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DEMOCRATIC DISTRICT ~B~ COMMITTEE SOUTH NORWALK OFFICIAL SITE Robert Burgess, Chairman Sylvester Maultsby, Vice-Chair Al Ayme, Secretary Phaedrel (Faye) L. Bowman, Corresponding Secretary Yvonne Rodriguez, Treasurer We appreciate your contributions. Please send contributions payable to: DEMOCRATIC DISTRICT ~B~ COMMITTEE ~click here~ STATE NEWS | ISSUES NATIONAL NEWS | ISSUES MAILING LIST EVENTS | PICTURES VIEW | POST - BLOG STREET MAP OF SOUTH NORWALK |
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PRESS RELEASES VOLUNTEER to join our team of members and government officials. You can make a difference. We are glad to hear from Norwalk residents with their ideas, suggestions and/or concerns, and those who recognize the importance of engaging dynamic participation in the political process. |
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WAR PROFITEERS, HALLIBURTON KBR is a huge presence in Iraq providing construction and petroleum services. BLACKWATER is a private army for hire. In 1997, Erik Prince founded Blackwater, expanding the family's Christian conservative empire into private security and war for hire. Erik is a former U.S. Navy SEAL and son of the late billionaire automotive parts supplier, Edgar Prince. CACI is an IT firm that provided translators and interrogators at Abu Ghraib prison. Former CIA agent Robert Baer on CACI's 'interrogators': "It's insanity. These are rank amateurs, and there is no legally binding law on these guys as far as I could tell. Why did they let them in the prison?" L3 TITAN CORPORATION is an IT firm that provided interrogators and translators at Abu Ghraib prison. PARSONS CORPORATION has had plenty of contracts worldwide, but nothing like this. It is a lesson learned and relearned in Iraq. The U.S. has awarded billions of dollars' worth of work to American firms in the most ambitious rebuilding project since the Marshall Plan in Europe five decades ago. But nearly two years after the fall of Saddam Hussein, the U.S. is still struggling to deliver electricity, clean water, healthcare and other services. DYN CORP INTERNATIONAL will recruit more than 800 civilian police advisors to help advise, train and mentor the Iraqi Police Service, Ministry of Interior, and Department of Border Enforcement. These police mentors will be assigned to the Civilian Police Advisory Training Team (CPATT), the component of the U.S. military Multinational Security Transition Command responsible for the U.S.-led effort to train and equip the Iraq police service, and will work with the military police teams under the command of Multi-National Corps-Iraq (MNC-I). DynCorp International will provide support services for the civilian police advisors it provides and for the judicial and corrections advisors provided by another contractor. These services include life and mission support, security services, and IT and communication services. PROFITEERS. Smuggling of Iraqi diesel oil has become widespread in the Gulf, with a market created by local and international shipping firms eager to buy cheap fuel to power their vessels, Gulf shipping sources said. As Iraqi and United Nations officials continue to discuss the next stage of a Baghdad oil-for-food deal, Iraqi middlemen, foreign traders and shippers are doing a brisk and lucrative business that runs into hundreds of millions of dollars. "The price of Iraqi diesel is 30 US dollars to 50 US dollars a ton below the international market price and when you want 4,000 tons or 5,000 tons for your ships it's very attractive," said one Gulf-based shipping executive who admitted to buying Iraqi diesel and wanted to stay anonymous. U.S LAWS do not apply to (American civilians) contractors working in Iraq. When a contractor's action result in the death of Iraqui nationals, the contractor is then sent home (as "punishment") only to comeback to Iraq a short time later and able to work for another contracting firm. SENATE COMMITTEE SEEKS AUDIT OF IRAQ OIL MONEY "...despite Iraq earning billions of dollars in oil revenue over that time period that have ended up in non-Iraqi banks" The New York Times. The Baiji oil refinery, Iraq’s largest. Although Iraq’s oil profits have soared, it is unclear how much of the money has been spent on critical reconstruction projects. by JAMES GLANZ Published: March 9, 2008 Two senior members of the Senate Armed Services Committee have requested a full accounting of how Iraq is spending its soaring oil revenue, amid starkly conflicting estimates of how much the country has invested in rebuilding its broken infrastructure and providing basic services to its citizens. The request, sent Friday to David M. Walker, the top official at the United States Government Accountability Office, estimates that Iraqi oil revenue could skyrocket above $56 billion in 2008, largely because of the rising price of oil. That enormous influx of cash comes as the United States has been reducing spending on the reconstruction effort. Since the invasion in 2003, the United States has invested close to $50 billion in reconstruction, but the effort has achieved at best mixed results when measured by improvements in the lives of Iraqi citizens. Still, the American military and State Department continue to finance a wide range of relatively small reconstruction projects as well as training and equipment for Iraqi military forces. Despite the dire need for better health care, more electricity and clean water, a functioning sewage system and other services, the accountability office has previously estimated that Iraq spent only 22 percent of the oil money set aside for reconstruction in 2006. And in January, the office, which is charged with overseeing the Iraqi government’s finances, reported that Iraq had spent a meager 4.4 percent of its 2007 reconstruction budget by August of that year, the most recent figures available at the time. As a result, the letter from the Armed Services Committee says, "we believe that it has been overwhelmingly U.S. taxpayer money that has funded Iraq reconstruction over the last five years, despite Iraq earning billions of dollars in oil revenue over that time period that have ended up in non-Iraqi banks."
Friday (2/01/08), NEW YORK. Exxon Mobil made history on Friday by reporting the highest quarterly and annual profits ever for a U.S. company, boosted in large part by soaring crude prices. Exxon, the world's largest publicly traded oil company, said fourth-quarter net income rose 14% to $11.66 billion, or $2.13 per share. The company earned $10.25 billion, or $1.76 per share, in the year-ago period. The profit topped Exxon's previous quarterly record of $10.7 billion, set in the fourth quarter of 2005, which also was an all-time high for a U.S. corporation. "Exxon can put out some amazing numbers and this is one of those cases," said Jason Gammel, senior analyst at Macquarie Securities in New York. Exxon also set an annual profit record by earning $40.61 billion last year - or nearly $1,300 per second in 2007. That exceeded its previous record of $39.5 billion in 2006. In the fourth quarter, the company said revenue rose 29.5% from a year ago to $116.64 billion. BTW. (Exxon Valdez is still on appeal, Exxon has never settled damages) The Exxon Valdez ran aground in March of 1989, spilling 11 million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound and killing tens of thousands of wild creatures and fouling 1,300 miles of beaches and surface waters. A class action jury trial was held in federal court in Anchorage, Alaska in 1994. That jury awarded $5 billion in punitive damages to the plaintiff class. The plaintiff class consisted of 32,000 fisherman, Alaska natives, landowners and others whose livelihoods were gravely affected by the disaster. Lieff Cabraser has served as counsel for the plaintiffs since the litigation began. The punitive damages award has been on repeated appeal by the Exxon Corporation ever since. In 2001, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the original $5 billion punitive damages verdict was excessive. On December 6, 2002, U.S. District Court Judge H. Russell Holland reinstated the award at $4 billion. Judge Holland stated that, "Exxon officials knew that carrying huge volumes of crude oil through Prince William sound was a dangerous business, yet they knowingly permitted a relapsed alcoholic to direct the operation of the Exxon Valdez through Prince William Sound.". In 2003, the Ninth Circuit again directed Judge Holland to reconsider the punitive damages award under United States Supreme Court punitive damages guidelines. On January 28, 2004, Judge Holland issued his order finding that recent Supreme Court decisions did not change the court's earlier analysis. The court specifically found that a punitive damages award of $4.5 billion plus $2.25 billion in interest was in accordance with Supreme Court authority. In reaching this conclusion, the court noted: The most direct and palpable effect of Exxon's recklessness was upon the livelihood of Prince William Sound, Cook Inlet, and Kodiak area fishermen. However, the spilling of 11 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound and Lower Cook Inlet also disrupted the lives of thousands of claimants and their families. The trauma was real although not physical. The court further found that: Exxon's conduct did not cause only economic harm. The court of appeals has aptly observed on Exxon's earlier appeal that "the huge oil spill obviously caused harm beyond the 'purely economic.'" In re Exxon Valdez, 270 F.3d at 1242. The social fabric of Prince William Sound and Lower Cook Inlet was torn apart. "Research on the community impacts of the Exxon Valdez oil spill clearly delineate a chronic pattern of economic loss, social conflict, cultural disruption and psychological stress. J. Steven Picou, et al., Community Recovery from the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill: Mitigating Chronic Social Impacts, at 6-7. Communities affected by the spill "reported increased incidences of alcohol and drug abuse, domestic violence, mental health problems, and occupation related problems. Duane A. Gill, Environmental Disaster and Fishery Co-Management in a Natural Resource Community: Impact of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, in Folk Management in the World's Fisheries 227 (Dyer & McGoodwin, eds., 1994). Also, several studies found that a high percentage of affected fishermen suffered from severe depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, or a combination of all three. The spilling of 11 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound and Lower Cook Inlet disrupted the lives (and livelihood) of thousands of claimants and their families for years. Notwithstanding this repeated judicial review and vindication of the jury's decision, Exxon appealed, yet again, the punitive damages award. On January 27, 2006, Exxon asked the court of appeals to reduce the $4.5 billion punitive damage award to $25 million for the catastrophic oil spill, arguing that the company has been punished enough by having to pay billions in cleanup costs, compensation and a criminal fine. At oral argument, Brian O'Neill, counsel for the plaintiffs, said the latest $4.5 billion award was justified, even in light of a 2003 U.S. Supreme Court ruling imposing new limits on punitive damages. Exxon knowingly "put a drunk in charge of a tanker in Prince William Sound," aware of the danger to the environment and the livelihoods of thousands of families, said O'Neill. In December 2006, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued its ruling, setting the punitive damages award at $2.5 billion. The case remains on appeal. (source: http://www.lieffcabraser.com/wbh_exxart.htm) INSURANCE INDUSTRY. After turning their backs on Katrina victims through claim delays, denials and disputes, the insurance industry just announced industry wide surplus profits to the tune of 547 billion dollars. (CNN News, October 2, 2007) Compared to oil industry profits (Oil companies make gains appear larger or smaller depending on who is asking; shareholders get one answer, tax collectors another. And authorities in one jurisdiction may get different answers from those in another) Oil companies continue to distribute billions to their shareholders, and here is one example of a former executive of Exxon/Mobil rewards as widely publicized. ~ExxonMobil has not been indifferent to the pension interests of all its former employees, rewarding its former chairman and CEO, Lee Raymond, with $144,573 for each day of the 13 years he led the oil company~ (Source: Nieman Watchdog - http://www.niemanwatchdog.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=ask_this.view&askthisid=00209). The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that Title I [The CLEAN Energy Act of 2007 (H.R. 6) introduced by the House Democratic leadership] would repeal about $7.7 billion in oil and gas tax subsidies ~for the oil industry~(approved by the previous Republican controlled Congress) over the 10-year period from 2008 through 2017. (Source: National Council for Science and Environment. -http://ncseonline.org/NLE/CRS/abstract.cfm?NLEid=1812) NATIONAL ISSUES
Mom Demands Answers From Blackwater By Wayne Drash, CNN Posted: 2007-11-07 20:11:17 RITTMAN, Ohio (Nov. 7) - Donna Zovko walks to her son's grave. Tears stream down her face and she begins trembling amid a steady rain. She kisses her right hand and with it strokes her boy's headstone. Three and a half years ago, she watched on TV as the bodies of her oldest son, Jerry Zovko, and three of his Blackwater colleagues were dragged through the streets of the Iraqi city of Falluja, burned and mutilated.  A Gruesome Death Courtesy of the Zovko family / AP Donna Zovko, left, says she still hasn't received answers from the private security company Blackwater about how and why her son Jerry Zovko, right, was brutally killed while working in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004.  [In March of that year, Jerry, a former Army Ranger who had been hired by Blackwater, was killed in Fallujah along with three of his colleagues. Their mutilated bodies were dragged through the streets and hung on a bridge]  [During the mission, Wesley Batalona, Scott Helvenston, Jerry Zovko and Mike Teague (not pictured) were killed after they were ambushed in their vehicles as they escorted three empty flatbed trucks.]  [Blackwater, based in Moyock, N.C., was founded by Prince, a former Navy SEAL. It is believed to have more than 1,000 employees (and thousands more in military duty) in Iraq and has been awarded over $800 million in government contracts.] As horrifying as the pictures are, Donna Zovko -- a Catholic -- finds comfort in an image of her son's body before the mobs got to him. His eyes were closed, his mouth open, as if he were calling God "to take his soul." "I just hope that he was referring to the Holy Mother or calling God to help him," she says, just steps from where her son is buried. Donna Zovko also hopes that she will get some answers as to how -- and why -- her son died. Blackwater officials have not been forthcoming, she says. After seeing Donna Zovko's story on CNN, Blackwater Chairman Erik Prince said of her: "I would be willing to meet with her without media present, out of fear of it becoming a media circus." Donna Zovko would welcome such a meeting. "I would like that. It would be one of my prayers answered. Maybe he'll tell me the truth," she says. Then, she adds: "Why does it have to be 44 months before they tell us anything?" Two weeks ago, on October 26, Donna Zovko was at the Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery to celebrate her son's birthday. A wreath adorned with 36 white roses -- 32 for his years alive and four for the birthdays he's missed -- stood next to the grave. Three yellow roses sat next to the headstone with a hand-written note: "Happy Birthday Jerry." "I miss him more today than yesterday. But I love being here," his mother said. Jerry Zovko, a former Army Ranger, had gone to Iraq as a security contractor to train Iraqi soldiers. When that contract ended in late 2003, he signed on with a different company, Blackwater, according to his mother. On the mission in Falluja, he and his comrades Scott Helvenston, Mike Teague and Wesley Batalona were killed when they were ambushed in their two vehicles as they escorted three empty flatbed trucks. It was the death of Zovko and his comrades that led to the first major U.S. offensive in Falluja, lasting three weeks, and killing 36 U.S. servicemen. Donna Zovko, a Croatian immigrant whose original name is Danica, told CNN.com that Blackwater chief Prince paid a personal visit to her to inform her of her son's death. He also attended the funeral, and the company held a memorial service for her son and the other slain guards. After that ceremony, she said, she and her family were taken to a private room where they pressed for more details about the events surrounding her son's death. She said she didn't get answers. A congressional committee had a similar complaint about Blackwater not being forthcoming. In late September, the House Oversight Committee released a report on the deaths of Zovko and his three colleagues, saying Blackwater had "delayed and impeded" its investigation of the killings. "Blackwater agreed to the Falluja mission before its contract officially began, ignored multiple warnings about the risks involved and did not provide its team with adequate equipment, intelligence or directions," the report said. "Mistake apparently compounded mistake." Blackwater has taken issue with the House report. The incident in Falluja "was a tragedy in which no one -- but the terrorists -- are to blame," the company said in a recent statement. Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell said Donna Zovko is "a grieving mother, understandably so, and our thoughts remain with her and her entire family." Today, Blackwater's Prince added this: "I was communicating with her all the way up until the time the lawsuit was filed." The Zovko family disputes that claim. The company, which provides security across the globe, has come under intense scrutiny since its employees were accused of killing 17 Iraqi civilians and wounding 27 others on September 16 of this year in a hail of gunfire in Baghdad. Donna Zovko and the three other families who lost their relatives in the Falluja ambush have sued Blackwater, alleging the company failed to provide their loved ones with adequate gear, weaponry and support. Blackwater has denied the allegations and argued the men agreed to assume the risks of working in a war zone. As for those who murdered her son, Donna Zovko said: "It's not mine to judge and I don't want to judge them. But it would be nice to know what happened to those people that celebrated the deaths of my son, Mike, Wes and Scotty. It would be nice to know if they had to answer to anyone besides God." One day, she hopes to visit that site on Highway 10 in Falluja where the killings occurred to build a monument to those who died. "They can knock it down and I'll just build it back up," she said. This mother -- who arrived in the United States when she was 15, three years to the day before her son was born -- then walked over to Jerry's grave and said the Lord's Prayer. "I'll see you Sunday," she said, rubbing the headstone. She met Pope John Paul II in August 2004 after her son was killed and he told her "God has accepted Jerry's soul" -- comforting words that still give her peace. "It was a big gift for me to see the Holy Father and to meet the Holy Father, but for the truth of my Jerry's death, I'd give it back," she said, choking back tears. "I'd say, 'No, I want Blackwater to tell me everything.'" Later that day, the tight-knit family gathered at a Croatian community center for dinner. Afterward, Jerry Zovko's brother, Tommy, watched his mom and dad walk through the darkness to their car as rain poured down. "We try to live a normal life," he said. "But it's anything but normal." 2007-11-07 19:43:27 |
