We're fighting them there (Iraq) . . . and, they want us to pay for it

[bigtree]

Iraqi Officials Ask for Aid for War on Terror

By PAUL von ZIELBAUER
Published: July 31, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 30 — Two high-ranking Iraqi government officials said Sunday that their country was fighting international terrorists on its own soil on behalf of other countries and should, as a result, be compensated with economic and military assistance.

The comments by the two Iraqi officials, the national security adviser and a deputy prime minister, echo the argument adopted by the Bush administration after the invasion in 2003 to justify its actions after its original contention that Saddam Hussein possessed unconventional weapons proved unfounded.

“We are fighting terrorism in Iraq, not only for Iraqis but also on behalf of the international community,” said Barham Salih, a deputy prime minister, during a news conference that covered a wide range of economic, security and anticorruption initiatives.

The national security adviser, Mowaffak al-Rubaie, who also attended the news conference, made a statement of his own later using remarkably similar language. “Iraq is now defending not only Iraqis but is also defending the region and the world,” he said. “So what is the world giving us in return?”

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/31/world/middleeast/31iraq.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print


my 2 cents (on time):


Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Fighting Them There, As We Create Them Everywhere Else

. . . if it is our presence in Iraq that is a magnet for combatants, then it's immoral to expect Iraqis to continue to bear the brunt of those violent expressions of resentment that are directed at the U.S.

http://www.opednews.com/author/author176.html

[Double T]

1. Iraq has turned into a bottomless money pit..........

and there is NO LIGHT (or anything else) at the end of the tunnel.

[Maggie_May]

2. omg

I can't believe what I just read. Giving up our men and women to die for nothing in my eyes isn't enough!!

[bigtree]

3. I don't remember them inviting us

[Viva_La_Revolution]

4. no kidding

We bombed it and broke it... so we bought it.

Think they'll accept a IOU until our next loan payment from China comes in?

[Maggie_May]

5. I do agree with you

but I can't wasting another dime or another life for this war. The Iraqi government doesn't want us out the Iraqi people do. The Iraqi government will milk our resources as long as they can.

[bigtree]

6. now I agree with you

I wonder how serious this is. If you read further, the story mentions that this may just be talk without any realistic legislative vehicle in the Iraqi parliment.

Good point though by the official. What is the US/world giving Iraq in return for making their country a terror lure, stirring up resentment, muckraking on one side of the divisions there? We should fight our own battles on our own turf, not on Iraq's

[Maggie_May]

7. Lets see what happens

I really think this is the turning point for Iraq. Or should I say a do or die situation. You have our 2006 elections coming and you have the U.S eventually going to run out of funding. The Iraqi official does have a great point Bush is always said fight them there not here. But really how much is that bullshit. Do you really think that we are fighting them terrorist or just trying so stop a civil war? This is Bush's war and he has no idea how to control it.

[Disturbed]

8. Who is paying the people in the Iraqi Govt.?

What are their salaries?

[Maggie_May]

9. Good question

I know that they have started making some money off there oil. I did even read that they want to raise there gas prices over there. There government kind of looks like our (Ha Ha). They pay nothing like us for there oil. But also they get paid pennies for labor.

[tabasco]

10. We're payin' em off with FREEDOM !

They will owe us extra for all the democracy !

:sarcasm:

[Maggie_May]

11. Yes and they should be grateful!

:sarcasm:

[tabasco]

12. Yes! Good old fashioned Murikan-style freedom!

Right out the end of a tank barrel!

We spend half a trillion every year for "defense."

What's a few more billion to pay off the rackies to let us sit on top the oil??

FREEDOM ON THE MARCH!!