Saturday Quickies
by expatbrian
Just have a few minutes right now but a couple of things are worth passing along. First, I just read that Charleton Heston has died at 84. He made over 100 movies in a career that spanned 60 years. I don't agree with his politics on guns but he surely had that acting thing down pat.
Jonolan has this excellent post up showing all the the members of this administration that hold both US and Isreali citizenship. It is incredible. The implications and possibilities are frightening.
And I just read this horrific account of the rape, sexual abuse and associated cover ups that have become part of the civilian contractor life in Iraq. It is an ongoing and pervasive nightmare. This excerpt concernes a 42 year old female civilian paramedic who woke up to this.
Just have a few minutes right now but a couple of things are worth passing along. First, I just read that Charleton Heston has died at 84. He made over 100 movies in a career that spanned 60 years. I don't agree with his politics on guns but he surely had that acting thing down pat.
Jonolan has this excellent post up showing all the the members of this administration that hold both US and Isreali citizenship. It is incredible. The implications and possibilities are frightening.
And I just read this horrific account of the rape, sexual abuse and associated cover ups that have become part of the civilian contractor life in Iraq. It is an ongoing and pervasive nightmare. This excerpt concernes a 42 year old female civilian paramedic who woke up to this.
That dawn, naked, covered in blood and feces, bleeding from her anus, she found a US soldier she did not know lying naked in the bed next to her: his gun lay on the floor beside the bed, she could not rouse him and all she could remember of the night before was screaming and screaming as the soldier anally penetrated her while a colleague who worked for defense contractor KBR held her hand--but instead of helping her, as she had hoped, he jammed his penis in her mouth.
KBR immediately tried to shut her up and cover up the whole incident. When she contacted an attorney in the US via email to help her out, her computer was confiscated. Read the whole thing. It's just unbelievable that we, the public, have to pay the salaries of perverted shitheads like this. Well, I shouldn't say we. I don't pay anymore.
Labels: corruption, Indecency, Iraq
posted by Libby Spencer at 3:57 AM
7 Comments:
Alongside the obvious concern about divided loyalties, I have to wonder about the additional value to the dual passport holders of having access to offshore accounts and other tax shelters.
Interesting list. I'm not sure what to make of it, but I had no idea so many people held dual citizenship. I've always thought of it as quite rare and pretty much limited to retirees who take up residence in a foreign country rather than people whose primary residence is the US.
"Alongside the obvious concern about divided loyalties"
from wiki
" political dual loyalty typically appears as an attack or a pejorative accusation designed to target and discredit a particular person or group, and to call into question the loyalty of that group to the country where they reside. As such, the accusation of "dual loyalty" is often used or co-opted by racist or xenophobic groups within a country, "
Ergo vos estis sali homines et vobiscum morietur sapientia.
Yes, we so often find moral and political guidance in Wikipedia.
The words "typical" and "often" are weasel words. What we take as typical says far more about us than about statistics and "often" can mean seldom if we want to take a sometimes event and make it the paradigm. It's the sophistry of prejudice.
If one black man in a thousand likes watermelon,if one blond in a hundred isn't too bright, if one Jew out of many is a banker, why then - he's "typical."
I don't particularly see a problem with divided loyalties in ordinary citizens, but high level officials invite suspicion if they are also citizens of a nation whose interests are at odds with the US.
So what is your point? We should ignore that a Cabinet member advising the President on middle east matters is also an Israeli or a Saudi for fear of being called a bigot by you? I fear you may be unanimous in your estimation of the value of your opinions.
I find myself wondering why all the comments on this post are about the dual citizenship and nothing about the brutal rape of a woman by an American government contractor. Apparently, people of Jewish descent can almost automatically gain Isreali citizenship without going through a lengthy application process. If that's true, the story is not nearly as significant. But the other story deserves some attention I think.
Good old American distrust of "furriners?"
Yes, I believe anyone of Jewish ancestry can apply and I think having dual citizenship is often used to avoid IRS scrutiny of offshore accounts.
But what can you say about this policy of allowing private contractors the same kind of license governments used to grant pirates? Such things are bound to happen and we're too patriotic to criticize, aren't we?
FWIW, Blackwater has had its contract renewed.
Oh, and for what it's worth, Dawn Leamon, the Victim, testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today.
Maybe the MSM will finally take notice?
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