Maine Owl

Damn it! The ungrateful wretches don't collaborate enough in their own occupation!

Basically, I'll just say what Gerald said. The news story this is based on is an AP release that also appeared on the front page of the Bangor Daily News, under the title "Collins behind effort to end Iraq's free ride." The Boston Globe posted it with a nice little graphic:



Iraq's financial free ride may end
By Anne Flaherty
Associated Press Writer / April 15, 2008

WASHINGTON—Iraq's financial free ride may be over. After five years, Republicans and Democrats seem to have found common ground on at least one aspect of the war. From the fiercest foes of the war to the most steadfast Bush supporters, they are looking at Iraq's surging oil income and saying Baghdad should start picking up more of the tab, particularly for rebuilding hospitals, roads, power lines and the rest of the shattered country.

"I think the American people are growing weary not only of the war, but they are looking at why Baghdad can't pay more of these costs. And the answer is they can," said Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska.

Nelson, a Democrat, is drafting legislation with Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Democrat Evan Bayh of Indiana that would restrict future reconstruction dollars to loans instead of grants.

This just indicates a certain desperation going on underneath the occupation. It is a colossal failure and people like Collins know it.

Now with the credit crisis and the economy nosing into a dive, it's getting a little harder to hang all the paper they've been using (off budget) to pay for the damn thing. No wonder Democrats and Republican alike in the U.S. covet the oil money. Yes, the Democrats are just as politically craven on this, for the most part unwilling to look in the mirror to assign blame for who is responsible for the taking and destruction of Iraq. It's just too easy to shift blame to the Iraqis. Here's how Michigan Democrat and Chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee put it last week at the hearings:

SENATOR LEVIN (April 8): On the economic side, five years after the war began, sky- rocketing oil prices have swelled Iraqi oil revenues beyond all expectations. Iraq now has tens of billions of dollars in surplus funds in their banks and in accounts around the world, including about $30 billion in U.S. banks.

But Iraqi leaders and bureaucrats aren't spending their funds. The result is that, far from financing its own reconstruction, as the administration promised five years ago, the Iraqi government has left the U.S. to make most of the capital expenditures needed to provide essential services and improve the quality of life of the Iraqi citizens.

American taxpayers are spending vast sums on reconstruction efforts. For example, the U.S. has spent over $27 billion to date on major infrastructure projects, job training, education and training, and equipping of Iraqi security forces.

On the other hand, according to the special inspector general for Iraqi reconstruction, the Iraqi government budgeted $6.2 billion for its capital budget in 2006, but spent less than a quarter of that.

And as of August 31, 2007, the Iraqi government has spent somewhere between 4.4 percent, according to the GAO, and 24 percent, according to the White House, of its $10 billion capital budget for 2007.

As of last Thursday, the United States is paying the salaries of almost 100,000 Iraqis who are working on reconstruction.

To add insult to injury, in addition to spending tens of billions of U.S. dollars on reconstruction, American taxpayers are also paying $3 to $4 a gallon on gas here at home, much of which originates in the Middle East, including Iraq. The Iraqi government seems content to sit by, build up surpluses, and let Americans reconstruct their country, and Americans foot the bill.

I have a completely different take on this. It seems fair to me that the hyperpower that took Iraq in an illegal conquest and occupation after which mass destruction and humanitarian nightmares have followed ought to have to pay. Of course the taxpayer has paid, mainly into the pockets of thieves while the likes of Senator Susan Collins looked the other way.

But the Democrats are ass backwards here too. What should be done is the U.S. should militarily get off Iraq's throat and then the contracting authority for rebuilding Iraq should be given to the Iraqis while the major imperial structures like the Balad Air Base and its hundreds of choppers and the massive embassy in Baghdad should be turned over to Iraq or decommissioned. Then the costs will go down. But payments to Iraq from the U.S. taxpayer are due for a long, long time.