War Profiteering

Cowboy hat By Jim Hightower - Wed., 6/28/06

A bloody and costly war rages in Iraq, and—by God—our Congressional leaders have stepped up and delivered!

Delivered $726 billion from our public treasury to the richest people in America, that is. The Republican-led Congress has refused to debate something as profound as a declaration of war on Iraq, but found the time to ram through an obscene grant of tax dollars to the country’s least needy.

The party-line vote in the House came at 3 a.m., just hours after George W. launched his Iraq attack. Even some Republicans were gagging on this sickening giveaway, so GOP leaders wrapped it in the flag, saying that it was “crucial” not to hand a legislative defeat to Bush at the outset of the war.

Later that day, the Senate passed its version of the tax scam, but with one little twist. Senator Russ Feingold added an amendment setting aside $100 billion from the rich folks’ windfall to cover the cost of the Iraq war.

Incredibly, the White House is maneuvering to get the House-Senate conference committee to drop Feingold’s patriotic war-funding provision and hand the full $726 billion to the wealthy. After all, they shouldn’t have to give up any of their tax breaks just because of a little ol’ war, should they?