Krugman: wingnut economics, cronyism, pol. payoffs "Lost Iraq"

[DeepModem Mom]

OP-ED COLUMNIST
Who Lost Iraq?
By PAUL KRUGMAN

Published: June 29, 2004

The formal occupation of Iraq came to an ignominious end yesterday with a furtive ceremony, held two days early to foil insurgent attacks, and a swift airborne exit for the chief administrator. In reality, the occupation will continue under another name, most likely until a hostile Iraqi populace demands that we leave. But it's already worth asking why things went so wrong.

The Iraq venture may have been doomed from the start — but we'll never know for sure because the Bush administration made such a mess of the occupation. Future historians will view it as a case study of how not to run a country.

Up to a point, the numbers in the Brookings Institution's invaluable Iraq Index tell the tale. Figures on the electricity supply and oil production show a pattern of fitful recovery and frequent reversals; figures on insurgent attacks and civilian casualties show a security situation that got progressively worse, not better; public opinion polls show an occupation that squandered the initial good will.

What the figures don't describe is the toxic mix of ideological obsession and cronyism that lie behind that dismal performance....

***

Let's say the obvious. By making Iraq a playground for right-wing economic theorists, an employment agency for friends and family, and a source of lucrative contracts for corporate donors, the administration did terrorist recruiters a very big favor.


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/29/opinion/29KRUG.html

[papau]

1. Beautiful summary of Bush in Iraq.

"By making Iraq a playground for right-wing economic theorists, an employment agency for friends and family, and a source of lucrative contracts for corporate donors, the administration did terrorist recruiters a very big favor."

[LizW]

4. And Bu$h in America

I just finished reading the chapter on Enron in Kevin Phillips' American Dynasty. You would need a chart as big as a wall to track the cronyism that led to Enron's implosion.

These people are sophisticated looters and thieves. It's in their blood. They are very, very good at it, and they are without conscience.

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. They have a history of eating the seed corn.

Savings & Loan
Social Security
The era of corporate raiders
Pension Plans
Wall Street security scandals

Where there's hard earned American money, there's Republicans (and some Democrats) siphoning it off and living the good life at our expense.

[dusty64]

2. As usual a

great article about the truth, the rest of the corporate media ought to give it a try some time.

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. Bush Administration: "study on how not to run a country"

Republican attack on the President in 1990: study on socially-acceptable treasonous behavior.

Election 2000: study on the abuse of powers for the Supreme Court.


Boy, aren't we lucky because we can now sleep through our history lessons since we lived through them.

[Ironpost]

6. But I can't sleep, I keep waking to the atrocities

what a bunch of lying, conniving bunch of crooks