# You must see this: Cheney's Law on PBS tonight **URL:** \ **Category:** Lounge\ **Created:** [October 16, 2007, 2:21pm UTC](https://pheromonetalk.com/t/you-must-see-this-cheneys-law-on-pbs-tonight/6046 "2007-10-16T14:21:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tacitus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@tacitus](https://pheromonetalk.com/u/tacitus)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2007, 2:21pm UTC](https://pheromonetalk.com/t/you-must-see-this-cheneys-law-on-pbs-tonight/6046/1 "2007-10-16T14:21:39Z")
this is rumored to be an amazing look at the man shaping the world as we know it… on tonight… **[FRONTLINE presents CHENEY’S LAW Tuesday, October 16, 2007, at 9 P.M. ET on PBS](http://www.pbs.org/frontline/cheney)** ---
**Author:** ![Mtnjim](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/pheromonetalk.com/mtnjim/32/2010_2.png) [@Mtnjim](https://pheromonetalk.com/u/Mtnjim)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2007, 5:01pm UTC](https://pheromonetalk.com/t/you-must-see-this-cheneys-law-on-pbs-tonight/6046/2 "2007-10-16T17:01:52Z")
Sadly, that chimp in the Whitehouse was dumb enough to believe Cheney, and as a result, we have “King George the First”.😠 ---
**Author:** ![tacitus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@tacitus](https://pheromonetalk.com/u/tacitus)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2007, 5:44pm UTC](https://pheromonetalk.com/t/you-must-see-this-cheneys-law-on-pbs-tonight/6046/3 "2007-10-16T17:44:13Z")
Think we might have had a better use for 1,000,000,000,000. dollars ? ONE TRILLION DOLLARS ???.. Mind can’t even fathom that number… ONE FRIGGING TRILLION DOLLARS !!! 😮 ---
**Author:** ![tacitus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@tacitus](https://pheromonetalk.com/u/tacitus)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2007, 5:53pm UTC](https://pheromonetalk.com/t/you-must-see-this-cheneys-law-on-pbs-tonight/6046/4 "2007-10-16T17:53:42Z")
This astounding piece appeared in today’s Washington Post, reflecting the views of 12 officers of Captain rank: By 12 former Army captains Tuesday, October 16, 2007; 12:00 AM Today marks five years since the [authorization](http://www.c-span.org/resources/pdf/hjres114.pdf) of military force in Iraq, setting Operation Iraqi Freedom in motion. Five years on, the Iraq war is as undermanned and under-resourced as it was from the start. And, five years on, **Iraq is in shambles**. As Army captains who served in Baghdad and beyond, we’ve seen the corruption and the sectarian division. We understand what it’s like to be stretched too thin. And we know when it’s time to get out. What does Iraq look like on the ground? It’s certainly far from being a modern, self-sustaining country. Many roads, bridges, schools and hospitals are in deplorable condition. Fewer people have access to drinking water or sewage systems than before the war. And Baghdad is averaging less than eight hours of electricity a day. Iraq’s institutional infrastructure, too, is sorely wanting. Even if the Iraqis wanted to work together and accept the national identity foisted upon them in 1920s, the ministries do not have enough trained administrators or technicians to coordinate themselves. **At the local level, most communities are still controlled by the same autocratic sheiks that ruled under Saddam.** There is no reliable postal system. No effective banking system. No registration system to monitor the population and its needs. The inability to govern is exacerbated at all levels by widespread corruption. [Transparency International](http://www.transparency.org/publications/gcr) **ranks Iraq as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. And, indeed, many of us witnessed the exploitation of U.S. tax dollars by Iraqi officials and military officers. Sabotage and graft have had a particularly deleterious impact on Iraq’s oil industry** , which still fails to produce the revenue that Pentagon war planners hoped would pay for Iraq’s reconstruction. Yet holding people accountable has proved difficult. The first commissioner of a panel charged with preventing and investigating corruption resigned last month, citing pressure from the government and threats on his life. Against this backdrop, the U.S. military has been trying in vain to hold the country together. Even with “the surge,” we simply do not have enough soldiers and marines to meet the professed goals of clearing areas from insurgent control, holding them securely and building sustainable institutions. Though temporary reinforcing operations in places like Fallujah, An Najaf, Tal Afar, and now Baghdad may brief well on PowerPoint presentations, **in practice they just push insurgents to another spot on the map and often strengthen the insurgents’ cause by harassing locals to a point of swayed allegiances**. Millions of Iraqis correctly recognize these actions for what they are and vote with their feet – moving within Iraq or leaving the country entirely. Still, our colonels and generals keep holding on to flawed concepts. U.S. forces, responsible for too many objectives and too much “battle space,” are vulnerable targets. The sad inevitability of a protracted draw-down is further escalation of attacks – on U.S. troops, civilian leaders and advisory teams. They would also no doubt get caught in the crossfire of the imminent Iraqi civil war. Iraqi security forces would not be able to salvage the situation. Even if all the Iraqi military and police were properly trained, equipped and truly committed, their 346,000 personnel would be too few. **As it is, Iraqi soldiers quit at will. The police are effectively controlled by militias. And, again, corruption is debilitating. U.S. tax dollars enrich self-serving generals and support the very elements that will battle each other after we’re gone.** This is Operation Iraqi Freedom and the reality we experienced. This is what we tried to communicate up the chain of command. _This is either what did not get passed on to our civilian leadership or what our civilian leaders chose to ignore_. While our generals pursue a strategy dependent on peace breaking out, the Iraqis prepare for their war – and our servicemen and women, and their families, continue to suffer. ---
**Author:** ![tacitus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@tacitus](https://pheromonetalk.com/u/tacitus)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2007, 7:17pm UTC](https://pheromonetalk.com/t/you-must-see-this-cheneys-law-on-pbs-tonight/6046/5 "2007-10-16T19:17:27Z")
OH ! and you gotta luv this ! 🙂 🙂 "Judge Radhi Hamza al-Radhi, the former Commissioner of the Iraqi Commission on Public Integrity, also testified on October 4, 2007, that “_corruption in Iraq today is rampant across the government, costing tens of billions of dollars, and has infected virtually every agency and ministry, including some of the most powerful officials in Iraq_,” that “the Ministry of Oil [is] effectively financing terrorism,” and that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki “has protected some of his relatives that were involved in corruption.”… _Folks… this is sliding towards a perilous, terribly dangerous global condition, and those in charge seem to be able to do no more than fiddle while Rome burns…_