U.S. lawmakers have a financial interest in military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, a review of their accounts has revealed.
Members of Congress invested nearly 196 million dollars of their own money in companies that receive hundreds of millions of dollars a day from Pentagon contracts to provide goods and services to U.S. armed forces, say nonpartisan watchdog groups.
David Petraeus, the top U.S. general in Iraq, is to brief the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees on Tuesday and Wednesday. The latest findings are unlikely to have a significant impact on this week's proceedings but could stoke anti-incumbent sentiment in this year of presidential and legislative elections.
Lawmakers charged with overseeing Pentagon contractors hold stock in those very firms, as do vocal critics of the war in Iraq, says the Centre for Responsive Politics (CRP).
Anyone else see the HUGE conflict of interest? I know I do. But it's the next part that's disturbing:
Senator John Kerry, the Democrat from Massachusetts who staked his 2004 presidential bid in part on his opposition to the war, tops the list of investors. His holdings in firms with Pentagon contracts of at least five million dollars stood at between 28.9 million dollars and 38.2 million dollars as of Dec. 31, 2006. Kerry sits on the Senate foreign relations panel.
That's right. Mr. "I'm against the war in Iraq" is deliberately pandering to the left, with his "opposition", while investing very heavily in defense contractors. $30 million dollars worth.
That shows you what kind of man John Kerry REALLY is. He'll sell out his former buddies in Vietnam, ride along when it's popular to be for the war in Iraq, then turn his back on Iraq and it's civilians if it means he gets to be President, says that Obama would be good for US relations with Muslims "because he's a black man" and other such nonsense.
And yet, he fooled all of Hollywood and a good portion of the country during his Presidential campaign.
Makes some of you out there feel like and idiot doesn't it?
So do tell me, where's the call for their heads? Here's a list of people who are the top investors in defense contractors, including some Republicans:
Other top investors include Representative Rodney Frelinghuysen, a New Jersey Republican with holdings of 12.1 million - 49.1 million dollars; Rep. Robin Hayes, a North Carolina Republican (9.2 million - 37.1 million dollars); Republican Rep. James Sensenbrenner Jr. of Wisconsin (5.2 million - 7.6 million dollars); and Rep. Jane Harman, a California Democrat (2.7 million - 6.3 million dollars).
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the Democrat and former governor of West Virginia who chairs the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, invested some 2.0 million dollars in Pentagon contractors, CRP says.
Other panel chiefs who invested in defence firms include Sen. Joseph Lieberman, the Connecticut Independent who presides over the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Rep. Howard Berman, the California Democrat who heads the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Can anyone please explain to me why these people shouldn't be voted out of office during the elections? It there was ever a situation that was ripe for corruption, this is it.
Travis
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