Iraqi Timeline Not Being Met

   Thus far today.

   Iraq is behind in their " benchmarks " which were set by the Bush administration which is another one of those shocking surprises.

New York Times

Iraqis’ Progress Lags Behind Pace Set by Bush Plan

By HELENE COOPER and DAVID E. SANGER

Published: March 15, 2007

WASHINGTON, March 14 — The Bush administration, which six months ago issued a series of political goals for the Iraqi government to meet by this month, is now tacitly acknowledging that the goals will take significantly longer to achieve.

Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq has promised reforms that have yet to appear.

In interviews this week, administration officials said that the military buildup intended to stabilize Baghdad and create the conditions for achieving the objectives would not be fully in place until June and that all of the objectives would not be fulfilled until the year’s end.

A “notional political timeline” that the administration provided to Congress in January in an attachment to a letter from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, had called for most of the objectives to be met by this month.

   From this month to the end of the year is quite a change. By the end of the year this timeline will have changed once again to the middle of 2008 and so on and so on.

   That is unless the Democrats grow some balls and put a stop to this bullshit and get our troops home. Let the freakin' Iraqis deal with the problems because they have had more than enough time to get their act together.

 

Technorati tags: Iraq, Bush, Condolezza Rice, al-Maliki

 

The Bush Crime Family and NOLA Army Corps of Engineers

    You know that the  rebuilding in New Orleans has been slow going but did you know that the Bush Crime Family has a hand in on the levee pumps that mal-functioned? I didn't either until I ran across this.

Army Corps of Engineers installs defective pumps in NOLA despite warnings that they would fail

by blksista   Wed Mar 14, 2007 at 09:38:28 AM PDT

Original at Booman Tribune.

Assbackery 101, second semester, 2007.

This story came in last night, but The Guardian picked it up this a.m.:

The 2006 hurricane season turned out to be mild, and the new pumps were never pressed into action. But the Corps and the politically connected manufacturer of the equipment are still struggling to get the 34 heavy-duty pumps working properly.

The pumps are now being pulled out and overhauled because of excessive vibration, Corps officials said. Other problems have included overheated engines, broken hoses and blown gaskets, according to the documents obtained by the Associated Press.

How can you fix something that is going to continue to be defective?

I'm really beginning to wonder whether they want New Orleans to return at all.

  And not only New Orleans, says Harry Shearer.  Our national infrastructure, including levees in 27 other states, needs assistance.

But could you trust the company installing the pumps in your commmunity that they would work properly in a cataclysm?  

You couldn't trust Moving Water Industries Corp. (MWI) of Deerfield Beach, FL., who built the drainage system for the Corps.

MWI is owned by J. David Eller and his sons. Eller was once a business partner of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in a venture called Bush-El that marketed MWI pumps. And Eller has donated about $128,000 to politicians, the vast majority of it to the Republican Party, since 1996, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Seems like every motherfreaking Bush/Cheney ally bills the American people faulty or defective or nonexistent equipment or services, even if they gave a competitive bid.  

Lest people forget: Katrina's Category 1 or 2 storm surge caused the waters of Lake Pontchartrain to back up into drainage canals. Its already-compromised canal walls collapsed, which resulted in 80 percent of New Orleans flooded. Over 1600 Crescent City residents died, with many missing and unaccounted for. Many hundreds of thousands will never return its still devastated districts.

And although no hurricanes made landfall in the Gulf Coast last year, there is no guarantee that they won't roll into the Gulf of Mexico and threaten New Orleans and other coastal environs this year.

 

Technorati tags: New Orleans, Army Corps of Engineers, levees, Harry Shearer, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, cronyism, corruption