Blitzer: Iraqis playing U.S. taxpayers for 'suckers'?

[DeepModem Mom]

CNN: April 8, 2008
Blitzer: Iraqis playing U.S. taxpayers for 'suckers'?

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Just before and immediately after the U.S. launched its invasion of Iraq, Bush administration officials optimistically predicted that Iraqi oil exports would soon finance the reconstruction of the country. That didn’t happen. U.S. taxpayers were stuck with the literally tens of billions of dollars in bills.

Now, five years later and with the price of oil reaching more than $100 a barrel, Iraqi oil exports are generating huge sums — $56.4 billion this year alone, according to the Government Accountability Office. Senator Carl Levin, the Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, says Iraq now has tens of billions of dollars in surplus funds in their banks and in other accounts around the world, including about $30 billion in U.S. banks right now.

But Levin notes that the Iraqis by and large are still not using their money to build new roads, bridges, schools and hospitals. Why should they? Uncle Sam is still doing that for them.

“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,” Levin said in his opening remarks before the testimony of Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker. “As of last Thursday,” Levin added, “the United States is paying the salaries of almost 100,000 Iraqis who are working on reconstruction.”

At a time of economic distress in the United States, including fears of recession, home foreclosures, job losses, infrastructure strains, and health care worries, U.S. lawmakers publicly are asking why the Iraqis themselves can’t pick up the tab for their own reconstruction. Privately, several of them are going one step further — asking whether Iraqis actually are playing the U.S. taxpayers for suckers.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/04/08/blitzer-iraqis-playing-us-taxpayers-for-suckers/#more-6314

[Kokonoe]

1. Republicans play us? eom

[liberal renegade]

2. Bingo!

[jdlh8894]

3. Playing the U.S. taxpayers for suckers

Not just Iraq - It's the whole world! Need help?? Call - USA 911

[PDJane]

4. Iraq is a failed state.

The US is responsible for that state of affairs.

The infrastructure projects are NOT being built; the only thing that the taxpayer money has achieved is to make the contractors rich. Contractors, mostly American, are being paid huge amounts of money to provide what they aren't providing, and that includes clean water to the troops, who are going to come home with illnesses contracted from the water that the military bathes and drinks...the water that halliburton is being paid to process.

Instead of getting angry at the Iraqis for 'not stepping up to the plate' it would be more logical to start clearing the corruption on the American doorstep.

[DeepModem Mom]

7. Yep. Into whose pockets is our money going??? nt

[Frustratedlady]

5. Perhaps the Iraqis would prefer to use their own people for labor...

rather than the U.S. no-bid contractors? JAT

[Karenina]

6. WHO INVADED AND OCCUPIED WHOM???

This, Ladies and Gentleman, is American Exceptionalism at it's UGLY WORST.