Republicans Only Need Apply?
EmailThe Pentagon rejected qualified experts for reconstruction work in Iraq because they were not deemed loyal to the Republican party, according to the former chief of staff of the Washington Office of the Coalition Provisional Authority, Frederick Smith. "Some people were overlooked because they didn’t meet the political saliva test," Smith, now retired, told ABC News. Smith said political appointees at the Pentagon, including a special assistant to the secretary of defense and White House liaison, James O’Beirne, led the screening. "We needed to get the best people out there," Smith said, "not just because they were a member of the Young Republicans Club at Michigan State." The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is now investigating the role of O’Beirne and allegations of what Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., called "an organized and systematic screening process." Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage. In a letter to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Waxman complained the Pentagon was refusing to cooperate and threatened to issue a subpoena for O’Beirne’s testimony and Pentagon documents. Read the letter sent to Secretary Gates from Chairman Waxman. The committee also asked for all e-mails between O’Beirne and the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, and "other think tanks, political parties or activists." A spokesperson at the Pentagon said he was "unaware" of Waxman’s letter. A call to O’Beirne’s office was not returned. In his interview with ABC News, Smith, the former CPA chief of staff, says he personally saw O’Beirne favor Republican candidates over others. "We did not send our A-team to Baghdad," Smith said, recounting how O’Beirne pushed for a candidate based on the fact that he had been involved in counting chads during the presidential election recount in Florida in 2000. Smith says he attempted to talk to O’Beirne about changing his hiring policies, but "that fell on deaf ears," he said.
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Listen, if you are going to give out bundles of cash to your PEEPS in the midst of the killing fields for our soldiers, you better weed out anybody of the other party who might turn you in. Folks, paying the rich guys taxes is going to be much harder than you have bargained for…
Posted by: frodaddy | February 15, 2007, 12:20 pm 12:20 pm
Makes perfect sense to me.
How many Republicans are employed at the blotter? Or how many teach in our school system? Or write for our daily papers, or for the big 3 networks, or the New York Times?
Looks to me like they act just like you.
Posted by: JelloBiafra | February 15, 2007, 12:22 pm 12:22 pm
Why am I not surprised. So much of the civilian involvement in Iraq was patronage-based. Can you spell Blackwater, Halliburton, and so on, and on, and on………
Nor is the situation with contractors in Iraq any different than many of the blunders with Katrina relief.
Posted by: gus | February 15, 2007, 12:53 pm 12:53 pm
Our tax dollars at work for this kind of nonsense – give me a break! Waxman is prohibitionist lunatic and my fellow americans, you are truly getting what you paid for with a Democratic majority.
This story is 3 years old. Give it up. More useless investigations by the Democrats. While we are at it, why don’t we re-open the investigation into JFK’s assasination and the alien landing at Roswell? Further, are we really sure that Booth shot Lincoln?
Posted by: jim jones | February 15, 2007, 12:58 pm 12:58 pm
Ummmm…yeah we already knew this thanks to Rajiv Chandrasekaran’s original reporting. See his amazing book: Imperial Life in the Emerald City
Maybe after reading it you could “break” more “Original” stories.
Posted by: Shawn Fassett | February 15, 2007, 3:41 pm 3:41 pm
Jim, nice to know that the statute of limitations on corruption, incompetence and cronyism is 3 years.
The cost of investigating this is trivial compared to the approximately 180 *tons* of cash that was lost by these clowns.
Posted by: gsw | February 15, 2007, 3:46 pm 3:46 pm
How do the constant lies and slight-of-hand tricks by this administration foisted on US citizens and paid for with the blood of our troops measure up to the impeachment circus that happened over Clinton’s oral indescretions?
The motto of this administration and the repub party should read: DO AS I SAY, NOT DO AS I DO.
Posted by: Naked Emperor | February 15, 2007, 3:53 pm 3:53 pm
Favoritism didn’t just arrive. It’s always been that way. From top to bottom. Just watch the state of Missouri. A Republican in office, and you’ll see a Republican run the local contracted DOT License Bureau. A Democrat gets into office and the Republican is out on his ear. Used to be that way to get a postal job. Change party affiliations, make a donation and you were in like Flint.
Posted by: Dave, MO | February 15, 2007, 9:58 pm 9:58 pm
Here we go again! How can any American condone, even support with sarcastic remarks, the fact that this Bush adminstration chose to neglect our troops at war, failed to give them the best armour and vehicles, fail to give them the rest they need, and failed from the beginning to have the best people possible contracted to rebuild Iraq after we went in and destroyed it.
Make all the political excuses that you want, Republicans, but you have failed this nation, failed our brave young men and women, failed the test as an American. I wish every family who lost a child would file a wrongful death suit against Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld ,Wolfawitz and everyone else who lied us into this illegal war, and robbed us of our money to give it to Halliburton and other Republican
thieves!
Posted by: Linda | February 16, 2007, 11:36 am 11:36 am
JJ- you’ve drunk the kool-aid! This is not “old news,” its the ongoing fleecing of the American taxpayer. The same political cronies continue to be rewarded with lucrative no-bid contracts to this day – nothing old about that!
If you respect and value our troops, than you need to acknowledge that we have done them a disservice to send them substandard, unqualified contractors while putting their lives on the line.
I don’t care what party affiliation the contractor has – the most qualified should receive the contract period. The American people and our troops in harm’s way deserve no less.
Posted by: Margo | February 16, 2007, 12:11 pm 12:11 pm
jim jones: “This story is 3 years old. Give it up. More useless investigations by the Democrats.”
Yeah, I’m sure the average American taxpayer is with you on that. They’d hate to see any effort put into recovering the billions of dollars they paid in taxes that were ripped off by a bunch of GOP cronies. Certainly they couldn’t care less if the people who ripped them off were out there free to rip off billions more.
Posted by: chimpeach | February 16, 2007, 6:05 pm 6:05 pm
When are you people going to get it. The Republicans ARE the party that is defending us. The dems are going to let the terrorists destroy our great nation and the Bush haters/Republican haters are to blame. they are a bunch of envirofascists America hating thugs.
Posted by: Billy | February 17, 2007, 1:44 pm 1:44 pm
brian are you a dem or republican……………i am guessing dem….am i wrong i think not.
Posted by: martha crawford | February 17, 2007, 3:15 pm 3:15 pm
Whether you’re liberal or conservative, watching how YOUR government spends YOUR money comes down to catch as catch can: if you don’t catch them on the ‘big stuff’ (and I think pallets of freshly minted dollars qualifies as big stuff) then politicians and bureacrats are never gonna sweat ripping off the small stuff (and that always adds up). This isn’t about republican or democrat; it’s about John Q. Citizen getting ripped off time and time again by a system that is, if not literally bankrupt, then clearly morally bankrupt.
Posted by: Stormcrow | February 17, 2007, 5:00 pm 5:00 pm
Republicans aren’t defending us. They don’t care about our troops or anyone except the corporations that run them. They are corporate lackeys. When Democrats were in power during Nam it was “Dems are war mongers”, now Repubs Presdent and “Dems are letting terrorists destroy us”. Quit believing what you’re programmed to and investigate. Saying either party hates America just shows how ignorant you are, the first ones to yell “hang ‘em”. Mob intelligence. Stop embarrassing yourself and develop an educated opinion instead of a drunken one.
Posted by: bjobotts | February 18, 2007, 2:42 pm 2:42 pm
Don’t look now, Billy, but your brow ridges are showing. The combination of incompetence, arrogance, belligerence, and deception by the Bush administration isn’t protecting you, it’s endangering the entire nation.
Posted by: fooie | February 19, 2007, 7:52 pm 7:52 pm
Well, part of defending President Bush is being entirely, deliberately, and continually as stupid as you need to be. So nothing is beneath a Bush supporter, even denying outright fact.
Posted by: JMarra | February 20, 2007, 9:46 am 9:46 am
If Republicans are defending me, then quick, ditch the freeper and get me a Democrat! Incidents of terrorism across the world have gone UP since our invasion of Iraq, and all the leading terrorism experts and security analysts – even Cheney himself – have stated that there will be another attack from within the US, probably nuclear.
Posted by: deep6 | February 20, 2007, 1:34 pm 1:34 pm
a government of the rich white men, by the rich white men, for the rich white men, shall not perish from the new york stock exchange.
Posted by: rachelle | February 20, 2007, 1:59 pm 1:59 pm
To Dave MO,
Thanks for this post, I agree with your statement.
Posted by: Amber | February 20, 2007, 4:25 pm 4:25 pm
JJ – yeah, maybe we should reopen the Whitewater investigation in time for Hillary’s presidential run. That wasn’t a waste of time and taxpayers money. Nope. Not at all.
Posted by: Leonard | February 20, 2007, 5:40 pm 5:40 pm
This is NOT an old story as long as we’re paying off the Billions (with interest) that the US has BORROWED to run this Godforsaken war.
Posted by: Nellcote | February 20, 2007, 7:59 pm 7:59 pm
More “repub v. demo” BS arguments. Maybe someday all you sheeple will open your eyes. There are more than the mere 2 options that exist in your little box of short-sightedness. Your arguments are merely examples of the “divide & conquer” attitude that keep us ALL down. Do us all a favor; get your head out of the sand or shut up.
Posted by: Lana | February 21, 2007, 12:11 pm 12:11 pm
Why no mention that James O’Beirne is married to TV and newspaper political pundit Kate O’Beirne?
Who always manages to spin the news and comentary Bush’s way? Hmmm.
Posted by: Joe | February 21, 2007, 4:00 pm 4:00 pm
I’m neither Republican nor Democrat, but a proud libertarian. This story has nothing to do with my ideology but rather has to do with my money and my country’s wellbeing.
I personally believe and I’ve heard powerful military officials say that one of the major reasons for such a large-scale Iraqi insurgency is sky-high unemployment (to the tune of 60%!). In fact, part of the surge is to truly implement sound counterinsurgency tactics – i.e. clear, hold, and rebuild. Under the brilliant pseudo-leadership of Donald Rumsfeld, the military was unable to fully implement this strategy, successfully clearing, and moderately successfully holding, and not rebuilding.
I am insulted that the government didn’t, as Mr. Smith stated, “send in our A-Team”. Is the public supposed to sacrifice its wellbeing and its money even more, just to guarantee that some ideologues can be employed? Perhaps I would consider supporting the Patriot Act if junk like this didn’t happen; it’s hard to refute based on this article that our “leaders” care nothing for national security but rather for their own power.
Posted by: Andrew E. | February 26, 2007, 5:19 pm 5:19 pm