THE CORPORATE ISSUE: VOLUME 15, ISSUE 31
THE WAY OF THE CORPORATION
by Malik Isasis






















At the end of 2008 the United Nation’s mandate, which makes it legal for the United States to occupy Iraq expires. So Bush, the Giggling Killer and his monkeys are renegotiating a pact that will keep the United States in Iraq indefinitely.

Here are a few things that are being asked of the Iraq government: 58 permanent military bases, immunity for U.S. troops and mercenaries, and control of Iraqi air space up to 30,000 feet. A Iraqi lawmaker when viewing the US’ proposal said this:

"The points that were put forth by the Americans were more abominable than the occupation," said Jalal al Din al Saghir, a leading lawmaker from the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq. "We were occupied by order of the Security Council," he said, referring to the 2004 Resolution mandating a U.S. military occupation in Iraq at the head of an international coalition. "But now we are being asked to sign for our own occupation. That is why we have absolutely refused all that we have seen so far."

Only in Bush world does this NOT sound like what is: slavery. Mum’s the word for the corporate media, which acts as Bush’s personal asswiper. Bush and his compatriots don’t even try to hide their disdain for the law. They’ve learned like a rat pulling a lever for cheese that an obtuse populace, a war-profiteering corporate media and a naïve, if not incredibly dense Democratic Party will do nothing to stop their illegal indiscretions. So they carry on as they have for the past 7 years, empowered by hubris, a sense of unearned entitlement, killing millions and making billions hand over fist.

The US government thinks Iraqis are stupid. Why would they assist in their own subjugation?

The Bush administration’s requests in the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), is exactly what they have sought from the beginning starting with the Coalition Provisional Authority chief L. Paul Bremer who had revised Iraqi legal codes and added 97 legal orders

According to CorpWatch, here are a few that survived Medal of Freedom recipient L. Paul Bremer's tenure:

Order #39: Privatize the country's 200 state-owned enterprises, permit 100 percent foreign ownership of Iraqi businesses, allow for complete repatriation of profits without tax. No requirements for reinvestment, hiring local labor, or provisioning public services. Labor rights non-existent.

Order #40: Foreign banks can enter the Iraqi market and take a 50 percent interest in formerly state-owned banks.

Order #49: Drop the corporate tax rate from 40 percent to a flat 15 percent. The income tax is capped at 15 percent.

Order #12: Suspension of "all tariffs, customs duties, import taxes, licensing fees and similar surcharges for goods entering or leaving Iraq, and all other trade restrictions that may apply to such goods." Result: A tidal wave of cheap imports wipes out locally made goods.

Order #17: Security firms get full immunity from Iraq's laws.

Liberation of the Iraqi people, my ass--this is good ‘ol fashion raping and pillaging.

The Tragedy

Bush is an American tragedy.

Here is a man who holds contempt for the government and the people whom he governs. His public and international policies have reflected a narrow interest for a few elite. He is the conglomerates’ president. He has used the federal government as a money-laundering operation by privatizing as much of the federal government as possible.

Creating a profit incentive for debt agencies to go after taxpayers is just another step – in concert with wiretapping, for example – in institutionalizing the corporate-government war on the individual. And in handing over "public good" duties to corporations, to whom the very concept of public good runs counter to the profit motive at the center of their identity. Of course the biggest tax cheats in America are corporations and millionaires with abusive tax shelters and the means to exploit every loophole available to them. Will the collection agencies turn on their fellow corporations?

Here's another example after Hurricane Katrina:

NEW ORLEANS -- Heavily armed paramilitary mercenaries from the Blackwater private security firm, infamous for their work in Iraq, are openly patrolling the streets of New Orleans. Some of the mercenaries say they have been "deputized" by the Louisiana governor; indeed some are wearing gold Louisiana state law enforcement badges on their chests and Blackwater photo identification cards on their arms. They say they are on contract with the Department of Homeland Security and have been given the authority to use lethal force.

There are at least 150,000 mercenaries in Iraq; a shadow army who are not accountable to Congress, but to their CEOs and their shareholders.

The Fourth Branch of Government

Here are a list of corporate companies as listed by Corporate Watch as profiteering from the death and destruction in the Middle East. These death merchants contributed millions to Bush in the 2004 presidential campaign for the privilege of selling incendiary weapons for the sole purpose of destroying lives.

Boeing
Aside from 747s, Boeing makes "smart" bombs, F-15 fighters, and Apache helicopters. Boeing has paid tens of millions in fines for selling flawed parts that led to thousands of unnecessary landings and at least one fatal crash and has been plagued by scandals connected to the company’s influence-peddling.

CEO: Jim McNerney
Military contracts 2005: $18.3 billion
Total contributions for the 2004 election cycle: $1,659,213*

Lockheed Martin
The world's #1 military contractor, responsible for the U-2 and SR-71 spy planes, F-16, F/A-22 fighter jet, and Javelin missiles. They've also made millions through insider trading, falsifying accounts, and bribing officials.

CEO: Robert J. Stevens
Military contracts 2005: $19.4 billion
Total contributions for the 2004 election cycle: $2,212,836*

Northrop Grumman
Makers of the B-2 stealth bomber, you'd think this company could stay under the radar. But they're dogged by scandals-from bribing Saudi princes to botching the training of the Iraqi National Army to the tune of $48 million. Above board, their job is simply selling death.

CEO: Ronald Sugar
Military contracts 2005: $13.5 billion
Campaign contributions in 2004: $1.68 million (defense related)
$1.77 million (total)

General Dynamics
General Dynamics makes traditional F-16 jets, Abrams tanks, and Trident subs. With contracts in the billions, and new markets (read: wars) opening every day, they're not as washed up as some may think.

CEO: Nicholas D. Chabraja
Military contracts 2005: $10.6 billion
Total contributions in the 2004 election cycle: $1,437,602*

Raytheon
Raytheon means "light from the gods." Makers of "Bunker Buster" bombs, Tomahawk and Patriot missiles, this company loves big noises and large civilian casualty counts. When a missile killed 62 civilians in a Baghdad market, that was Light from the Gods.

CEO: William H. Swanson
Military contracts 2005: $9.1 billion
Defense-related contributions in the 2004 election cycle: $961,252*

United Technologies
The name sounds like they make light bulbs, but UT, a.k.a. Sikorsky, sells Black Hawk and Comanche helicopters and various missile systems designed to inspire terror in civilians from Palestine to Colombia to Somalia and beyond.

CEO: George David
Military contracts 2005: $5.0 billion
Defense-related contributions in the 2004 election cycle: $558,850*

Halliburton
This company truly has a guardian angel: former Halliburton CEO and now Vice President Dick Cheney who looks out for its interests from the White House. The result? $8 billion in contracts “rebuilding” Iraq in 2004.

CEO: David J. Lesar
Military contracts 2005: $5.8 billion
Oil and gas-related contributions in the 2004 election cycle: $221,249*

General Electric
Run until 2001by “Neutron” Jack Welch, who made it a matter of principle to lay off 10% of his workers per year, the world’s biggest company churns out plastics, aircraft engines and nuclear reactors and media spin through NBC, CNBC, Telemundo, and msnbc.com.

CEO: Jeffrey R. Immelt
Military contracts 2005: $2.2 billion
Defense-related contributions in the 2004 election cycle: $220,950*

Science Applications International Corporation
SAIC, awarded control of the Iraqi Media Network, was not able to spin US propaganda in Iraq and ended up being forced to withdraw. But their financial prospects remain solid as supplier of surveillance technology to US spy agencies.

CEO: Ken Dahlberg
Military contracts 2005: $2.8 billion
Campaign contributions in 2004: $781,410 (defense related)

CSC/ DynCorp
The world's premier rent-a-cop business runs the security show in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the US-Mexico border. They also run the coca crop-dusting business in Colombia, and occasional sex trafficking sorties in Bosnia. But what can you expect from a bunch of mercenaries?

CEO: Van Honeycutt
Military contracts 2005: $2.8 billion

note: CSC sold DynCorp in January 2005

United States Incorporated

Bush, the Giggling Killer, is indifferent, and a lazy corporatist. He has no imagination, no interests outside of his understanding; the only thing that interests him is getting his way and his way is the way of the Corporation.

The corporate media is acting like a lookout as Bush and the corporate raiders rape and pillage everything in sight, and reap the rewards as their parent companies’ bottom line balloons in blood money.

We the People

Our Democracy is failing before our eyes. The corporations have successfully indebted the populace; the Federal and State governments have demoralized the working poor and the poor, the corporate media has successfully managed to misinform, and has created a brand of cynicism that keeps people from the voting.


Iraqi Freedom my ass.

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