Abid Aslam, IPS News, 08.04.2008
[freely translated from http://www.propagandaschock.blogspot.com]
According to party independent monitoring group in Congress with nearly 196 million USD are invested their own money in companies that in return for the provision of goods and services every day, hundreds of millions of dollars from contracts obtained with the Pentagon.
David Petraeus, the top U.S. general in Iraq is to inform the committee of the Senate, to foreign affairs and military service this Tuesday and Wednesday. The latest findings on these subjects are not likely to have major impact on the plans this week, could However, the feeling against incumbent office holders for this year's presidential elections and elections of the legislature to heat up.
legislators hold shares in exactly those firms that overseas contractors of the Pentagon, are among them vocal opponents of the war, the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP).
Senator John Kerry, the Democrat from Massachusetts, which built part of his 2004 presidential campaign on opposition to the war, is at the forefront of those investors. Its shares in firms with Pentagon contracts amounting to at least a $ 5 million amounted to 28.9 million USD 31.12.2006 to 38.2 million. Kerry is a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs.
members of Congress is demanded that they take every year on account of their personal finances, their assets must however be provided only in rough numbers.
Other top investors include the deputy Rodney Frelinghuysen, a Republican from New Jersey, with proportions between 12.1 million and $ 49.1 million USD, the deputy Robin Hayes, a Republican from North Carolina (9.2 million USD - 37, $ 1 million), the Republican Representative James Sensenbrenner Jr. of Wisconsin (5.2 million USD - 7.6 million USD); member Jane Harman, Democrat from California ($ 2.7 million - 6.3 million USD).
Senator Jay Rockefeller, Democrat and former governor of West Virginia, which has presided over the Senate Intelligence Committee, invested some $ 2 million in Pentagon contractors, so CRP.
Other chairman of this committee also invested in defense companies, including Senator Joseph Lieberman, Independent from Connecticut, which the Presidency of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs held and the member Howard Berman, a Democrat from California, Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs House of Representatives.
are a total of 151 current members of Congress - more than a quarter of all MPs - 78.7 Million to $ 195.5 million USD invested in companies which received contracts from the Pentagon, each worth at least $ 5 million, so CRP.
These companies received in 2006 more than 275.6 billion USD from the Government, or 755 million USD per day, the budget monitoring group OMB Watch.
The investment brought in lawmakers 2004-2006 earnings between $ 15.8 million and 62 million dollars in dividends, profits and interest, the CRP.
Not all companies trading in weapons or military equipment. Some produce soft drinks or medical supplies, and military contracts represent only a small part of their revenue. Many are industry leaders and as such part in the investment portfolios of millions of ordinary people who have at least a portion of their savings in funds, of which hold these shares in exchange for hundreds of companies.
"Giant corporations outside of the defense sector, such as Pepsico, IBM, Microsoft and Johnson & Johnson received defense contracts and are also popular investments for members of Congress, and the general public," said CRP.
"These companies are as personal investments and as contractors of the military so common that it would seem difficult, a diversified build blue-chip portfolio without at least some of these companies. "confirmed the group.
If some stocks appear innocent, this would also apply to the legislature. Some did not buy the shares in question but inherited them. Many hold the stocks in blind trusts, which are so called because the investments are managed by independent groups, which would, in theory at least, the politicians have no knowledge about how their assets are managed.
Nevertheless, the CRP, the ownership of shares of companies that are contractors of the Pentagon as "problematic for members of Congress who sit on committees and defense policy and defense budget out to monitor. "
members of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and military service kept between 3.0 million and $ 5.1 million USD in companies that manufacture weapons or to specialize exclusively on military goods and services.
critics have pounced on President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney, because these companies had to connect to what were seen as beneficiaries of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bush was portrayed as if he would pursue the conflict in the interests of oil-fraternities, of which he is himself.
Before Cheney became vice president, he was the head of Halliburton, one of the parameters in the field of oil industry service and object of numerous controversies, including political connections, government contracts and business practices.
Halliburton subsidiary, Kellogg Brown & Root, was given a multi-billion-USD contract for works, accommodation and providing other services for the U.S. military after the invasion of Iraq in 2003. The contracts were due to Cheney's past and the continued financial involvement of the firm under fire and because of the fact that the company was doing business with the Pentagon to the exclusion of competitors. The firm was renamed KBR Inc. after Halliburton they last Years spun off.
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