Calling All Bush Drones

HELP WANTED! No Experience Necessary. Intelligence and Education — Not Relevant. Must have BLIND UNQUESTIONING LOYALTY to George W. Bush.

Right after the fall of Saddam Hussein — somewhere between Mission Accomplished and the showering of American troops with flowers and ice cream — the U.S. began recruiting people to help with Iraq’s reconstruction. All kinds of people were interested: people who were experts in their fields, were fluent in Arabic, or who just wanted some adventure.

Unfortunately, the empire-builders weren’t looking for expertise. The only trait they were interested in was rigid, unthinking dronelike loyalty to the neocon agenda.

Applicants were asked: Did you vote for George W. Bush in 2000? Do you support the way the president is fighting the war on terror? How do you feel about Roe vs. Wade?

One person who answered these questions “correctly” was put in charge of reopening Baghdad’s stock market — even though this person had absolutely ZERO financial experience.

A woman with no accounting experience was hired to manage Iraq’s $13 billion economy. BUT, she was the daughter of a rightwing commentator and a recent graduate of an evangelical university for home-schooled children.

Needless to say, establishing a rightwing Republican agenda in Iraq was the top priority for these employees. Ending food rations, establishing a flat tax — these items were at the top of the list.

Also, a lot of these employees spent most of their time in a luxurious walled-off enclave in Baghdad with swimming pools and fully-stocked bars.

This transitional team had 1,500 employees who worked for America’s viceroy, L. Paul Bremer. One of their former high-level employees now says “We just didn’t tap the right people to do this job. It was a tough, tough job. Instead we got people who went out there because of their political leanings.”

Ah, hindsight.