Weekend at Bernie's ...

[Pale_Rider]

BERNIE'S STUNNER

http://www.nypost.com/business/35781.htm

December 6, 2004 -- WASN'T it something how we all rushed to the edge of the boulevard last week to wave our hats and applaud at the news that former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik has been selected by President Bush to become the nation's new Homeland Security Czar?

Certainly it was a moment to remember for Kerik, an up-from-the-streets type of fellow who began life as the son of a New Jersey prostitute, maneuvered his way into becoming a limo driver and bodyguard for the Mayor, and has now wound up ready to take on the role of a lifetime as a kind of cabinet-level Bo Dietel for the whole of America.

... snip ...

Yet the President was oddly — and utterly — silent on Kerik's work in Baghdad, and perhaps for good reason. Though Kerik presided over the hiring of thousands of recruits for the reconstituted Iraqi police force, most were hired without background checks, and many turned out to be hardened criminals. As a result, some 30,000 of them, or roughly 25 percent of the entire force, are now reportedly being let go, with the U.S. footing the bill for $60 million in severance payments. i]

Ya feel safer?