Bush pulls the plug on Iraq reconstruction

[Matt W]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story...676911,00.html

The Bush administration has scaled back its ambitions to rebuild Iraq from the devastation wrought by war and dictatorship and does not intend to seek new funds for reconstruction, it emerged yesterday. In a decision that will be seen as a retreat from a promise by President George Bush to give Iraq the best infrastructure in the region, administration officials say they will not seek reconstruction funds when the budget request is presented to Congress next month, the Washington Post reported yesterday. The $18.4bn (£10.6bn) allocation is scheduled to run out in June 2007. The move will be seen by critics as further evidence of the administration's failure to plan for the aftermath of the war.

How is this anything but another betrayl of the Iraqi people?? :rolleyes:

[bishop]

honestly, i'm happy to hear this news as unscrupulous as that view may be. i didn't ask bush to go to war, and i'm very sensitive towards our national debt problems. we'd be better off saving the money to lower the deficit than letting the wasteful government blow its wad.

[Matt W]

I see where you're coming from bishop, but I think it's rather sad that your view couldn't have prevailed before he 'bombed Iraq back to the Stone Age'...and is now leaving them to it.

[RickSp]

The Colin Powell pottery shop warning comes to mind about Iraq - "you break it you bought it." It appears that all of Bush's platitiudes about "building a better Iraq" don't even cover the damage done by our unprovoked invasion. Why am I not surprised?

[tivodan1116]

step 1) Using suspect intelligence, declare war on Iraq to divert attention from the fact that the government has done fuck all to reduce the likelihood of terrorist attack after 9/11

step 2) Invade, and depose the government in power.

step 3) Turns out the intelligence was wrong, so the original motive for going is shot. Figure something else out - Making Iraq a democracy, nation building.

step 4) Holy shit, who would have thought nation building was this expensive or tough? geez. Stop spending money on it.

step 5) Terrorists continue to destablize the now-weakened Iraq until it becomes like Lebanon.

How can anyone not see that this guy is a complete idiot? I mean i've been giving him the benefit of the doubt for a while, but this is ridiculous.

[PatrickHenry]

My opinion: the oversight is ramping up, so that the theft and fraud of the next billions would be too difficult.

Likely the grifters of Washington have a new manipulative scheme to defraud us all. This game is over! On to the next game...

[Clarence]

Quote by: Matt W http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story...676911,00.html How is this anything but another betrayl of the Iraqi people?? :rolleyes:

I keep trying to see the good things in Iraq and I'd actually started gaining hope after the last elections, however naive some might think that is. Now this. It's hard not to think that these guys are trying to fuck this up. Makes Pat and Gr8Dan's 'conspiracy theories' plausible to someone grasping for logic on this deal.

[nm420]

Quote by: tivodan1116 step 1) Using suspect intelligence, declare war on Iraq to divert attention from the fact that the government has done fuck all to reduce the likelihood of terrorist attack after 9/11 step 2) Invade, and depose the government in power. step 3) Turns out the intelligence was wrong, so the original motive for going is shot. Figure something else out - Making Iraq a democracy, nation building. step 4) Holy shit, who would have thought nation building was this expensive or tough? geez. Stop spending money on it. step 5) Terrorists continue to destablize the now-weakened Iraq until it becomes like Lebanon. How can anyone not see that this guy is a complete idiot? I mean i've been giving him the benefit of the doubt for a while, but this is ridiculous.

I am inclined to believe that this was the plan all along. The true motive behind starting the war had nothing to do about diverting attention away from the 9-11 bungles, but rather to bring about yet another one. Because, when that will inevitably happen, it will give our leaders yet more excuses for stripping away yet more of our rights, mangling any resemblance to a state run "by the people" that we once had. While I'm sure the president was not the mastermind behind this whole scheme, he plays his role quite well, and so I would not label him as an idiot. Sure, he may be dumb when it comes to book smarts, but he at least is smart enough to distract and persuade well enough to fulfill his goals.

[brien]

Quote by: Matt W http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story...676911,00.html How is this anything but another betrayl of the Iraqi people?? :rolleyes:

Probably is everything you, and others, all say. I also say GREAT. Just the beginning of pulling back the US money and military from around the world. Let's get to it.

Remember, if they were to stay and honor their promise, it would only benefit the US interests anyway.

The US needs to withdraw from around the entire globe, including the UN and NATO. Let the UN handle the world's problems. It is kind of like the cops. They don't need us and they expect the same.

It's long overdue.

[Clarence]

Quote by: brien Just the beginning of pulling back the US money and military from around the world. Let's get to it.

Shouldn't we at least restore their power first? If we pull back without trying our hardest to do what our Pres promised to do, The 'terrorists' will follow us home. Not that the decision to do what is right should be based on fear of terrorism. It should be based on values and integrity.

What's this really about? Is it an effort to trim down the budget or what?

[Scribbler1]

I'm beginning to feel sorry for the saps who still support Bush. They supported every contradictory lie this man has said and were just getting comfortable with his latest line of "as long as it takes" bullshit in support of the Iraqi people and NOW he wants to leave a bombed out, violently divided country high and dry.

[bishop]

i never feel sorry for dumbassed dead-enders.. i used to support bush, but i could at least be honest with myself and admit that i had been duped.. coming from someone that used to fervently support bush, i personally know the ego damage that switching positions feels like.. it's not fun - it would be much easier to shove my head up my ass and be an apologist bushbot instead.

[figure8]

Even I feel fooled now. I'd actually started to believe that despite the questionable legality and morality of going into Iraq in the first place, Bush & Co. were at least doing the honourable thing by adhering to the aforementioned Pottery Barn rule ("you break it, you own it") and ensuring that an already dangerous insurgency did not come to hold any significant power in a free, safe, democratic country. If they really are going to stop rebuilding the country, and the extremist element of the insurgency takes over, we will be faced with a much more dangerous world, thus defeating the entire point of invasion in the first place.

The conspiracy theorist in me says this is all a matter of basic business, i.e. the cost of setting up sustainable infrastructure is now forecast to be greater than any possible profit for the Bush administrations' corporate buddies. Perhaps those with "no war for oil" placards were right all along.

[bishop]

like rick mentioned in another thread, it's pretty funny how bush blew all sorts of hot air a month or so ago - talking about how we were gong to "stay the course", yadda yadda yadda...

now, all of a sudden we're planning on withdrawing tens of thousands of troops and cut funding for reconstruction. myself, i'm very happy to see these events happen. they probably would never have happened had citizens, the media and democrats not have kept iraq (and all the bogus circumstances about this war) on the minds of the country.

[Scribbler1]

Quote by: bishop i never feel sorry for dumbassed dead-enders.. i used to support bush, but i could at least be honest with myself and admit that i had been duped.. coming from someone that used to fervently support bush, i personally know the ego damage that switching positions feels like.. it's not fun - it would be much easier to shove my head up my ass and be an apologist bushbot instead.

I know. I supported him too, and right after 9/11 I was actually glad Gore didn't win.

That didn't last long.

I don't know about ego damage, unless you mean on this forum. I see it more as betrayal plain and simple. We were ALL betrayed, but some of us refuse to see it, or if they do they ARE afraid of "ego damage".

[PatrickHenry]

Whaddya bet that US bases are permanently occupied and Iraq isn't allowed to have support from any nations except those on the "approved" list?

[bishop]

[quote=Scribbler1]

Quote by: bishop I don't know about ego damage, unless you mean on this forum. I see it more as betrayal plain and simple. We were ALL betrayed, but some of us refuse to see it, or if they do they ARE afraid of "ego damage".

imo, it's definitely an ego thing.. nobody likes being lied to, and often enough, people choose to live in denial rather than accept the dirty truth.


anyways.. i don't see us fully withdrawing anytime soon. our country is an imperial power, be it controlled by democrats or republicans. there's no way in hell that the powers that be will willingly choose to completely withdraw. we may pare down our forces and eliminate reconstruction funds, but i'm fairly certain that the only way we'll completely withdraw is after the insurgency kills another thousand and maims even more american soldiers. plus, you gotta keep pumping money into the military machine to keep the beast happy.

[Scribbler1]

Yes, but since a lot of people are figuring out almost EVERYTHING Bush has done so far was a complete mistake I would say all bets are off on predictions.

[Keith Hamburger]

Quote by: tivodan1116 step 1) step 5) Terrorists continue to destablize the now-weakened Iraq until it becomes like Lebanon.

But, of course, Lebanon only stabilized after the US and Israel left. As long as we were there it was a hotbed of terrorism and unrest. Once we were gone they got a stable government and got control of the dissension in the country.

Keith

[Technosoul]

The news story called the former Irag a dictatorship - that is not factual because they held elections and elected a President (the same one over and over - hmmm?).