John Cusack's War Inc.

John Cusack's new movie War Inc. is coming out soon and from the trailer it looks pretty interesting. The story is set in the near future where corporations have taken over running wars completely and the consequences that ensue. The movie was made without big studio money and was inspired by Naomi Klein's amazing book "The Shock Doctrine". He made an appearance today on Crooks & Liars to answer questions about the movie. Here's my favorite comment he posted:

corporate armies…some of the meanings of privatization …
lets start with the fact that in Iraq there are now more contractors than soldiers(180,000 contractors vs. around 140,000 troops). WAR INC just takes this trend to its logical conclusion, a time in the near future when war is an entirely corporate affair.hopefully this can be stopped but there are disturbing virus like built into this system. I.e.–when countries like Britain or Poland pulls troops out of Iraq, in the vacuum they are instantly replaced by mercenary soldiers, often from the same countries, sometimes they are the same guys who just switch from wearing a flag to wearing a corporate logo.this is what Naomi deconstructs so savagely in her book ” the shock doctrine” it is what she calls “corporate mission creep” …and it’s the real story in Iraq.
people have adopted a new narrative that the surge IS working but Iraq is NOT working… Where truthfully neither is working for the US or the IRAQ’S but for BLACKWATER it’s all working great.
Another narrative we can deconstruct — that it’s fitting for private soldiers to fight these wars because the only ones these wars are benefiting are corporations, like Shell and Exxon which have seen their profits soar because the chaos sends the price of oil up. So if these are wars for corporations , it makes sense for them to be fought with corporate armies — which is the way they do it in parts of Africa.This has a sort of horrible logic to it if you could get past the fact that it’s all insane.The problem, though, again, it’s a lie— EXXON ISN’T PAYING BLACKWATER… WE ARE.

(his emphasis)

We should all go check this movie out. I don't know about the rest of the Illiterate Electorate but I haven't been disappointed with a Cusack film in quite some time. I have a feeling John might hit this one outta the park. I will post a review as soon as I see the film.

Thank you, come again...

When I'm cruising the "tubesphere" that is our internets I come across scary, goofy, and sometimes just down right, what in the bloody hell is THIS? I have read quite a bit about how much money that has been tossed drunkenly at any number of the major players in the defense and security industry by our government through massive contracts since 9/11. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine the scope of how far that, (to quote GWB recently) "gravy train" would go. Apparently all we needed to do the whole time my fellow Illiterate Electorate is to have Inc. behind our name.

Your government awarded a 300 million dollar contract to the nitwit you see to the right. Yes, you read that right. The idiot (soon to be killed by the Albanian mafia) in the pic is the head of the company. We gave $300 million to that ass munch to supply ammo to the Afghan army to help us in our fight to kill "terror". What did the people of Afghanistan who were willing to risk life and limb to help us "fix" their country get in return? 40 year old Chinese ammo that didn't even come close to working. Shocking, from his boyish good looks I figured his frat boy connections could of gotten him further in life. Where's the backwards baseball cap dude? Here's the meat of the story:

"With the award last January of a federal contract worth as much as nearly $300 million, the company, AEY Inc., which operates out of an unmarked office in Miami Beach, became the main supplier of munitions to Afghanistan’s army and police forces.

Since then, the company has provided ammunition that is more than 40 years old and in decomposing packaging, according to an examination of the munitions by The New York Times and interviews with American and Afghan officials. Much of the ammunition comes from the aging stockpiles of the old Communist bloc, including stockpiles that the State Department and NATO have determined to be unreliable and obsolete, and have spent millions of dollars to have destroyed.

In purchasing munitions, the contractor has also worked with middlemen and a shell company on

a federal list of entities suspected of illegal arms trafficking."

We gave a "company" $300 million, that was working with a company that was on our illegal arms trafficking watch list? Really? Glad to see once again that the MIGHTY Republican run government is protecting us. Assholes.

Baby Steps....

Much thanks to Davis for the tip on this little diddy. These assclowns are taking every little piece of the Iraq war pie that they can get their evil little fingers on. So Halliburton, KBR, Custer Battles (greatest war profiteer company name EVER!), et al, are allowed to charge us for every little contract they want. We still can't get our boys armored Humvees! Why doesn't the government open a few of those auto factories that have closed since the war? It would create much needed jobs for Americans and fully protect our troops. I guess if we can't get plain white towels for the troops, armored humvees are a stretch. Towels!?!