Mart.