LETTER: CEOs should be prosecuted

Editor,

Although the Iraq war (and every war) is bad for soldiers and civilians – killing them by the tens of thousands in short order and maiming considerably more – it is welfare for corporations and the cronies that assist them. Recently, Boeing Corporation fired its chief financial officer Mike Sears and a recently hired executive Darleen Druyun for their under-the-table efforts to secure a contract for Boeing to provide the Air Force with refueling tankers. Apparently Druyun had been colluding with Boeing while still the U.S. Air Force’s deputy assistant secretary for acquisition and management.

When a corporation gets caught breaking the law they just lop off some expendable heads to escape prosecution and continue reaping the profits of war. Shouldn’t Sears and Druyun be sharing a cell with Martha Stewart? And why hasn’t Cheney been fired/deposed/impeached/arrested since the largest reconstruction contract in Iraq went to his own Halliburton without a competitive bid? Or how about going after Reagan’s ex-Secretary of State George Shultz, the one-time CEO of Bechtel now sitting on its board greasing the wheels for that firm’s Iraq reconstruction gift from U.S. taxpayers. And why not fire Bechtel’s current CEO who serves on the president’s Export Council advising Bush on trade issues?

More importantly, why aren’t these corporations prosecuted? Because American citizens are sheep so used to getting sheared they don’t even notice the draft.

Mark Ellis