I feel kinda weird posting this in the "political" forum because I feel that it is an issue with greater implications but...<br><br>There are so many issues here. The biggest is probably the main thesis of Naomi Klein's latest book "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism". This book, should anybody be unfamiliar with it, outlines how Milton Friedman and followers of his particular school of economic development espouse the concept of using historical moments of crisis (whether they are natural, such as a tremendous tidal wave, political, such as the unjustified invasion of a sovereign country or even imaginary, such as the "GWOT") as opportunities to implement preexisting programs that would benefit particular economic sectors at the expense of public systems.<br><br>The extent of this philosophy of "socializing the costs and privatizing the benefits" is all too apparent in events such as Hurricane Katrina (the replacement of the public school system with a "charter" school system, the replacement of affordable housing projects with "upscale" housing units), the 12/26/04 Indonesian tsunami (the sale of prime beach property previously inhabited by native fishing communities to resort developers) or the invasion of Iraq (hello, Blackwater and KRB and Halliburton). I mean, come on. Can anybody imagine what the response would have been had the number of private contractors in Europe and the Pacific during WW II (the "good" war) exceded the number of US troops deployed to actually fight the fight as is the current case in Iraq?<br><br>Be that as it may...here are the questions from the mother of a soldier on his second tour of duty in Iraq.<br><br><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by cope on 08/05/08 06:52 PM (server time).</EM></FONT></P>

Those a very good questions. I wonder if she'll get answers.<br><br>