Iraq for Sale

War profiteering and outsourcing are not new. Throughout our country's history, businessmen took advantage of war time to make money. Ugly but true. There was a time in our history when news reporters investigated these practices and stayed with the story until an elected official DID something.

HOWEVER, words can not begin to describe the new lows that Halliburton, KBR, CACI, Blackwater (just to name a few) have reached.

I joined my best friend and a gang of folks who convene at a local Drinking Liberally to take in the movie "Iraq for Sale: War Profiteering."

I consider myself to be well informed. To be frank I did not think this administration and our" do nothing" Congress could shock me. I was so wrong. What is happening to our troops is treason. I am filled with despair.

They have outsourced this war and put our country in jeopardy. I doubt that the subcontractors sign non-competes or confidentiality agreements. So whatever military information that they have been privy to leaves Iraq with them. After the cold war Russian scientists sold their expertise to the highest bidders.Are we so naive to think this would not happen again? These folks are performing jobs that have historically been performed by members of our military. As a member of the military there are some things that you are bound by. And yet, I am supposed to feel safer. When the waste, abuse and war crimes were brought to the attention of Congress, the truck driving witnesses were ridiculed. If they were well spoken management types would they have been treated better? Not to worry, these folks were not supervised or managed.

The theater was full and the audience engaged. This gave me some hope for my nation. The first question for the post movie panel was, what can we do? Of course the response was to take action. The movie is not being shown in traditional venues. The DVD is 12 bucks. The hosting package is a whopping 20 dollars.

What am I going to do?

Check my mutual funds and make sure that none of the companies involved in this nightmare are in my portfolio.

Buy the DVD and the hosting package and host a party.

Support candidates who have not taken money from the PACs or lobbyists affiliated with the companies mentioned in this movie.

It is time to think about we as citizen taxpayers have been exploited.