Breaking on GEM$NBC - major corruption scandal

[malaise]

in Afghanistan. Karzai aid found guilty of corruption. He was freed under orders from the palace and Karzai has now ordered probe into the US backed anti-corruption unit.

Bring the fucking troops home and end this farce Obama.

[Roland99]

1. REC'd for that last sentence of yours.

[Ysabela]

47. It's not a farce...

God intended for us to control the world's supply of opium. :sarcasm:

[malaise]

77. Good point

:hi:

[bdamomma]

2. oh crap Karzai what a hoodlum yes bring the troops home.

enough.

[alfredo]

86. He worked for an oil company, that should be a clue.

[Uncle Joe]

3. "He was freed under orders from the palace"

"He was freed under orders from the palace and Karzai has now ordered probe into the US backed anti-corruption unit."

Thanks for the thread, malaise.

[Barack2theFuture]

4. We are the BAD GUYS (among an entire cast of bad guys)

in Afghanistan.

END THE FARCE. Bring ALL the troops home just as fast as you can arrange transport. Any other path is criminal and murderous.

[Enrique]

5. all those billions, who knows where it's going

and meanwhile they tell us we're there to save that woman with no nose on Time Magazine.

[malaise]

6. Maybe we DUers should start a thread with our own

TAME magazine headline showing women we should be saving in America.

reword

[truedelphi]

52. yes indeedy.

Let's have TAME/Laufe news media feature the stories of single moms who cannot find jobs.

Women who are getting 73 cents for every dollar that a man makes at this job.

Women who will be affected by the scandalous decision on the part of Obama himself to leave abortion off the table for women whose health situation indicates that they may die without one. (In that situation, the woman better have the money to pay for it or else.)

Women whose homes are being foreclosed.

And let's include men too.

We officially are a nation that cannot expect to ever have jobs available for We the People.

Those in charge are far more worried about offering tax cuts to the rich than jobs for the people. (The solution here is obvious - give the rich their tax cuts as long as the tax cuts are spent creating jobs here inside the USA.)

[grahamhgreen]

64. If they really cared, we would nevr have set up another corrupt Islamic republic there.

[suffragette]

15. Much of it is funneled to Dubai and has been for who knows how long

US Cuts Aid After Millions Siphoned Off to Dubai
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,704665,00.html
Billions of dollars are being secreted out of Kabul to help well-connected Afghans buy luxury villas in Dubai. Amid concerns that the money could be the result of corruption, American politicians have temporarily cut off aid to the Afghan government.

Brigadier General Mohammed Asif Jabarkhel sits with folded arms in his office, just a few steps away from the security checkpoint at Kabul International Airport. "Of course I know what's going on here," the 59-year-old head of the airport's customs police grumbles from beneath his thick moustache as a fan whirs in the background. "But, in this country, who's allowed to speak the truth?"

Jabarkhel is referring to the huge amounts of money regularly being secreted out of Afghanistan by plane in boxes and suitcases. According to some estimates, since 2007, at least $3 billion (€2.4 billion) in cash has left the country in this way. The preferred destination for these funds is Dubai, the tax haven in the Persian Gulf. And, given the fact that Afghanistan's total GDP amounts to the equivalent of $13.5 billion, there is no way that the funds involved in this exodus are merely the proceeds of legal business transactions.

Officials puzzle over millions of dollars leaving Afghanistan by plane for Dubai
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/24/AR2010022404914.html

KABUL -- A blizzard of bank notes is flying out of Afghanistan -- often in full view of customs officers at the Kabul airport -- as part of a cash exodus that is confounding U.S. officials and raising concerns about the money's origin.

The cash, estimated to total well over $1 billion a year, flows mostly to the Persian Gulf emirate of Dubai, where many wealthy Afghans now park their families and funds, according to U.S. and Afghan officials. So long as departing cash is declared at the airport here, its transfer is legal.

But at a time when the United States and its allies are spending billions of dollars to prop up the fragile government of President Hamid Karzai, the volume of the outflow has stirred concerns that funds have been diverted from aid. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, for its part, is trying to figure out whether some of the money comes from Afghanistan's thriving opium trade. And officials in neighboring Pakistan think that at least some of the cash leaving Kabul has been smuggled overland from Pakistan.

"All this money magically appears from nowhere," said a U.S. official who monitors Afghanistan's growing role as a hub for cash transfers to Dubai, which has six flights a day to and from Kabul.

http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0706/taxpayers-afghan-aid-money-paying-rich-afghans-dubai-villas/
US taxpayers’ Afghan aid money buys rich Afghans’ Dubai villas

[mmonk]

17. Nice. Thanks.

[gateley]

22. Great articles, suffragette - thanks! nt

[malaise]

31. Thanks for the link

I searched without luck earlier. :hi:

[suffragette]

40. Glad to help

And :hi: back at you all.

I am wondering from these articles about the estimates of $3 billion. High as that sounds, I imagine it's akin to the amount of oil spilled in the Gulf - that is, much higher than these first estimates.

[Canuckistanian]

41. "a cash exodus that is confounding U.S. officials"

Oh, yeah. I'm sure they're STUMPED.

[suffragette]

43. "All this money magically appears from nowhere,"

Hey, it's just magic, so of course it confounds them.

Not even trying with those excuses, are they?

:hi:

[woo me with science]

69. +1000

Who could ever have imagined?

[Blue_Tires]

44. that's what i've been saying as well...

the biggest examples of waste these re-born teabag deficit hawks continue to IGNORE

[suffragette]

46. Waste and corruption

Never did find out where the "$12bn in shrink-wrapped $100 bills" went either.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/feb/08/usa.iraq1

Bremer's financial adviser, retired Admiral David Oliver, is even more direct. The memorandum quotes an interview with the BBC World Service. Asked what had happened to the $8.8bn he replied: "I have no idea. I can't tell you whether or not the money went to the right things or didn't - nor do I actually think it's important."

Q: "But the fact is billions of dollars have disappeared without trace."

Oliver: "Of their money. Billions of dollars of their money, yeah I understand. I'm saying what difference does it make?"

[mopinko]

53. tammy duckworth told stories, not for publication, about

helicoptering pallets of cash out to warlords in the desert. just dropping them, and taking off again. that is how we got "the northern alliance" to "fight" on our side.
we "accomplished our mission" by bribing people to be on our side.

[suffragette]

83. "we "accomplished our mission" by bribing people to be on our side."

That line bears repeating.

And who knows how much more of this was done than has been reported.

Meanwhile, the forks and knives are coming out here to slice and dice social programs.

[Donnachaidh]

7. we need to stop funding this clusterf*ck and LEAVE.

This guy is a crook and backing him in anything is obscene.

[MissDeeds]

8. +1

It is indeed a cluster f***, and we have no credible reason for being there.


:patriot:

[cbdo2007]

9. NO SHIT SHERLOCK?!?!?!? How much shit does Karzai have to do before they figure out he's one of the

bad guys????/

Sorry for the language, but our govt is full of idiots!!!!! Karzai is a fuckin criminal!!!!!!!!!!

[mod mom]

10. Can't end both war fronts or we'll have defense contractors on unemployment

now wouldn't that be nice!

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

11. Well, the administration will interpret it as another good reason to "stay the course".

[Brundle_Fly]

12. We're fighting them over there so we don't have too...

...fuck it, bring them home!

[Spheric]

25. Exactly. And start fighting the criminals over here.

Lord knows we have plenty of them. Most get a free pass, though.

[lib_wit_it]

71. Well, the white collar ones, anyway...

get the free passes, that is.

[gratuitous]

13. Oh, ferheavenssakes!

"National security." "Spreading peace and freedom." "Star-spangled banner." "Support the troops." "Honor the sacrifice of those who gave all."

There. That oughta hold you Nosy Parkers for a while. Sheesh, what a bunch of ingrates!

[NNN0LHI]

14. Shouldn't our Marines dig Karzai & his drug dealer brother out of their spider holes before leaving?

At the very least?

Don

[Citizen Worker]

16. But Karzai is our corrupt thug. Handpicked by Cheney/Bush/Rumsfeld and

now we "reap" the rewards. Despicable.

[spanone]

18. we have seriously overstayed our non-welcome

when you invade a country preemptively, there is nothing to win....you only lose

karzai was the handpicked fool of bu$h* & cheney...of course he's corrupt

[malaise]

32. Name one dictator that they have handpicked

who wasn't or isn't corrupt.

[earth mom]

19. Bring the troops home NOW! nt

[LatteLibertine]

20. We do this every time

build up sociopathic "allies" then go fight them when they become a problem. We make our own boogeymen and yes it's intentional. They want to keep war profiteering and the military industrial complex chugging along.

[KansDem]

28. That includes Saddam, the Taliban and Osama bin Laden

We supported the Taliban and OBL during the '80s when they were fighting the Soviets, then Saddam when he was fighting the Iranians.

We never seem to learn...

[gateley]

21. Wow. There's no way we can work with Karzai -- well, any more than all sides

can work with him. Agree, malaise -- end this farce.

[lib2DaBone]

23. Total INSANITY.. and it only costs us $436 Million a day....

Yet we want to make grandma sit in a cold apartment and eat Cat Food.

We HAVE to stand up to these insane politicians sooner or later...they are Psychopaths.

[SammyWinstonJack]

88. Yet the cat food commission CLAIMS that SS is bankrupting the country and adding to the deficit.

HAHAHAHAHAHA! :puke:

[onethatcares]

24. no freakin way, there can't be corruption there, jeez

aside from the U.S.military, the only other folks there would be contractors of the U.S. government and the hand picked guys the U.S. government decided to send billions of dollars too without an infrastructure to track where the dollars go.

Now, after that, why would anyone think the Karzai government could be fraudulent?:wtf:

[malaise]

37. Don't you wonder how many of the

contractors have luxury apartments and townhouses in Dubai and elsewhere.

[onethatcares]

51. I wonder, but mainly I wonder

how anyone with a head on their shoulders could possibly support this invasion.

Jeeez, we have babies dying and people homeless and starving and we're supposedly worried about womens rights and schools in a country 6 thousand miles away. I'm flumoxed, that is the best word I could use. Totally flumoxed at the fact we don't have people rioting in the streets.

[happy_liberal]

55. yes

:applause:

It is absurd with the way they have violated human rights in their wars, they actually expect us to believe they were doing it to protect human rights. They think we are really really stupid. And I guess we are...or something...

apparently we are so stupid or apathetic that they can even pass billions in legislation for wars every couple of months at the exact same time they are discussing cutting people's social security, unemployment etc.

[Jackpine Radical]

26. What traitor leaked this information to the press?

Sumbitch oughtta be shot for undermining the theft in progress war effort.

[malaise]

34. Bwaaaaaaaaaaaah hahahahahahahaha

Isn't that the truth. :D

[valerief]

36. +69 trillion!!!!

:rofl:

[Canuckistanian]

42. Shocking.

They've endangered the troops.

[Ignis]

45. +++

Spot on. :thumbsup:

[Raster]

80. +1,000,000,000!!!

"...and now we return to the national plundering and pillaging already in progress."

[Hubert Flottz]

27. Who voted for that bastid?

The CIA?

[AnArmyVeteran]

29. Recd and completely agree! Bring our troops HOME!

If we stayed in Afghanistan 5,000 years it wouldn't make any difference. The day we left everything would return to the pre-war days. We cannot change a culture filled with tribes and corruption. We can't even make our own country an honest place.

President Obama: END THIS FUCKING WAR NOW! You KNOW better, but you are allowing war-thirsty generals and right wing war hawk republicans tell you what to do. Do the right thing, not the right wing thing and start representing the people who put you in office!

[TBF]

30. Bring the fucking troops home and end this farce Obama.

:kick: :kick:

[valerief]

33. All war is corrupt anyway. nt

[valerief]

35. Maybe these wars and offshoring are to clean us out before Pakistan

drops the bomb on us and purges the world of our greed.

Nah, the greed just moves.

[russspeakeasy]

38. WHAT ??? We were mislead in the mid east....??

The next thing you know my retirement fund will turn to
shit......and republicans will not care.

[grahamhgreen]

65. End the war for profit now. NT

[Beavker]

39. The fact that Polls don't show 98%

of Americans demanding that we just get the F out of there, proves we're Morons. Sorry for the we, but it's the collective will of this Teabagging country that is keeping the right thing from happening.

[kimmerspixelated]

48. Couldn't agree more!

[SalmonChantedEvening]

49. K&R. Now.

:grr:

[Dappleganger]

50. We need to cut our losses and come HOME!

No good is coming out of this, only a mountain of evil.

[Plucketeer]

54. We CAN'T just leave!

We haven't secured a "win" yet! :sarcasm:

[BrklynLiberal]

56. wow...

[happy_liberal]

57. Karzai seems a little unstable- I like him!

I hope he takes some more drugs and spills the beans on the whole fiasco over there.

Karzai knows the whole truth about what is going on in Afghanistan, the real reason we are there, what we have really been up to...

There is a reason he thinks he can get away with this kind of corruption...he had the BEST TEACHERS in THE WORLD who made him president!

[malaise]

58. Excellent point

and he can't adjust to the new people in charge.
Get the hell out and leave him to rot.

[lonestarnot]

59. But then we would have to find another place to dumb all those billions.

[Imagevision]

60. Karzai, in case you didn't know - former Chevron board of director along with

Condi Rice. Doesn't this just make your day...?

[malaise]

61. Maybe he can sing or play an instrument with

Condi...or be tried for crimes against humanity with her.

[defendandprotect]

67. Whaat . . . ???? Never knew that . . . Condi and Karzai on BOD of Chevron--!!!

Well -- oil is a "national security" issue -- Pentagon uses 80% of it!!

And ME has all of our oil buried under its soil -- !!!

[Kurovski]

62. K&R. (nt)

[Amonester]

63. Bring them home, indeed. K&R

And ALL these troops too:

THE U.S. EMPIRE IS FALLING

BORROWED MILLIONS SQUANDERED DAY IN, DAY OUT ON THIS TRAGIC farce
WHILE FORECLOSED (FORMER) TAXPAYERS HAVE TO SLEEP IN THEIR CARS OR IN CARDBOARD BOXES

When will President Obama & First Lady Michelle DO SOMETING for them??
When will he stop listening to his W.H. overpaid BUBBLE MAKERS??

[defendandprotect]

66. Karzai is investigating US anti-corruption unit . . . !!! Wow . . .!!

Agree -- bring the troops home -- all of them -- and cut the crap --

especially the bankrupting of our Treasury!!

[KG]

68. gee, where are all the Big Fans?

[1badjedi]

70. I'm sure

there are plenty of reasonable excuses for this.

Ok maybe not but I can't wait to read the attempts.

[earcandle]

72. I agree, get out and fund our own growth, not theirs or anyone elses. Time to mind our store and

get our nose out of other peoples pockets. 

[LAGC]

73. 9 years of occupation and what do we have to show for it?

A corrupt puppet government and a bankrupted treasury.

[McCamy Taylor]

74. But...but... GE supported Obama. How can he end GE's war?

LBJ had his Brown and Root and Obama has his GE.

[democrank]

75. K & R

[Vinca]

76. Billions flushed down the toilet while free health clinics are needed in D.C.

[Raster]

78. The American Military/Industrial Complex NEEDS this war to keep the money flowing.

There will be no peace for the United States of America until we the citizens rise up and demand peace.

War is a good business. Invest your child today.

[mdmc]

79. Bring the fucking troops home and end this farce Obama.

[Jeanette in FL]

81. Excellent thread malaise

And I am only half way through it.

Excellent last sentence. Agree 1000%. So sad all the loss of life and all the money!

[malaise]

82. Thanks Jeanette in FL - here Unhappycamper's thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8883885

[Rosa Luxemburg]

84. Karzai is a leftover Bush puppy

[avaistheone1]

85. Another day, another major corruption

That's day to day life in Iraq.

We need to pull out entirely, and stop funding this farce.

[bertman]

87. Shocking. Shocking, I tell you. Who woulda thunk it? OUT NOW!!! Rec

[political_Dem]

89. So that's where those missing trillions went during the reign of W.

My stars and garters.