The Great Double Standard

A 62 year-old retired schoolteacher is being fined $10,000 for acting as a human shield in Iraq. According to US officials, "her travel to Iraq violated US sanctions that prohibited American citizens from engaging in 'virtually all direct or indirect commercial, financial or trade transactions with Iraq.'" (c/o fonadi)

The woman, Faith Fippinger, of Sarasota, FL, refuses to pay the fine, stating that she "will not contribute money to the United States government to continue the buildup of its arsenal of weapons." She has thus been threatened with having her pension and social security funds garnished by the federal government.

In the meantime, Halliburton, under the directorship of Vice President Dick Cheney, conducted over $73,000,000 worth of business with Iraq (as confirmed by UN investigators), while under sanctions. Rather than being penalized for "trading with the enemy," however, Halliburton has been given unprecedented stewardship over the reconstruction of Iraq, to the point where a recent Presidential Executive Order waives the company of all accountability for any acts it may committ in violation of both US and international law.

Fuck the goose. It's all about the gander.