Three decades ago, the nation was struggling to get itself out of another war. Reporters were struggling to break through a wall of secrecy and deception. As the story goes, a mysterious figure whispered advice in the shadows of a parking structure: "Follow the money..."
Another generation, another war. There's a wide range of attitudes among progressives on what to do about the war--many paths toward the same end. When the pundits challenge Dems to a plan, it's hard to pick one that is sure to work and not blow up in our collective faces.
Perhaps that advice still works: Can we follow the money to peace?
It's no secret that one of the major motivations for starting this war--and keeping it going as long as possible--was profit. The stories have been astounding. Anyone who's watched Robert Greenwald's documentary Iraq for Sale knows the stories of hundred dollar laundry loads and disposable Escalades (run without oil changes until they just become so much rubble on the desert.) And if that isn't enough to curl your hair, there are many good summaries of what we know like Sourcewatch.org .
That may be the motivation for the current escalation plans, as well. (We should refuse to call it a "surge.") The current effort seems to be directed toward stretching out the war as long as possible, beyond reason or reasonableness. Perhaps Keith Olbermann said it best in one of the most telling lines in his January 3 special comment:
This is about the planned obsolescence of ordnance, isn’t, Mr. Bush? And the building of detention centers? And the design of a $125 million courtroom complex at Gitmo, complete with restaurants.
While there are certainly still a few deluded "true believers" who think this is about terrorism, or patriotism, or even the protection of Israel (There's a membership to the "Flat Earth Society" too) most people are coming to the conclusion that the only motivation left for staying in Iraq has to be profit. So perhaps the new Congress can stop the war by strangling it, rather than forcing a constitutional face-off and circular firing squads. Perhaps if there were no profit left, the profiteers (like the Corleones, for whom New York got too rough) will move on.
There are plenty of honest men who have tried to strangle this many-headed snake. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) reintroduced a bill Thursday to criminalize what's going on in Iraq, and it's actually passed the Senate four times, but been killed in the House.
The Democrats haven't wasted any time resurrecting this bill.
Many Democratic Senators joined Leahy in reintroducing a bill creating criminal penalties for war profiteers and cheats who would exploit taxpayer-funded efforts in Iraq and elsewhere around the world. The War Profiteering Prevention Act of 2007 builds on earlier efforts by Leahy, who is also a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, to crack down on this type of rampant fraud and abuse. It is similar to legislation Leahy introduced in 2003, that was subsequently passed by the Senate as part of an appropriations bill but later torpedoed by the White House and the House Republican leadership, which stripped out the Leahy provision.
What would such a law do?
The Leahy amendment creates a new criminal penalty for war profiteering.
· The amendment also prohibits any fraud, or false statement, in matters involving a contract or the provision of any goods or services in connection with war, military activities, or relief or reconstruction activities overseas
What would Leahy's bill do in the short run? It's probably too optimistic to hope that the execs of CACI, Blackwater and Halliburton will be doing the Perp Walk any time soon. But perhaps, like the Corleones, the profiteers might simply look around and find their old turf has become too hot in the Iraqi summer, and might decide to move on.
The time to press the Senate and House to support the bill quickly is now. Then it will be our challenge to make sure they don't find another country to destroy.