Contractor Accountability Petition
5 Years, 4 Thousand U.S. Deaths and
$500 Billion Later...
Whether you
measure it by the lives that have been lost, the sap of taxpayer
money, the loss of accountability or the breach of the numerous laws
and institutions that make up the foundation of our country, the Iraq
War has cost us. Here
are the highlights of the latest befuddlements in the Bush
administration's handling of the war:
The end of
March marked the bloodiest two-week period we have experienced
since September 2007, resulting in the loss of 25 American lives in
fourteen days. That week, on the same day a roadside bomb claimed
over 50 lives, Dick Cheney and John McCain visited Iraq; McCain told
CNN, “We are succeeding. And we can succeed, and American
casualties overall are way down.”
A lawsuit
waged against KBR regarding the senseless death of Sgt. Ryan Maseth
due to negligence in electrical wiring has uncovered details that
the private contracting company's failure to fix reported faulty
wiring led to the deaths of at least eleven other troops.
Details
probing into the suicide of Army Colonel Ted Westhusing in Iraq
found that greed and corruption in the attitudes and behaviors of
his commanders was a contributing factor to his emotional distress.
One of his commanders? David Petraeus.
On
March 11th,
the Senate Appropriations Committee held a hearing on waste, fraud
and abuse of American tax dollars in Iraq, which described
corruption in contracts as “widespread” and “rampant,” and
found that “poor accountability has resulted in thousands of weapons provided by U.S. being stolen, looted or otherwise provided to insurgents."
It's too late to get our money back. But it's not too late to demand our leaders use our taxpayer money in a responsible manner that contributes to, not undermines, our security at home. Sign Progressive Future's petition to demand accountability for private contractors in Iraq.
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