US fears Baghdad cannot fund rebuilding

[Barrett808]

US fears Baghdad cannot fund rebuilding
By Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington
Published: August 3 2006 20:08 | Last updated: August 3 2006 20:08

US government officials have expressed doubts about whether the Iraqi government will be able to sustain US-funded reconstruction projects next year because of the volatility of Iraq’s oil sector, its main source of revenue.

A report by the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, Stuart Bowen, this week also said it was uncertain whether there were sufficient US resources available to support projects before they could be transferred to the Iraqi government, raising questions about the fate of the $20bn (€15.6bn, £10.6bn) reconstruction programme in the next few years.

Mr Bowen concluded that a successful handover of US-funded reconstruction projects to Iraqis would require a “multi-year” effort dependent on more US, Iraqi and other resources, given the expected funding shortfall and the complexity of the operation.

...

According to Mr Bowen’s report, the Iraqi government faces a cut-off date of September 30, at which time the $18.4bn US fund to reconstruct Iraq will either be obligated under contracts or will no longer be available to support projects in Iraq.

The US estimates that it will cost about $1.2bn a year to sustain US-funded projects, and that the US office charged with managing the reconstruction has roughly $372m available in its budget for 2007 for this purpose. That leaves the brunt of the sustainment cost for sectors ranging from oil, to electricity, to water – about $828m – in the hands of the Iraqi government.

(more)

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/b22d34ce-2322-11db-848d-0000779e2340.html

[Monkeyman]

1. Maybe Bush should of let the AG find the 26 billion

[flyarm]

2. oh but remember when little lord pissy pants would not open the

reconstruction to anyone but US corpsand their whore buddies!..they shit on world contruction..ohhh no they had to let haliburton rape American tax payers and at the same time rape the iraqi's..fuck little lord pissy pants..and fuck the rethugs..i say tax the people who voted for this shit!..tax them all make those bastards pay for this!..and make them pay for this carnage and destruction of a sovereign nation that we destroyed and bombed back to the stone age!

i am so sick of this crap..i am sick of haliburton, bechtel carlyle..all this greedy assed fuckers!

tell cheney and little lord pissy pants pay for it you sob's!

fly

!

[Thickasabrick]

10. Wow.....it's like you were reading my mind....thanks! n/t

[Erika]

3. Wasn't it Wolfie who said Iraq could pay all costs?

Why isn't this administration held accountable for their lies?

[ShockediSay]

17. So they made him top honcho of the World Bank

I wouldn't open an account there no matter how many toasters or shares in Haliburton they give me

[Recursion]

19. You know what's worse? We could have paid for 4 Iraqs...

...if we could find the $2 trillion Dov Zakheim "lost" as comptroller of the Pentagon...

[sofa king]

27. I think Wolfowitz knows where Dov's $2 trillion is.

I think he's in charge of dispersing it to its new owners.

[Seabiscuit]

23. Yeah, he said their oil would foot the entire bill for the war. So WTF

has Shrub been doing with all that oil?

[rusty charly]

4. "Here’s a record of what the administration, in fact, said:"

http://www.house.gov/schakowsky/iraqquotes_web.htm

[Erika]

6. Dupe delete

our troops died, and W needs to be held accountable.

[Erika]

7. Excellent post. W and his administration lied

our troops died, and W needs to be held accountable.

[independentpiney]

20. Thanks for the link

how can these bastards not be held accountable for these lies?

[Seabiscuit]

25. Yup. On March 27, 2003, Wolfie said:

“There’s a lot of money to pay for this that doesn’t have to be U.S. taxpayer money, and it starts with the assets of the Iraqi people…and on a rough recollection, the oil revenues of that country could bring between $50 and $100 billion over the course of the next two or three years…We’re dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon.”

On that same day, Rummy was gurgling:

“I don't believe that the United States has the responsibility for reconstruction, in a sense… funds can come from those various sources I mentioned: frozen assets, oil revenues and a variety of other things, including the Oil for Food, which has a very substantial number of billions of dollars in it.

Yeah, we know where the money is - In Baghdad, Tikrit, and north, south, east and west of there, right, Rummy?

[Donnachaidh]

5. translation -- Congress is making us ask for money

So let's start a PR campaign to make them feel awful about
*bailing* on the Iraqi reconstruction boondoggle.

[Erika]

8. Let's direct them back to W and his administration

who said Iraq could pay the costs.

[jwirr]

15. Any money to rebuild Iraq should come from a new tax on the rich.

[Judi Lynn]

28. Damned right!

I never could grasp right-wing warmongering Neocons demanding the middle and poorest class Americans financing their war which benefits only the wealthiest among us, anyway, not to mention the evil debt incurred for destroying all those human lives in Iraq.

Asking Iraq to pay for its own repair after we attack them, kill so many of their people, trash their country, leave them without any shelter or resources? Is that right, either?

If Congress would do its job, nut jobs like _Bush couldn't launch a war any old time they choose.

[rusty charly]

9. Dec. 18, 2002:

KING: What’s the current situation in Afghanistan?

RUMSFELD: It is encouraging. They have elected a government through the Loya Jirga process. The Taliban are gone. The al Qaeda are gone.

Feb. 7, 2003:

RUMSFELD: “It is unknowable how long that conflict will last. It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months.”

Feb. 20 2003:

“‘Do you expect the invasion, if it comes, to be welcomed by the majority of the civilian population of Iraq?’ Jim Lehrer asked the defense secretary on PBS’ The News Hour. ‘There is no question but that they would be welcomed,’ Rumsfeld replied, referring to American forces.”

[Erika]

11. Yet Rummy lied to Hillary today when he said he'd never said

rosy things about the Iraqi war. BS.

[4nic8em]

12. I guess all that

Iraqi oil revenue to pay for this "war" is all spent up too.

[MysteryToMyself]

13. Afghanistan and Iraq isn't enough for us to rebuild

Bush said that we would help Lebanon rebuild, too. So every bomb you see fall, that will cost each a lot of money.

Newt Grinrich said he thinks Iran and Syria should pay for rebuilding Lebanon because it was their fault. Good luck with that, Newt.

No biggie. Charge it to the deficit, Bushies.

[jwirr]

14. So *ss will be out there asking for 3-4b more so Helliburton can

make some more money off of this war.

[BrotherBuzz]

16. Isn't the 'Pottery Barn' rule still in effect?

[Recursion]

18. Never was

They had Powell go lie in front of the UN and then said "don't let the door hit your ass on the way out of Foggy Bottom".

[ConcernedCanuk]

21. Why should Iraq pay for what the USA destroyed??

.
.
.

"Reparations" were invoked on Germany for it's attacks and damage on other countries.

I see no reason why the Iraqis should have to pay one penny for the damage that the USA and their "coalition" has done to Iraq.

Also, the USA should be compensating families for the loss of their loved ones, usually in the millions per family member over here . .

You wanna play?

You PAY!!

[Barrett808]

22. Because, of course, they have oil.

Never mind that it can't be developed for another decade, if ever.

[Zhade]

24. Um, we blow it up and they have to pay to rebuild?

What kind of fucked-up logic is that?

[mikeytherat]

26. Well, golly gee whillikers, that's not what Paul Wolfowitz said in 2003:

“There’s a lot of money to pay for this that doesn’t have to be U.S. taxpayer money, and it starts with the assets of the Iraqi people…and on a rough recollection, the oil revenues of that country could bring between $50 and $100 billion over the course of the next two or three years…We’re dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon.” - Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz (Source: House Committee on Appropriations Hearing on a Supplemental War Regulation, 3/27/03)

And when someone f***s up, and I mean REALLY f***s up a prediction like that, where do you send his sorry, disgraced ass?

To run The World Bank.

If it wasn't all so tragic, it would be some of the funniest satire ever produced.

mikey_the_rat