Palmer Events Center
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way From the War
RECEIVED Thu., June 24, 2004
Dear Editor,
A funny thing has happened indeed and I would like to share it with The Austin Chronicle readers. I'm an unemployed high tech executive with nothing but time these days to get as much data as possible, from liberal to conservative media sources, on this incredible war in Iraq. Having recently picked up reading the Chronicle (bear with me since I consider myself a Republican, God-fearing man and the Chronicle was known for it's liberal, left-wing bent so I pretty much bypassed it), I noticed an article by Jim Hightower on Halliburton employees getting paid six figures for driving trucks in Iraq and soldiers, in combat no less, making nowhere near that amount ["The Hightower Report," June 11]. It seemed incredulous at the time, but one day, as I was preparing for my daily training ride (alas, I've become a full-time cyclist/racer), a colleague from the high tech world dropped by to show me his new $50,0000 Mercedes bought with his $100,000 salary working as a buyer for KBR in Iraq. Now here's a guy who was unemployed for several years, cars repo-ed, and other nasty things that happen when you lose your job for several years, living la vida loca. Sure it's dangerous over there, but as Hightower pointed out, isn't KBR/Halliburton taking advantage of their connections and overcharging our government (i.e. taxpayers). I'm a glutton for information and the more I look into it, the more I get disgusted with the current state of politics and this unnecessary war in Iraq. Adding fuel to the fire, Robert Bryce's new book, Cronies, saddens me in that this whole Iraqi mess was nothing more than a ruse to fatten the wallets of Texas energy interests. Having grown up in the late Sixties and Seventies, my question-authority views have resurfaced and I for one will be educating other right-wingers on the wrongs of this administration.
A funny thing has happened indeed and I would like to share it with The Austin Chronicle readers. I'm an unemployed high tech executive with nothing but time these days to get as much data as possible, from liberal to conservative media sources, on this incredible war in Iraq. Having recently picked up reading the Chronicle (bear with me since I consider myself a Republican, God-fearing man and the Chronicle was known for it's liberal, left-wing bent so I pretty much bypassed it), I noticed an article by Jim Hightower on Halliburton employees getting paid six figures for driving trucks in Iraq and soldiers, in combat no less, making nowhere near that amount ["The Hightower Report," June 11]. It seemed incredulous at the time, but one day, as I was preparing for my daily training ride (alas, I've become a full-time cyclist/racer), a colleague from the high tech world dropped by to show me his new $50,0000 Mercedes bought with his $100,000 salary working as a buyer for KBR in Iraq. Now here's a guy who was unemployed for several years, cars repo-ed, and other nasty things that happen when you lose your job for several years, living la vida loca. Sure it's dangerous over there, but as Hightower pointed out, isn't KBR/Halliburton taking advantage of their connections and overcharging our government (i.e. taxpayers). I'm a glutton for information and the more I look into it, the more I get disgusted with the current state of politics and this unnecessary war in Iraq. Adding fuel to the fire, Robert Bryce's new book, Cronies, saddens me in that this whole Iraqi mess was nothing more than a ruse to fatten the wallets of Texas energy interests. Having grown up in the late Sixties and Seventies, my question-authority views have resurfaced and I for one will be educating other right-wingers on the wrongs of this administration.
Fred Valenzuela