U.S. Help for the Plunderers
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It boggles the mind how Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, wife Imelda and aides were able to steal, misappropriate and amass billions of dollars from American taxpayers.
Their lavish, obscene life styles of brazen extravagance, greed, opulent and corrupt conspicuous consumption are perhaps beyond the wildest dreams of any well-heeled potentate or oil-rich Arabian prince.
The overwhelming generosity of well-paid U.S. government officials and Pentagon brass for allowing this vast morass of deception, theft and corruption to continue for two decades is incomprehensible. It clearly demonstrates the caliber of incompetence deeply embedded in the hierarchy of those in power.
Diamonds, gold, expensive clothes and perfume by the gallon. Eight hundred million dollars in Swiss bank accounts, a luxurious yacht, extensive real estate investments in the United States, Europe, Brazil and the Caribbean. Construction of an unfinished Philippine nuclear power plant above an earthquake fault and an elaborate palace erected for the anticipated visit of the Pope that was never used, new roads and highways leading to nowhere. This shameful waste when thousands of Filipino citizens live in wretched poverty.
The President and Pentagon power structure should carefully examine any future military aid to countries where such abuses of funds are possible. Financial aid to Nicaragua contras is a starting point.
JOHN C. BURDETTE
Los Angeles
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