Dom

WASHINGTON - Relatives of soldiers who refused to deliver supplies in Iraq say the troops considered the mission too dangerous, in part because their vehicles were in poor shape.

The Army is investigating up to 19 reservist members of a platoon that is part of the 343rd Quartermaster Company, based in Rock Hill, S.C. The unit delivers food, water and fuel on trucks in combat zones.

Convoys in Iraq are frequently subject to ambushes and roadside bombings.

Some of the troops' safety concerns were being addressed, military officials said. But a coalition spokesman in Baghdad said "a small number of the soldiers involved chose to express their concerns in an inappropriate manner, causing a temporary breakdown in discipline."

The military said troops are being interviewed but have not been detained while an investigation continues. But the relatives said they were told the soldiers had been confined.

Teresa Hill of Dothan, Ala., who said her daughter, Amber McClenny, was among in the platoon, received a phone message from her early Thursday morning saying they had been detained by U.S. military authorities.

"This is a real, real, big emergency," McClenny said in her message. "I need you to contact someone. I mean, raise pure hell."

[Read More]

lenchmob

If it's a case where the platoon did disobey orders then they should be punished under the authority of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).

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Falstaff

I agree, no one should refuse an order from their superior order unless it is unlawful.

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drakesteakn

levenworth for them. had no good reason to disobey. all the units there have equipment problems

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ronnn

Rock and a hard place for the military. If you become too draconion it may become hard to recruit volunteers and destroy moral of those there. If you let this happen, leaves the impression that American Soldiers do not feel good about being there. I think Bush and Rumsfield should join a couple of those missions to raise moral and see first hand if safety is compromised by not enough troops.

El Kapitano

I think Bush and Rumsfield should be sent on active duty in frontline Fallujah. Backed up with a British contingent consisting of Blair and Co.

raid517

Well that is one novel way of solving a problem - providing that is they could experience what it is like to be asked to go into battle with failing hardware, improperly equipped vehicles and shortages of basic supplies too. Give them all guns with 3 bullets each and tell them that is their month's allocation - and then send them into a nortorious ambush zone in down town Fallujah in a stripped down beach buggy, who's armour has been canibalised to resupply other poorly equipped units - then ask them just how reasonable they feel about it all.

Dissent the ranks is always a good indication of low moral. Bush wanted to fight this war on the cheap - he thought he wouldn't need much effort or expense to do it - he thought the Iraqis would be throwing flowers at the American's feet - but what he got in the end was something very, very different.

The only flowers I have seen so far in Iraq have been for the dead - and I don't see that changing any time soon.

GJ

Nacht

That argument would make sense, except it's not at all an accurate depiction of what is going on.

What disturbs me most about this is that they were supposed to deliver food and water, among other necessities. This is stuff that MUST get through, no matter what. I think it is amazingly irresponsible of them to go about challenging orders in such a way (I'm presuming that they just refused to go...).

raid517

Well if you read the reports, that is what these guys said IS going on. They didn't just disobay orders for the sake of it, they belived the equipment shortages they faced seriously compromised their safety and their training.

It wasn't simply mere cowardice, they genuinely didn't feel they were being given sufficient resouces to execute their mission effectively - or safely.

Does that give them a right to disobay orders? Only I guess if it went against their training.

If even only hypotheically you were placed in a similar position, if you felt equipment shortages or inadaquicies were unecessarily endangering the llives or the mission of your men, what would you do? Would you knowingly put them in harms way regardless of this?

GJ

BWC

decided to hold my tounge

raid517

Well I read what you wrote anyway. I understand your position. However I am merely reporting what these people said was happening. If it is true I can empathise - because I firmly believe a soldiers duty is to complete their mission, not to volunteer to commit suicide.

There are shortages in Iraq at this time - to what extent these shortages go remains unclear - but there are certainly a number of political motivations one could attribute to them. Whether Bush or Kerry win this election, this issue will have to be addressed. 50,000 extra people is a significantly increased commitment.

Oddly though while it would look bad for Bush to commit to sending these extra resources before an election, it looks very good for Kerry - because by saying he will put these extra resources in, Kerry looks less and less like the cut and run President that many would accuse him of being.

To my eyes Kerry is more of a Lydon B. Johnson type character in that in order to counter any possible accusation that he will be a 'lame duck President', he will seek instead to massively increase American military involvement, both in Iraq and in the world at large. Whereas Bush and his crew have openly spoken of ending sanctions against Iran and of closer ties with the Saudi Royal family, Kerry has openly advocated direct confrontation (in the form of surgical strikes) against Iranian nuclear resources - and of ending American dependence on the Saudis and with their terrorist regime in order that he and the rest of the free world can tackle the causes of terrorism at its primary source. (Both of which I think are needed). (After all let's not pretend where the greatest threat to this world lies - and where exactly the vast majority of these terrorists come from).

There are things about Kerry I don't like, don't get me wrong - but anybody who thinks he is going to simply cut and run from any potential for conflict is I think going to be very suprised. That is not what the history of the American Democratic party shows.

Anyone here who thinks I am against war myself might also be suprised to learn that this is not the case. What I am against is the wrong kind of war against the wrong people. I think we can do a lot with sugical air strikes - we proved that by (in support of the UN) periodically bombing the living crap out of Saddam - so that he very quickly learned that any notion of keeping or developing WMDs was probably really a very bad thing for his country. What I am agaisnt the wrong kind of war, in the wrong place for the wrong reasons, where we put boots on the ground in countries where they are plainly not wanted. I think this will be Kerry's approach too - and given the current state of the lessons we have learned in Iraq, it may well present a very valid alternative.

Where I think Kerry wins out most will be his difference in approach, in that he will seek to actively enlist the support of others in any genuine war on terror, by for example rebuilding international alliances.

Just as it is impossible to imagine winning the cold war without international bodies and joint command structures such as NATO, it is impossible to imagine winning any international war on terror if you do not have an equal degree of coopretation through similar joint command or intelligence structures on the international stage.

How exactly do you win an international war on terror if you have set yourself appart on the world stage? It is quite simply an unworkable idea.

GJ

BWC

A soldiers duty is to complete the mission, not volunteer to commit suicide... You dont understand... At times you are *required* to sacrifice your self to save others. You most certainly can be ordered to your death. We all hope and pray it wont happen. You call it suicide, We call it the ultimate sacrifice. Dont get me wrong, we dont want to do it =p but again, we know this when we sign up. And if you arent willing you shouldnt sign up.


Read the international news... Kerry is not going to get any more help than we already have in *securing* Iraq. He's deluded and for some reason everyone is buying it. Who isnt supporting us in some way btw? Germany? France? Is there anyone else? When was the last time the middle east worked with us like this? Was it perhaps, never? And do you really think the answer is more outsiders going in, or the middle easterners taking care of their own?

If Kerry gets elected, and If a few countries join us there, watch when they join us. He's asked them to come in and help rebuild. Sure othe countries will come in at that point. But they'll be making money off of the rebuilding process after they *did not* help in securing the country. Shouldnt the money making be done by the countries that secured the country?

What is with you guys belittling the amazing coalition we have now?
Every country in NATO is currently envolved in Iraq... We have unprecidented support from the middle east... I just dont see the lack of international support. Im afraid we'll lose allies due to Kerry belittling them.

Is the UN what you want? It is *not* the end all be all... It nice sure... but we see the corruption there, and after the entire UN said that they'd take action, and we made the threat, they backed down, after saying they wouldnt. What were we supposed to do? Everyone keeps saying we rushed in, we most certainly *did not* Clinton wanted regime change back in what 96-98ish (dates, me, bad), theres been resolution after resolution. We've been working on this for awhile. And *Everyone* who saw the intelligence said yep, we cant wait for another failed resolution that France or Germany or Russia will just veto, we have to protect ourselves now.

Surgical strikes? Youre talking about what Clinton did?...and they worked well? If I remember correctly they were widely regarded as ineffectual... We have to be talking about something different... The leaders of the country just weather the strikes then come out and say "see the infidels tried to kill me but almight god has preserved me because im right..." oh yeah, thats helpful. And we know that Saddam was working around the sanctions anyway. So there again, Im not sure how you figure they were working. We're going to have to disagree here, I think "surgical strikes" are used by presidents to make the American people feel like they're retaliating when they really arent... all show...

I know Kerry will stay there, but his philosophy is dangerous. We're wrong but we have to win. This is just plain dangerous. I do not believe that he will respect the wishes of the Iraqi government or our middle eastern "allies" (its a loose term there but its the best we've ever had) when executing his plan. We have to do it *with* them, not just crush and get out.

there are shortages in Iraq at this time... Bro, theres shortages in the military every day of every year... you improvise... adapt and overcome... It wasnt Bush the voted against the 87bil...

What was kerry's plan to decrease our dependance on the Saudi's again? Improved technology? The only difference here between Bush and Kerry is that Bush isnt pushing for it as soon because he's said, itll cost the detroit car manufactureres money and jobs to switch too quickly. Oh, and Bush wants to open up alaska, which could actually make a major difference *now* not in 10+ years. And the Saudi terrorist regime? Last time I checked they we working with us against the terrorists (not as much as we would all like granted.. but to call the royal family terrorists?)

raid517

Yes I do call the Saudi's terrorists - because if you think watching what you call terrorists beheading Americans (and others) is cruel then all you have to do is go to Saudi Arabia and switch on the TV and you can watch live beheadings virtually every other night. That is the kind of regime you are dealing with there. That is where these so called terrorists get most of their inspiration (and most of their money) from. What the government say and what the extremists say are two different things - and while the government might claim it is trying to combat terrorism, the real power behind them is the church (or their equivalent of it) and the Saudi Royal Family itself - who are both much more afraid of the extremists than the extremist are of them.

And what of Iran? What would you advocate? More boots on the ground in Iran? You mean even after the experiences we have had in Iraq you would still contemplate putting people in on the ground in Iran? Even though any resistance we have encountered in Iraq will be magnified a thousand times over if we even contemplate trying this? Again you will have a massive cost in lives and in resources to your country - and with a go it alone mind set (given that boots on the ground is a Bush policy) you could gurantee you will be even more alone this time - and the costs to your country would quite literally be mind boggling.

So what do you do with Iran? Leave it? Pump more money into their economy so that they can develop their nuclear capability further? Bush has already ignored them for 3 years while they became the dominant threat in the Mid East. They already have rockets that can hit large parts of Western Europe - what happens when their next class of rockets can hit the USA?

I think Bush took his eye off the ball in both these regards. He was so occupied /obsessed with putting on a good show in Iraq, he ignored where the real threat was.

And what of this alliance you keep talking about? Who really is in it? A few Dutch men? Maybe 20 or so people from the Congo? 100 from one third world country of other? Spain is out, the Philippines are out, lots of other countries are looking at getting out sooner rather than later. There is no WMDs, no real threat, so they are all increasingly asking, 'what on Earth they are supposed to be doing there?' What are they fighting for? Particularly when it is clear that they are mostly not wanted.

If anything their effort there is just a token presence. They have had their arms twisted and in order to 'keep in with the USA' have offered to supply you with what is effectively the most minimal commitment imaginable.

NATO is capable of mustering several million men when fully mobilised. So ask yourself the question, where are they all? Where is this all out commitment from these other countries? It is certainly true that they could contribute a lot more than they have done so far.

So forgive me if I say that it seems to me that this 'alliance' you speak of is nothing more than a vapour, an illusion - something counjoured up by Bush in an attempt to lend legitamacy to what has ultimately proven to be an illegitimate action.

They are not there because Bush told everyone he wanted to be boss - and if they didn't like it, they could join the enemy. So if he want's to be boss, let him be boss - and let him pick up the tab too. That is not how we did business for the last 60 years. It is not how we won the cold war - and it is not how we will win this war either.

And surgical strikes were effective - at least effective enough to avoid huge unecessary expense to the American ecconomy and to dissuade Saddam from resuming his WMD program. How much more sucessful do you think we need to be?

I think I can still agree with what happend in Afganistan, because at least we were fairly sure we knew that's where most of the bad guys were - but Iraq was nothing but a show, a complete distraction - and one that has now placed us ultimately in far more danger than we ever were before.

I think we must have some fundamentally different measures of what each of us would call 'success.'

GJ

pr0digal jenius

They got me beat...i wouldn't be in iraq to begin with.

BWC

There has been no evidence that there is any need to do anything in Iran CURRENTLY. They are still being worked with by the european nations and China. The WORLD believes that this can be taken care of by diplomatic means. Unlike Sadam where the WORLD thought it couldnt be taken care of by diplomatic means but then changed their minds at the last minute (once again, *cough* oil for food *cough* oh and *cough selling sadam illegal weapons, *cough* france, germany and russia *cough*)

So untill someone says we need to do something *now* Ill leave that one to the experts.

What coalition? Well if the 64 countries currently giving aid to us dont exist to you, theres nothing I can do to sway you there... you have your own "view". But I urge you to stop closing off your mind and ears and recoginze the ammount of help we are getting. Why is it, that if it isnt Germany and France they dont count? There are other brave people in this world that are supporting us. They might not be large countries, but percentage wise they are supporting us in spades.

And what was the real threat? One man? Osama... please that old coot is dead somewhere...

North Korea? there again There aren't many people that think keeping China in talks with them isnt the best thing going..


Ummm, Sadam was actively pursuing his wmd program. Or is the duelfur (dilfer whatever) report a lie too? The surgical strikes didnt do anything.

More danger than we were before... Now *that* is a lie. When was the last time one of our embassies, ships, or american cities was hit by terrorism? Whether you heard about it or not in the american "media" it was happening more than once a year before this war. The terrorists are too busy fighting us there to do anything. And thats what we want. Let them fight the Military, who volunteer to take that responsiblity, rather than hit innocents that did not volunteer.

Kerry is the one that wants to put more boots on the ground, In Iran and Iraq, not Bush... So maybe you should vote bush

Ript_Van_Winkle

Both candidates are f*cking ice-cold statuettes of human beings. Either way, we've got a mannequin running the country.

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ronnn

So I read their captain got sacked? Complaints may have been valid.

Alistair

Their commander voluntarily asked to be relieved of duty or so the records say.

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- Alistair

Dom

They were supposed deliver contaminated fuel that had already been previously rejected by others. Their commanders supposedly even told them that the fuel would probably be rejected again. They also said that they themeselves were told to contaminate the fuel. The route on which they were to travel had a 75% chance of being attacked and they were to go on it without armored vehicles.

pr0digal jenius

well, you know Dom, back in Nam we had to run all through the woods with no shoes and onyl a super soaker to aid ourselves with charlie chasing all over, there and back...uphill both ways, in the driving rain at 4am.......these guys have no righ rejecting such simple orders

ColdPenguin

I think its important to note that while we can pay haliburton to pay workers $80,000 salaries to do nothing but look busy to increase the profit from their cost plus contract, we can't afford body armor and vehicle protection systems.

Also please, can we get past the Saddam weapon shit already. If he was going to sell them to terrorists he would have done so continuously throughout the late 80s & 90s WHEN HE ACTUALLY HAD PLENTY OF THEM FOR SURE.

I'm just going to paste an article to see if you guys kill yourselves over it:

1 Number of Bush administration public statements on National security issued between 20 January 2001 and 10 September 2001 that mentioned al-Qa'ida.

104 Number of Bush administration public statements on National security and defense in the same period that mentioned Iraq or Saddam Hussein.

101 Number of Bush administration public statements on National security and defense in the same period that mentioned missile defense

65 Number of Bush administration public statements on National security and defense in the same period that mentioned weapons of mass destruction.

0 Number of times Bush mentioned Osama bin Laden in his three State of the Union addresses.

73 Number of times that Bush mentioned terrorism or terrorists in his three State of the Union addresses.

83 Number of times Bush mentioned Saddam, Iraq, or regime (as in change) in his three State of the Union addresses.

$1m Estimated value of a painting the Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas, received from Prince Bandar, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States and Bush family friend.

0 Number of times Bush mentioned Saudi Arabia in his three State of the Union addresses.

1,700 Percentage increase between 2001 and 2002 of Saudi Arabian spending on public relations in the United States.

79 Percentage of the 11 September hijackers who came from Saudi Arabia.

3 Number of 11 September hijackers whose entry visas came through special US-Saudi "Visa Express" program.

140 Number of Saudis, including members of the Bin Laden family, evacuated from United States almost immediately after 11 September.

14 Number of Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) agents assigned to track down 1,200 known illegal immigrants in the United States from countries where al-Qa'ida is active.

$3m Amount the White House was willing to grant the 9/11 Commission to investigate the 11 September attacks.

$0 Amount approved by George Bush to hire more INS special agents.

$10m Amount Bush cut from the INS's existing terrorism budget.

$50m Amount granted to the commission that looked into the Columbia space shuttle crash.

$5m Amount a 1996 federal commission was given to study legalized gambling.

7 Number of Arabic linguists fired by the US army between mid-August and mid-October 2002 for being gay.

George Bush: Military man

1972 Year that Bush walked away from his pilot duties in the Texas National Guard, Nearly two years before his six-year obligation was up.

$3,500 Reward a group of veterans offered in 2000 for anyone who could confirm Bush's Alabama guard service.

600-700 Number of guardsmen who were in Bush's unit during that period.

0 Number of guardsmen from that period who came forward with information about Bush's guard service.

0 Number of minutes that President Bush, Vice-President Dick Cheney, the Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, the assistant Defense Secretary, Paul Wolfowitz, the former chairman of the Defense Policy Board, Richard Perle, and the White House Chief of Staff, Karl Rove * the main proponents of the war in Iraq *served in combat (combined).

0 Number of principal civilian or Pentagon staff members who planned the war who have immediate family members serving in uniform in Iraq.

8 Number of members of the US Senate and House of Representatives who have a child serving in the military.

10 Number of days that the Pentagon spent investigating a soldier who had called the President "a joke" in a letter to the editor of a Newspaper.

46 Percentage increase in sales between 2001 and 2002 of GI Joe figures (children's toys).

Ambitious warrior

2 Number of Nations that George Bush has attacked and taken over since coming into office.

130 Approximate Number of countries (out of a total of 191 recognized by the United Nations) with a US military presence.

43 Percentage of the entire world's military spending that the US spends on defense (That was in 2002, the year before the invasion of Iraq.)

$401.3bn Proposed military budget for 2004.

Savior of Iraq

1983 The year in which Donald Rumsfeld, Ronald Reagan's special envoy to the Middle East, gave Saddam Hussein a pair of golden spurs as a gift.

2.5 Number of hours after Rumsfeld learnt that Osama bin Laden was a suspect in the 11 September attacks that he brought up reasons to "hit" Iraq.

237 Minimum number of misleading statements on Iraq made by top Bush administration officials between 2002 and January 2004, according to the California Representative Henry Waxman.

10m Estimated number of people worldwide who took to the streets on 21 February 2003, in opposition to the invasion of Iraq, the largest simultaneous protest in world history.

$2bn Estimated monthly cost of US military presence in Iraq projected by the White House in April 2003.

$4bn Actual monthly cost of the US military presence in Iraq according to Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld in 2004.

$15m Amount of a contract awarded to an American firm to build a cement factory in Iraq.

$80,000 Amount an Iraqi firm spent (using Saddam's confiscated funds) to build the same factory, after delays prevented the American firm from starting it.

2000 Year that Cheney said his policy as CEO of Halliburton oil services company was "we wouldn't do anything in Iraq".

$4.7bn Total value of contracts awarded to Halliburton in Iraq and Afghanistan.

$680m Estimated value of Iraq reconstruction contracts awarded to Bechtel.

$2.8bnValue of Bechtel Corp contracts in Iraq.

$120bn Amount the war and its aftermath are projected to cost for the 2004 fiscal year.

35 Number of countries to which the United States suspended military assistance after they failed to sign agreements giving Americans immunity from prosecution before the International Criminal Court.

92 Percentage of Iraq's urban areas with access to potable water in late 2002.

60 Percentage of Iraq's urban areas with access to potable water in late 2003.

55 Percentage of the Iraqi workforce who were unemployed before the war.

80 Percentage of the Iraqi workforce who are unemployed a Year after the war.

0 Number of American combat deaths in Germany after the Nazi surrender in May 1945.

37 Death toll of US soldiers in Iraq in May 2003, the month combat operations "officially" ended.

0 Number of coffins of dead soldiers returning home that the Bush administration has permitted to be photographed.

0 Number of memorial services for the returned dead that Bush has attended since the beginning of the war.

A soldier's best friend

40,000 Number of soldiers in Iraq seven months after start of the war still without Interceptor vests, designed to stop a round from an AK-47.

$60m Estimated cost of outfitting those 40,000 soldiers with Interceptor vests.

62 Percentage of gas masks that army investigators discovered did Not work properly in autumn 2002.

90 Percentage of detectors which give early warning of a biological weapons attack found to be defective.

87 Percentage of Humvees in Iraq not equipped with armour capable of stopping AK-47 rounds and protecting against roadside bombs and landmines at the end of 2003.

ColdPenguin

Making the country safer

$3.29 Average amount allocated per person Nationwide in the first round of homeland security grants.

$94.40 Amount allocated per person for homeland security in American Samoa.

$36 Amount allocated per person for homeland security in Wyoming, Vice-President Cheney's home state.

$17 Amount allocated per person in New York state.

$5.87 Amount allocated per person in New York City.

$77.92 Amount allocated per person in New Haven, Connecticut, home of Yale University, Bush's alma mater.

76 Percentage of 215 cities surveyed by the US Conference of Mayors in early 2004 that had yet to receive a dime in federal homeland security assistance for their first-response units.

5 Number of major US airports at the beginning of 2004 that the Transportation Security Administration admitted were Not fully screening baggage electronically.

22,600 Number of planes carrying unscreened cargo that fly into New York each month.

5 Estimated Percentage of US air cargo that is screened, including cargo transported on passenger planes.

95 Percentage of foreign goods that arrive in the United States by sea.

2 Percentage of those goods subjected to thorough inspection.

$5.5bnEstimated cost to secure fully US ports over the Next decade.

$0 Amount Bush allocated for port security in 2003.

$46m Amount the Bush administration has budgeted for port security in 2005.

15,000 Number of major chemical facilities in the United States.

100 Number of US chemical plants where a terrorist act could endanger the lives of more than one million people.

0 Number of new drugs or vaccines against "priority pathogens" listed by the Centers for Disease Control that have been developed and introduced since 11 September 2001.

Giving a hand up to the advantaged

$10.9m Average wealth of the members of Bush's original 16-person cabinet.

75 Percentage of Americans unaffected by Bush's sweeping 2003 cuts in capital gains and dividends taxes.

$42,000 Average savings members of Bush's cabinet received in 2003 as a result of cuts in capital gains and dividends taxes.

10 Number of fellow members from the Yale secret society Skull and Bones that Bush has named to important positions (including the Associate Attorney General Robert McCallum Jr. and SEC chief Bill Donaldson).

79 Number of Bush's initial 189 appointees who also served in his father's administration.

A man with a lot of friends

$113m Amount of total hard money the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign received, a record.

$11.5m Amount of hard money raised through the Pioneer program, the controversial fund-raising process created for the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign. (Participants pledged to raise at least $100,000 by bundling together checks of up to $1,000 from friends and family. Pioneers were assigned numbers, which were included on all checks, enabling the campaign to keep track of who raised how much.)

George Bush: Money manager

4.7m Number of bankruptcies that were declared during Bush's first three years in office.

2002 The worst year for major markets since the recession of the 1970s.

$489bn The US trade deficit in 2003, the worst in history for a single year.

$5.6tr Projected national surplus forecast by the end of the decade when Bush took office in 2001.

$7.22tr US national debt by mid-2004.

George Bush: Tax cutter

87 Percentage of American families in April 2004 who say they have felt no benefit from Bush's tax cuts.

39 Percentage of tax cuts that will go to the top 1 per cent of American families when fully phased in.

49 Percentage of Americans in April 2004 who found that their taxes had actually gone up since Bush took office.

88 Percentage of American families who will save less than $100 on their 2006 federal taxes as a result of 2003 cut in capital gains and dividends taxes.

$30,858 Amount Bush himself saved in taxes in 2003.

Employment tsar

9.3m Number of US unemployed in April 2004.

2.3m Number of Americans who lost their jobs during first three Years of the Bush administration.

22m Number of jobs gained during Clinton's eight years in office.

Friend of the poor

34.6m Number of Americans living below the poverty line (1 in 8 of the population).

6.8m Number of people in the workforce but still classified as poor.

35m Number of Americans that the government defines as "food insecure," in other words, hungry.

$300m Amount cut from the federal program that provides subsidies to poor families so they can heat their homes.

40 Percentage of wealth in the United States held by the richest 1 per cent of the population.

18 Percentage of wealth in Britain held by the richest 1e per cent of the population.

George Bush And his special friend

$60bn Loss to Enron stockholders, following the largest bankruptcy in US history.

$205m Amount Enron CEO Kenneth Lay earned from stock option profits over a four-year period.

$101m Amount Lay made from selling his Enron shares just before the company went bankrupt.

$59,339 Amount the Bush campaign reimbursed Enron for 14 trips on its corporate jet during the 2000 campaign.

30 Length of time in months between Enron's collapse and Lay (whom the President called "Kenny Boy") still not being charged with a crime.

George Bush: Lawman

15 Average number of minutes Bush spent reviewing capital punishment cases while governor of Texas.

46 Percentage of Republican federal judges when Bush came to office.

57 Percentage of Republican federal judges after three years of the Bush administration.

33 Percentage of the $15bn Bush pledged to fight Aids in Africa that must go to abstinence-only programs.

The Civil libertarian

680 Number of suspected al-Qa'ida members that the United States admits are detained at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

42 Number of nationalities of those detainees at Guantanamo.

22 Number of hours prisoners were handcuffed, shackled, and made to wear surgical masks, earmuffs, and blindfolds during their flight to Guantanamo.

32 Number of confirmed suicide attempts by Guantanamo Bay prisoners.

24 Number of prisoners in mid-2003 being monitored by psychiatrists in Guantanamo's new mental ward.

A health-conscious president

43.6m Number of Americans without health insurance by the end of 2002 (more than 15 per cent of the population).

2.4m Number of Americans who lost their health insurance during Bush's first year in office.

ColdPenguin

Environmentalist

$44m Amount the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign and the Republican National Committee received in contributions from the fossil fuel, chemical, timber, and mining industries.

200 Number of regulation rollbacks downgrading or weakening environmental laws in Bush's first three years in office.

31 Number of Bush administration appointees who are alumni of the energy industry (includes four cabinet secretaries, the six most powerful White House officials, and more than 20 other high-level appointees).

50 Approximate number of policy changes and regulation rollbacks injurious to the environment that have been announced by the Bush administration on Fridays after 5pm, a time that makes it all but impossible for news organizations to relay the information to the widest possible audience.

50 Percentage decline in Environmental Protection Agency enforcement actions against polluters under Bush's watch.

34 Percentage decline in criminal penalties for environmental crimes since Bush took office.

50 Percentage decline in civil penalties for environmental crimes since Bush took office.

$6.1m Amount the EPA historically valued each human life when conducting economic analyses of proposed regulations.

$3.7m Amount the EPA valued each human life when conducting analyses of proposed regulations during the Bush administration.

0 Number of times Bush mentioned global warming, clean air, clean water, pollution or environment in his 2004 State of the Union speech. His father was the last president to go through an entire State of the Union address without mentioning the environment.

1 Number of paragraphs devoted to global warming in the EPA's 600-page "Draft Report on the Environment" presented in 2003.

68 Number of days after taking office that Bush decided Not to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, the international treaty to reduce greenhouse gases by roughly 5.2 per cent below 1990 levels by 2012. The United States was to cut its level by 7 per cent.

1 The rank of the United States worldwide in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.

25 Percentage of overall worldwide carbon dioxide emissions the United States is responsible for.

53 Number of days after taking office that Bush reneged on his campaign promise to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.

14 Percentage carbon dioxide emissions will increase over the next 10 years under Bush's own global-warming plan (an increase of 30 per cent above their 1990 levels).

408 Number of species that could be extinct by 2050 if the global-warming trend continues.

5 Number of years the Bush administration said in 2003 that global warming must be further studied before substantive action could be taken.

62 Number of members of Cheney's 63-person Energy Task Force with ties to corporate energy interests.

0 Number of environmentalists asked to attend Cheney's Energy Task Force meetings.

6 Number of months before 11 September that Cheney's Energy Task Force investigated Iraq's oil reserves.

2 Percentage of the world's population that is British.

2 Percentage of the world's oil used by Britain.

5 Percentage of the world's population that is American.

25 Percentage of the world's oil used by America.

63 Percentage of oil the United States imported in 2003, a record high.

24,000 Estimated number of premature deaths that will occur under Bush's Clear Skies initiative.

300 Number of Clean Water Act violations by the mountaintop-mining industry in 2003.

750,000 Tons of toxic waste the US military, the world's biggest polluter, generates around the world each Year.

$3.8bn Amount in the Superfund trust fund for toxic site clean-ups in 1995, the Year "polluter pays" fees expired.

$0m Amount of uncommitted dollars in the Superfund trust fund for toxic site clean-ups in 2003.

270 Estimated number of court decisions citing federal Negligence in endangered-species protection that remained unheeded during the first year of the Bush administration.

100 Percentage of those decisions that Bush then decided to allow the government to ignore indefinitely.

68.4 Average Number of species added to the Endangered and Threatened Species list each year between 1991 and 2000.

0 Number of endangered species voluntarily added by the Bush administration since taking office.

50 Percentage of screened workers at Ground Zero who now suffer from long-term health problems, almost half of whom don't have health insurance.

78 Percentage of workers at Ground Zero who now suffer from lung ailments.

88 Percentage of workers at Ground Zero who Now suffer from ear, nose, or throat problems.

22 Asbestos levels at Ground Zero were 22 times higher than the levels in Libby, Montana, where the W R Grace mine produced one of the worst Superfund disasters in US history.

Image booster for the US

2,500 Number of public-diplomacy officers employed by the State Department to further the image of the US abroad in 1991.

1,200 Number of public-diplomacy officers employed by the State Department to further US image abroad in 2004.

4 Rank of the United States among countries considered to be the greatest threats to world peace according to a 2003 Pew Global Attitudes study (Israel, Iran, and North Korea were considered more dangerous; Iraq was considered less dangerous).

$66bn Amount the United States spent on international aid and diplomacy in 1949.

$23.8bn Amount the United States spent on international aid and diplomacy in 2002.

85 Percentage of Indonesians who had an unfavorable image of the United States in 2003.

Second-party endorsements

90 Percentage of Americans who approved of the way Bush was handling his job as president on 26 September 2001.

67 Percentage of Americans who approved of the way Bush was handling his job as president on 26 September 2002.

54 Percentage of Americans who approved of the way Bush was handling his job as president on 30 September, 2003.

50 Percentage of Americans who approved of the way Bush was handling his job as president on 15 October 2003.

49 Percentage of Americans who approved of the way Bush was handling his job as president in May 2004.

More like the French than he would care to admit

28 Number of vacation days Bush took in August 2003, the second-longest vacation of any president in US history. (Record holder Richard Nixon.)

13 Number of vacation days the average American receives each Year.

28 Number of vacation days Bush took in August 2001, the month he received a 6 August Presidential Daily Briefing headed "Osama bin Laden Determined to Strike US Targets."

500 Number of days Bush has spent all or part of his time away from the White House at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, his parents' retreat in Kennebunkport, Maine, or Camp David as of 1 April 2004.

No fool when it comes to the press

11 Number of press conferences during his first three Years in office in which Bush referred to questions as being "trick" ones.

Factors in his favor

3 Number of companies that control the US voting technology market.

52 Percentage of votes cast during the 2002 midterm elections that were recorded by Election Systems & Software, the largest voting-technology firm, a big Republican donor.

29 Percentage of votes that will be cast via computer voting machines that don't produce a paper record.

17On 17 November 2001, The Economist printed a correction for having said George Bush was properly elected in 2000.

$113m Amount raised by the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign, the most in American electoral history.

$185m Amount raised by the Bush-Cheney 2004 re-election campaign, to the end of March 2004.

$200m Amount that the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign expects to raise by November 2004.

268 Number of Bush-Cheney fund-raisers who had earned Pioneer status (by raising $100,000 each) as of March 2004.

187 Number of Bush-Cheney fund-raisers who had earned Ranger status (by raising $200,000 each) as of March 2004.

$64.2mThe Amount Pioneers and Rangers had raised for Bush-Cheney as of March 2004.

85 Percentage of Americans who can't Name the Chief Justice of the United States.

69 Percentage of Americans who believed the White House's claims in September 2003 that Saddam Hussein was personally involved in the 11 September attacks.

34 Percentage of Americans who believed in June 2003 that Saddam's "weapons of mass destruction" had been found.

22 Percentage of Americans who believed in May 2003 that Saddam had used his WMDs on US forces.

85 Percentage of American young adults who cannot find Afghanistan, Iraq, or Israel on a map.

30 Percentage of American young adults who cannot find the Pacific Ocean on a map.

75 Percentage of American young adults who don't know the population of the United States.

53 Percentage of Canadian young adults who don't know the population of the United States.

11 Percentage of American young adults who cannot find the United States on a map.

30 Percentage of Americans who believe that "politics and government are too complicated to understand."

ColdPenguin

Another factor in his favor

70m Estimated number of Americans who describe themselves as Evangelicals who accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and who interpret the Bible as the direct word of God.

23m Number of Evangelicals who voted for Bush in 2000.

50m Number of voters in total who voted for Bush in 2000.

46 Percentage of voters who describe themselves as born-again Christians.

5 Number of states that do not use the word "evolution" in public school science courses.


Article by Graydon Carter originally published in either UK Independent or London Independent I beleive. I'm not going to defend anything he has said so go argue about it until you commit suicide.

ronnn

46% born again? Back to the middle ages to fight the crusade.

Dom

I don't think that's the point - whether they should or shouldn't of obeyed an order - I think the issue is why were they ordered to transport contaminated fuel. Fuel that was not going to be excepted and if was used could cause engine failure. I could understand if they were dilivering cataminated fuel to be disposed of, or good fuel to be used, but c'mon. It's like dilivering rusty guns; they may or may not work, or they may work and then fail when you need them the most.

raid517

Odd how some roles reverse isn't it? You almost make Bush sound like a pacificst.

But the point was that an opportunity has been sqaundered.

Two or whatever years ago Iran may not have had the capacity to threaten us the way she can now. But Bush was so much more interested in his little show (and it was a show) in Iraq that he neglected to recognise this.

Now we may have no option but to negotiate with them, because lord knows what they might have in store for the world if we don't.

You want to know where the real WMD's are? Well most of the so called 'experts' that you refer to now pretty much agree that almost without doubt they are in Iran. So let's see when we know - when for a few tens of dollars anyone here can buy photos from a comercial spy statelite, when we can read reports from the dreaded UN Atomic Energy Agency from people who have been there and seen Iran's nuclear research facilities in action and who have been issuing warnings since long before the Iraq war - let's just see how prepared Bush is to act when a real threat emerges?

Bush's current answer is to open up trade relations with them - just as you have accused France, Germany and Russia of doing in Iraq. So let's just see how that squares with the objective that Bush alegedly prescribes to of 'defeating iternational terrorism.'

To my own simple mind, either there is nothing of substance in his rhetoric, or he has absolutlely no clear stragegy at all in mind.

Best regards,

GJ

pr0digal jenius

i know...i was just being obnoxious (it's a hobby)

i fully agree with you. Why risk your life to try and put a square peg into a round hole? It MIGHT work(kinda) if the peg is small enough..but the chances are slim.