Well...well...well...didn't our government work with the Mafia during WWII? If working with them was good enough for us, during a war where the stakes were signficantly higher (the survival of democracy), then it should be good enough for the Iraqis, who probably think they're fighting for their survival but don't seem to appreciate the sacrifice Americans are making ON THEIR BEHALF - unless our government is going to cop the "fake outrage" attitude of "Do as we say - not as we do." Since we created the mess that is now Iraq, what business do we really have of telling them what to do?

No matter what the outcome or what's found out for sure (if anything), what an unholy ungodly mess the United States has made.

Let's see, over here ya got'cher 'Cosa Nostra', aka 'This Thing of Ours'.  Its the Italian/Sicilian bunch made famous by 'The Godfather' and lately, 'The Sopranos'.  And over here ya got'cher 'Cosa Dubya', aka 'This Thing of Cheney's', made famous by 'Halliburton' and lately 'Blind OVersight Committees'.  The 'Cosa Nostra' now appears to have been trying to muscle in on 'Cosa Dubya', almost matching the 190,000 Rooskie AK-47's of 'Cosa Dubya' with 100,000 Rooskie AK-47's of their own, and at bargain-basement prices, too boot.  Fortunately for the US Mob, it has buddies in Italy (undoubtedly on the payroll) who have stopped the attempted muscling in on their scam.  I suppose the Iraqi's were going to convert some of the missing Billions of US Twenty Dollar Bills to Lira's and score some more AK-47's to go with the ones the US Taxpayers bought and lost.  What I want to know is this.  Does Francis Ford Coppola want to make a movie out of all of this, and if he does, can I be the Baker who bakes the Wedding Cake for the Twins?

What Krista said!

Jon Stewart has a great take on this story.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/Media/Download/20201/1/TDS-MissingGuns.wmv

Iran-Contra,Iraq-Cosa Nostra, like father, like son.

Krista Swisher, Indianapolis, IN (Sent Sunday, August 12, 2007 7:49 PM

Krista -

PERFECTION!!

Hmmmm starting to smell more like Iran Contra every day.  Can't these people do anything other than resurrect the scams of the past with new names on it?

Lets not forget all those billions and billions of dollars that also "went missing" in Iraq.

On another note, bye-bye Tommy Thompson - you were an awful governor of Wisconsin and your replacement Gov. Doyle's been busily paying the bills you left after 12 years of doling out corporate welfare and favors to your corporate buddies.  At least you won't get to be another awful president.

Don't let the door hit you where the Good Lord split you.

There is so much I'd like to say about this, but it shouldn't be a shocker to anyone who knows what this country is actually capable of doing or does.. it all just makes me sick, sick, sick! I keep waiting for people to wake up to what this country is truely all about and everything that we were brought up to believe are lies all lies and have been for decades.

Wait... wait... I thought the mafia didn't exist?

Someone in the Iraqi government is buying guns? I wouldn't be surprised if some Iraqi government guy was selling them off, but they're buying more? Am I an idiot or wouldn't they just ask us to 'give' them more?

Or did they sell them to the militias and the Italian weapons were going to replace the missing ones?

Dazed and confused,
WJ

Krista - Too true, too true!

We've had "The Sunni Triangle" and "The Triangle of Death" in Iraq. Now it appears we have Iraq's answer to the BERMUDA Triangle -- guns (190,000 in this latest news); explosives (close to 380 tons' worth of HMX and RDX in October 2004 alone); money ($21 BILLION -- including $12 Billion in cash); and oil (estimated at 300,000 barrels/day over a 4-year period) all have disappeared there. It almost sounds like the contents of a "Build Your Own Banana Republic" kit. This is either monumental incompetence both in the handling and the oversight therof, or crime on the grand scale.

" explosives (close to 380 tons' worth of HMX and RDX in October 2004 alone"
Saddam's Regime stole those explosives out from under the nose of the UN Inspectors. Hadn't you heard?
The Explosives only existed on paper since before the invasion. The UN seals on those buildings were a joke, since you could just walk around the poles they were attached to without touching them.

A large portion of those explosives were used in an attempt to iniate a nuclear explosion using uranium enriched to lower than neceassary levels of U-235. The experiment failed.

The Syrians got a good deal of oil out by tanker trucks after the pipeline to Syria was closed down.

Its likely the weapons themselves aren't missing, just the paperwork on them.

Jon Stewart has a great take on this story.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/Media/Download/20201/1/TDS-MissingGuns.wmv

R. Northern California (Sent Sunday, August 12, 2007 9:12 PM)

Great link!  I found information which I was actually not fully aware of - thanks.

Wow Pam (9:54 post)! I'm not accused of "perfection" very often! I need to write this on the calendar in red ink. :)

Thanks also to Niels for your kind words (12:33 post). I actually began to think I was rambling a bit when I wrote that last night (not easy trying to type that and watch THE SIMPSONS at the same time!!), so I'm glad you all thought it was worth something.

And, Sue (10:21 post), I've never heard "Don't let the door hit you where the Good Lord split you"!! TOO D*** FUNNY and much more sophisticated than the way I normally say the phrase. I'm absolutely going to remember that!!

Wow...between all this and news that Turd Blossom is exiting stage right, maybe this Monday won't suck quite so much as Mondays normally do!! :D

To paraphrase Bill Hicks:

How do you know what weapons they have?

Uh, we checked the receipts.

There's plenty of money to be made,
supplying the army with the tools of the trade
- Country Joe and the Fish

Wayne, don't let reality intrude into your little bubble.  If it makes you feel better to believe that nonsense, go for it.  

Sue, West Allis, Wisconsin (Sent Sunday, August 12, 2007 10:21 PM)

Sue -

When I heard the news, you're the first person I thought of!! Thompson gone = Sue happy!!

PEACE FRIEND!!

Its likely the weapons themselves aren't missing, just the paperwork on them.

Wayne, TN (Sent Monday, August 13, 2007 1:48 AM)

Your stupidity is still in high gear I see!! After my vacation, I was hoping you'd go away or get a brain!!

--"When I heard the news, you're the first person I thought of!! Thompson gone = Sue happy!!

Pam Bignardi, San Pedro, California (Sent Monday, August 13, 2007 1:29 PM)"--

Pam - you can see my "Tommy gone" and "Rove gone" smile from behind my head!  It's THAT big! The only thing better would be to see Rove in a nice bright orange prison jumpsuit.  That smile would be seen from space!  :D

The only thing better would be to see Rove in a nice bright orange prison jumpsuit.  That smile would be seen from space!  :D
Sue, West Allis, Wisconsin (Sent Monday, August 13, 2007 2:15 PM)

Sue -

And as I posted on the first thread, placed in GENERAL POPULATION!!

PEACE FRIEND!!

So, what's your problem with arms deals with Iraqi's?  I'm sure we've sold them a few over the years, too, and it certainly doesn't surprise to think we looked the other way on this deal.  Speaking of mafias, I'm bettin' that the present cabal in the White House has some strong familial ties to many of these deals.  It's all relative, you know, like Iran-Contra, or like when Cheney said in 1994 that invading Bagdad would creat a "quagmire."  Of course, he really only meant it would be a quagmire if Clinton did it.  

if Clinton did it.  
Bonnie (Sent Monday, August 13, 2007 3:24 PM)

You nailed that one Bonnie!!

A much shorter list would be those we haven't dealt arms with. We sold the weapons to Saddam to kill the Iranians and the Kurds and their kids. Lose the One Nation Under God mantra, has nothing to do with this country. Ask Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors how much we have to do with any god?

Paperwork is paperwork, hardware is hardware.
The Kerry campaign blew an Iraqi error in paperwork into a loss by US forces of hundreds of tons of explosives that had not been there to get lost to begin with.
As we've seen on this thread the information that this little mystery was cleared up within weeks if not days has never made it to the critics of the Adiministration.

The UN admitted that the inspector's seals were a joke. There were flimsy ventilation panels on either side of the stanctions the chains and seals were attached to.To gain entry into the building you could just peel back the panels and walk right in, never touching the seals.

The press and the Kerry campaign called the US military commanders liars when they said they had moved out all the explosives found in those bunkers long before, the democrat's claims based solely on paperwork by an Iraqi official who had never seen the explosives or ever had anything to do with them.

Its highly likely that the supposedly missing rifles and pistols were issued as planned but someone on the Iraqi end either never finished the paperwork or it got lost.
A Computer disc with information on nuclear warheads disappeared at Los Alamos some years back and they turned the place upside down. Finally when a copying machine was moved by cleaners the disc was found.

No doubt there has been more than a little graft and hanky panky in Baghdad but its just as likely that the whole thing will be cleared up by someone cleaning out there desk or finding a lost briefcase with the records intact.

Some of these weapons may be sitting in a warehouse in Rumania or some other former Soviet State with the personel there still waiting for someone to come and pick them up.

Yeah, the missing billions probably just slipped in the back of the drawer in somebody's desk. The crates of weapons are still down in the mailroom. Someone just forgot to empty all the explosives out of his pockets before going to lunch . . . Oh brudder!

" The crates of weapons are still down in the mailroom. Someone just forgot to empty all the explosives out of his pockets before going to lunch . . . Oh brudder!
Niels,
"
The supposedly missing explosives were accounted for years ago. Its likely the weapons will be accounted for soon enough, though if they are you'll probably never hear about it.
As for the Oil they have no idea just how much is missing. The estimates range from 100,000 BPD to 300,000 BPD because those wilder than even ballpark estimates are based on other highly suspect production estimates.
The people responsible (if you can call it that) for reporting production are suspected of lying to make it seem like they are doing more than they really are.

Paperwork is not the Iraqi's strong suit.
Considering the number of officials kidnapped and/or murdered over there its no wonder.

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