U.S. Worries About $20B Iraq Aid (Spending money like drunken sailors)

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20031114/ap_on_re_mi_ea/us_iraq_aid&cid=540&ncid=1473

WASHINGTON - As if preparing Iraq for a transfer of political power hasn't created enough problems, here is another one for the United States: ensuring that $20 billion in reconstruction aid doesn't vanish in the rush.

U.S. officials now say speeding up the power transfer requires getting Iraqis more involved in setting the priorities for reconstruction — an idea the Bush administration once rebuffed. "There are lots of activities that they're already taking. Expect them to take more," President Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, said Thursday. snip

The Iraqis say they are concerned that this money will be mismanaged — for example, they have complained that it was unnecessary to train 35,000 Iraqi police in nearby Jordan at a cost of $1.2 billion, Dumas said.

"The Iraqis said we could have done it much cheaper in Iraq. The French and the Germans offered to do it for nothing," Dumas said. "We're spending money in Iraq like drunken sailors. We're trying to create a democracy in Iraq, we're trying to create a competitive economy. We have to use a process that is competitive and open. That's not what we've been doing."

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[ConcernedCanuk]

1. Feck the US's worries - they's the ones that blew Iraq to SH_T !!

. . you broke it

. . you fix it / buy it

NOT a new idea - right ?

From the Article:

"The bulk of an extra $87 billion allocated recently by Congress will be devoted to Iraq, and the contracts this type of money produces are beyond the reach of many companies — particularly those in other countries — and beyond the comprehension of most American taxpayers, said Lloyd J. Dumas, an economist at the University of Texas in Dallas."

the contracts this type of money produces are beyond the reach of many companies

now what Zactly does that mean

- that "simple" Iraqis don't know what a dollar/dinar is worth ?

oh - oh ! , I get it - 'tis only the 'Murikkkans that can handle that kind of money ??

and remember too 'cording the Geneva Convention

(ya, I know how much the BFEE has respect for stuff like that and the UN)

. . .anyways, . .

It is against the rules of combat to destroy stuff that effects basic living, like hydro stations and water treatment/distribution plants

OK - so the bombings probly killed a few accountants, and destroyed financial infrasture thingies -

LIVE WITH IT - You Broke IT - You Pay !

Too bad it is not ACTUALLY the BFEE that will pay,

but it will be the average American taxpayer's loss,

while the BFEE and Gang of Thugs line their pockets -

(sigh)

[karlschneider]

2. Most of the 'rebuilding' contracts are going to friends of the BFEE, even

though Iraqi companies (who obviously built the infrastructure in the FIRST GODDAMN PLACE) are willing and certainly able to do it for a small percentage of what Halliburton/Bechtel/KBR etc. are gonna charge.

But I guess they're just stupid ay-rabs...they've only had a civilization for 4 fucking thousand years...

[ConcernedCanuk]

3. I know - I know - almost like it's just a scam to fleece the taxpayer

. . at the same time trying to get the OIL that someone put under the WRONG country ?

. . - not to be argumentative, but haven't their Civilizations been going on for over 6,000 years ?

thot I read that sumwhere on this board

- I ain't no theologin or anthropologist, but I thot that's what I read

anyhoo, it' ALOT longer than the "west" civilization (if ya wanna call it that) created 'bout 400 years ago,

after "the West was won"

- hmm, - by killing the people already here and breaking all our promises

feckadee - nuthin's changed !!

Still invading, still breaking promises - -

(sigh)

[Jazzgirl]

4. My Mom and I have discussed this very point.

Their civilization has been there a helluva lot longer than the US's which is a "baby" compared to just about everybody else. I always wondered why the Iraqi's weren't rebuilding the streets, buildings, and infrastructure they built in the first place. They could do it at a fraction of the cost and have job creation out the yin-yang. Why * thinks Halliburton can do a better job is beyond me.

I read a blog by a young lady called Iraqigirl on ICH not too long ago. She has a cousin who is a structural engineer. He works for a company that builds/repairs large structures. Anyway, they were approached by the "Coalition" to bid on a heavily dammaged bridge. They looked at it and thought gee, it's pretty heavily dammaged and its gonna cost a lot but there's plenty of concrete so we can pad it a little for better salaries. They bid 300K for the job. They lost to an American company that bid 15 million! We are being raped!

Jazzgirl

[cliss]

5. Well, there's a source of stress for you.

When I read the article, all I could think of was, "a society which is cannibalizing on itself". Here the US is spending like "drunken sailors", have a grand old time with the money, circulating it back among themselves (they have all told each other that this is a good thing, by the way).

In the meantime, the US treasury is getting lower and lower. They may be having a fabulous time right now, clinking their champagne glasses together, but what about when the money runs out? Will they still be smiling and patting each other on the back?

Halliburton Oil has over 100,000 employees, mostly americans. Right now, they're doing very well. Corporate profits are up.

When the $$ have dried up, local Iraqis will still be placing homemade bombs under the pipelines and lighting the fuse in the still of night.

How many of those people will still have a job 2 years from now?

[Dr Fate]

6. That's OK- we will just ask the "Coalition of the Willing" for more $$$!!!

I'm sure theyed all be "willing" to gives billions of $$$ and all the troops we need...before the war Bush/media said the "coalition" would take the place of the "irrelevant" UN.

You worry worts- I know the "Coalition of the Willing" will help us- Bush/media told me so before the war, and they never lie...

[54anickel]

7. Mabe that's why Shrubs letting the Brits bid now - no $$ left!!!

They'll get the contracts that get paid with IOUs.

[htuttle]

8. Just wait until a real government takes over in Iraq someday...

...and they tear up all those sweetheart privatization contracts that have been going to Friends of Bush.

You will hear a wailing and gnashing of Capitalist teeth not heard since the Cuban Revolution...and not a single international court of law will rule in favor of the carpetbaggers currently descending on Iraq.

Since all these contracts are backed by the US Import/Export Bank (nobody else will touch them), the US taxpayer will have to spend even more than what we've already spent paying off the likes of Haliburton, Exxon and Bechtel for what they 'would have' made, once a future legitimate Iraqi government takes over and kicks them out.

[54anickel]

9. How's about 50% of all profits MUST be given to VA and majority

of it for the proper care of the folks who's backs they are getting these contracts on?

Can dream can't we?

[Gin]

10. I heard Dean say on a morning TV show that it will be 87 billion "a year".

anyone lese hear that? I think he misspoke...but I know the 87 billion was for fiscal 04.

[colorado_ufo]

11. This is, actually, the way I understood the original request,

that this is the amount that was needed NOW. The administration didn't even bother to tell a polite lie. It mentioned that the total cost of the war was an unknown.

Like everything else - one scandal and disaster occurring on top of another, before we can absorb and analyze anything - the shock of $87B was so distracting that everyone seemed to ignore the fact that this was by no means a bottom line figure. And the news media made no effort to emphasize the fact that $87B was probably just an appetizer and far from the main course.

Add these huge war costs to the record-breaking deficits, and we have an apoplectic financial event. Remember when the deficits were first announced? This was another example of the media down-playing the fact that NONE of the costs of the Iraqi war had been figured in.

[snippy]

12. That also is my recollection.