Listening to some of General Petraeus' testimony to Congress this week, one could hear between the sentences that all was not well with the war. The seeming success of the "surge" over the past months has now been tempered by the flareups lately. One word from al-Sadr and the whole region could return to pre-surge warfare with daily IED (roadside bombs) slaughters returning. That is indeed troubling and disheartening. Another discouraging and irritating piece of news is that, contrary to original intentions, the U.S. taxpayer is still paying for the reconstruction of Iraq. This comes as no surprise until we hear that Iraq has over 30 billion dollars sitting in U.S. banks. Thirty billion dollars from their oil revenue now greatly enhanced by the windfall soaring oil prices.
And then to hear our own Ambassador to Iraq tell the panel that the reason for this is complicated. And to hear him lie and say that the U.S. is no longer paying for reconstruction. Are we not yet paying the salaries of 80,000 Iraqis holding government jobs?
They have to be nuts and deluded to think that our taxpayers will stand for that. We have so many needs in this country for those billions flowing so easily from our treasury. The Ambassador seems to be an apologist for the disorganized Iraqi government. They still have not made the benchmarks set for them. Their success at achieving those benchmarks was then to drive our commitment to troops and money and other support. They have failed miserably yet we continue to coddle them, send our overtaxed troops into battle zones, endure the mass desertion of U.S. trained Iraqis, and write the checks for the bills as they come due.
And then to hear our own Ambassador to Iraq tell the panel that the reason for this is complicated. And to hear him lie and say that the U.S. is no longer paying for reconstruction. Are we not yet paying the salaries of 80,000 Iraqis holding government jobs?They have to be nuts and deluded to think that our taxpayers will stand for that. We have so many needs in this country for those billions flowing so easily from our treasury. The Ambassador seems to be an apologist for the disorganized Iraqi government. They still have not made the benchmarks set for them. Their success at achieving those benchmarks was then to drive our commitment to troops and money and other support. They have failed miserably yet we continue to coddle them, send our overtaxed troops into battle zones, endure the mass desertion of U.S. trained Iraqis, and write the checks for the bills as they come due.
When will we stop this insanity? When we will begin to pay to rebuild our own eroding infrastructure like roads, bridges, schools, power grids, and so much more?
Wars are expensive and maybe we have to finish what we start, but do we have to be hoodwinked into paying for rebuilding Iraq's roads, bridges, schools, and power grids while they invest their $30,000,000,000 and make even more money?
No comments:
Post a Comment