Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Deals with the Devil

It is hard to disagree with "THE NATION" when they state that Senator Norm Coleman is an idiot.


Not an ideological idiot, not a partisan idiot, but a plain old-fashioned, drool-on-his-tie idiot.

Senator Norm Coleman from Minnesota started raising a fuss about the UN and their "Oil for Food" program. He pointed his finger and shook it with all of his might, however, he didn't realize that in doing so it showed just HOW MUCH U.S. energy companies have gained from their deals with the Devil (Saddam Hussein). In fact it turns out that the MAJORITY of illegal kickbacks have come not from the UN but the U.S.

Here is what our own Senate says about it.

The Senate investigation that Coleman sought regarding the Oil-for-Food program has already revealed that the Bush administration failed to crack down on widespread abuse of the oil-for-food program by U.S. energy companies, and that U.S. oil purchases accounted for the majority of the kickbacks paid to Saddam Hussein's regime in return for sales of impensive oil. Indeed, the report concludes, "The United States (government) was not only aware of Iraqi oil sales which violated UN sanctions and provided the bulk of the illicit money Saddam Hussein obtained from circumventing UN sanctions. On occasion, the United States actually facilitated the illicit oil sales."

Senator Coleman's accusations brought even the wrath of our greatest ally the United Kingdom. In a visit from Galloway (a member of British parliament) to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Galloway states:

"Mr Chairman, I am not now, nor have I ever been an oil trader and neither has anyone been on my behalf. I have never seen a barrel of oil, owned one, bought one, sold one, and neither has anybody on my behalf." He accused Coleman of being "remarkably cavalier with any idea of justice" and pointed out error after error in the report the senator had brandished against him.

He also goes on to point out:

"I told the world that Iraq, contrary to your claims did not have weapons of mass destruction. I told the world, contrary to your claims, that Iraq had no connection to al-Qaeda. I told the world, contrary to your claims, that Iraq had no connection to the atrocity on 9/11 2001. I told the world, contrary to your claims, that the Iraqi people would resist a British and American invasion of their country and that the fall of Baghdad would not be the beginning of the end, but merely the end of the beginning."

"Senator, in everything I said about Iraq, I turned out to be right and you turned out to be wrong and 100,000 people paid with their lives; 1600 of them American soldiers sent to their deaths on a pack of lies; 15,000 of them wounded, many of them disabled forever on a pack of lies."


Every day over here in Iraq I get up and put my uniform and body armor on. I wear the U.S. Flag on my right shoulder next to my combat patch. I earned the right to wear this uniform and I "earned" that combat patch during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Each day that goes by it gets harder to hold my head high while wearing that uniform over here in Iraq. It gets harder and harder as we learn more of the truth behind this war. How many died because of these "lies" as Mr. Galloway calls them. How many have I killed because of them?

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

hey great blog - keep up the writing -- and keep your head down - your country will need you again once all this bullshit is overwith.

Anonymous said...

I am thanking God every day tht you are home. We really need you. I am much older than you and I have learned that it is impossible to change the past, it is possible only to learn from it and change the future. This sounds like a truism but it is often -usually- as painful as you are discovering. Since you are willing to write from your heart, and you write so well I am confident that in time you will have a larger group of readers, more even than your blog. Whatever you have done that you regret, you have permission, I've learned, to forgive yourself. Take care.

Anonymous said...

i have a good friend over there somewhere. i read your blog and others like it to get an idea of what is really going on in the hearts and minds of the soldiers. it really means a lot to a lot of people. keep up the writing, keep yourself safe.

peace.

Anonymous said...

....have you lost the LOVE for your country because you disagree with the politics of today?
....will you LOVE your country again only if you agree with the politics of tomarrow?

Anonymous said...

its not you that should be ashamed its us we should be out on street corners preventing any more of this dangerous idiocy. insisting that this stop now. best of luck in getting back to your family and thank you for your service. that in itself is pure even if what our govt is up to is not.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your service, Sargeant. Stay tough, stay alive, and keep telling the truth.

Anonymous said...

It is hard to know what the truth is these days. I blame our leaders for being willing to bend and twist the truth.

I also know that some of the people that you are battling over there are barbarians who deserve nothing but death.

The hard question is how do you know who is who? Which leaders are scum? Which Iraqis want freedom and which ones are content with a dictatorship or a theocracy?

Some days I think it would be better to focus all of our power on internal security. I hope we're doing more good than harm in Iraq.

Come home safe.

Footprint said...

Sir:

I just wanted to say thank you for guaranteeing my freedom. You do what I cannot and I am thankful for that. Words cannot express the gratitude I feel to the people who serve this country.
Please come home safe and in one piece.

Thank you again.

Anonymous said...

Keep fighting the good fight! Thanks for this blog!

Unknown said...

ZACH,

I read your entries in your blog and I couldn't hold my tear rolling down my cheeks. My husband thought something was wrong with me. I was so touched by the love you and your wife both have for each other. I probably would comfort my husband the same way if he was a soldier like you. You write so well that I was able to emphatize with you, I was able to feel and see everything you experienced there. I even hated the people that you hate and loved the people you love. Keep writing. I wouldn't be surprised if your blog become famous that some publisher would put it in print. Like what others said, HANG ON, ZACH!

Cathie said...

hey Zach,

Those energy company tycoons aren't americans. America is a nation of ideas and freedom, not greed and corruption.

Perhaps this war will finally expose these people for who they are and we can get real Americans back into power. Remember that. You can look at the flag on your shoulder and know what it really stands for. Your words are a reflection of that. Keep your head up. You are a real American.

Anonymous said...

America can not be bought or sold, it is in the brave hearts of those who protect this great land, like yourself. Soon enough we will learn to hold tight to our freedom- to listen up and once again to speak!
Thank you for your words! And for your service I am forever in debt.
Stay Safe!

Arizona said...

Hold your head high. It is not for you to decide when or where or even why you are deployed. That is not the role of the military in the United States. It is one of the things that makes us different.

You are doing your duty and we are all DAMN PROUD of you.

It is OUR FAULT you are there. WE, the American people, have let this happen. We have forgotten to challenge our leaders to tell the truth. In our moment of weakness and fear, we let ourselves be misled.

But I, and I am only one of many, promise to do everything I can to bring you home and make this right.

Anonymous said...

I have to agree with the above blogger. This was our failure, the American people, to demand a full recount of the state of Florida in November 2000. Gore by all recounts would have won. We should have been in the streets demanding a full recount. President Gore would have handled 9/11 much differently. It would have been a war on Al-Qaeda, as it should have been. Hold your head high, Zach. It is OUR failure, not yours.
-roamer in mich