Halliburton's Missing Radioactive Cylinder Found 126
First time accepted submitter Tator Tot writes "A small radioactive cylinder that went missing from a Halliburton Co. truck last month was found on a Texas road late Thursday, the company said, ending a weeks-long hunt that involved local, state and federal authorities."
You know, I'll forgive them for this mistake (Score:4, Insightful)
What I won't forgive them for is a $2 trillion+ war and tens of thousands of lives lost, all fought so they could get a juicy $7 billion no-bid contract (and about $40 billion in subsequent no-bid logistics contracts through their subsidiary KBR) from their former CEO, who had managed to sleaze his way into the vice-presidency.
I just wish that losing a little radioactive cylinder were the worst thing they had ever done.
Weeks long hunt? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:You know, I'll forgive them for this mistake (Score:0, Insightful)
You guys really need to get a clue. Halliburton made money yes. If it hadn't been them it would have been someone else. Somebody needed to provide those services, it was bid as a contract, and they won the bid. Did it have anything to do with political ties to Dick Cheney? Maybe. But even so, that only matters if there would have been a better company suited to provide those services at a lower cost to the taxpayer. I'm sure if that would have been the case someone would have been all over it by now. As for who's fault it is we went to war in Iraq? I'd lay that blame squarely at the feet of Sadam Husein. For years he thumbed his nose at the UN, flaunted his disregard for negotiated agreements, was happy to take our aid and give us the finger all the while conspiring to destroy us. He had chemical weapons, he was certainly sympathetic towards al queda, and he committed genocide against his own people. If you remember all of the bluster leading up to that war he was fairly bold making statements about using wmds against anyone who attacked Iraq. It wasn't just our secret service that thought he had them, it was corroberated by intelligence agencies from six other countries including the UK, and Germany. No one doubted that he had them, but the UN wanted to continue to negotiate, and we'd tried and failed to negotiate for 12 years. I think Bush absolutely and without question did the right thing. If Halliburton made a little money in the process, well, good for them.
Re:You know, I'll forgive them for this mistake (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:You know, I'll forgive them for this mistake (Score:1, Insightful)
Fuck off, you don't know shit.
You start by saying "you guys really need to get a clue", and then proceed to waffle on without a shred of a clue.
Saddam? Plotting to destroy the US? What a joke. And by the way, he committed genocide against his own people when he used chemical weapons against them and Iranians during the Iran-Iraq war, while he was dictator backed and supported by the USA, who were the ones who encouraged him to start the war. No doubt they knew full well about his chemical weapons plans.
Re:You know, I'll forgive them for this mistake (Score:2, Insightful)
THIS IS WHAT NEOCONS ACTUALLY BELIEVE.
Yes, the US had to attack Iraq because a neutered dictator who couldn't even fly over his own country without getting blown out of the sky was an imminent threat to the most powerful nation in history. It was a matter of national security, dammit!
Certainly not a wasteful imperialistic adventure that bankrupted the country, killed hundreds of thousands of innocents and left us in worse standing than ever in the Middle East.
Re:You know, I'll forgive them for this mistake (Score:5, Insightful)
Somebody needed to provide those services
No, nobody needed to provide those services. We had no need to invade iraq, and without Dick Cheney's advocacy we would not have. No war, no need for services.
As for who's fault it is we went to war in Iraq? I'd lay that blame squarely at the feet of Sadam Husein. For years he thumbed his nose at the UN
For years and years, yes. So where was the imminent threat? There was none, there was only an imminent opportunity for Cheney's cronies to make money.
If we had not invaded Iraq, Saddam Hussein would still be in power, still thumbing his nose, but doing nothing to actually harm Americans. Instead, we have 2 trillion dollars to pay off (more than 9/11 cost our economy), 4800 dead Americans (more than died in 9/11), and hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis. Dick Cheney is a war criminal.
Re:You know, I'll forgive them for this mistake (Score:5, Insightful)
Dick Cheney is a war criminal.
Also, we don't need to factor in the war crime of aggression. The case that he's a war criminal is very easy to make:
1. Waterboarding was defined as a crime against humanity by the Allied tribunal in 1945.
2. Ordering a war crime is a war crime.
3. Dick Cheney announced on national television that he led a committee that ordered waterboarding.
Defending Dick Cheney is the moral equivalent of defending Slobodan Milosevic.
Re:You know, I'll forgive them for this mistake (Score:5, Insightful)
The top three intel agencies told their leaders what they wanted to hear. They were clever enough to know that if they didn't they would be circumvented [wikipedia.org] or ignored [wikipedia.org]. If the Bush administration had honestly wanted to determine if there were WMDs, they would have given Hans Blix a few months to do his job. There was no urgency except in the fevered imaginations of neocons.