Republicans Look for Ways to Cut Iraq Costs

[Nottingham]

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/redir.php?jid=f8a2f926844ecc4a

Republicans Look for Ways to Cut Iraq Costs
Tue September 23, 2003 07:13 PM ET




By Vicki Allen and Andrew Clark
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans, worried about rising costs and a lack of international cooperation in Iraq, were divided on Tuesday on whether Congress should make Iraq repay some of the $20 billion President Bush wants for its reconstruction.
"Many of us feel that the American people have done so much up front in lives and treasure that it would be helpful if we could see a potential payback," said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Texas Republican, echoing views of many Democrats.

Hutchison and Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins said they may push an amendment to the $87 billion emergency spending package Bush wants for Iraq to try to get repayment on at least some reconstruction money.
Other Republicans backed the White House view that Iraq is already too burdened with debt. They also said forcing Baghdad to use oil revenues as collateral would fuel speculation that the war was an attempt to take over Iraq's oil.

"Now is not the time for that," said Senate Majority leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, who called the $20 billion a "plug to get us to the point that freedom and the framework for democracy will allow capitalism to actually work."
Frist also said he would fight efforts to separate the Iraq package's $67 billion for the military -- which has broad support -- from the more contentious Iraq restoration money.
While Republicans showed growing unease over Iraq's costs and scant apparent interest from other countries to contribute to its rebuilding, House of Representatives Democrats issued a report predicting U.S. costs in Iraq could eventually top $400 billion, which they said would either increase the soaring deficit or shortchange domestic needs.


more....
http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/redir.php?jid=f8a2f926844ecc4a

Oh Lookee the Republicans are gonna try to cut coupons!
When you Millionaires just master card it! Its not your money ANYWAY!
:bounce:

[jayfish]

1. How About This Repukes.

Convince your president to eat just the slightest bit of crow and act like an intelligent adult in his dealings with the UN. Well the intelligent part may be a stretch.

Jay

[tooncesj0nes]

9. we could start by charging injured iraquis....

....for their meals while hospitalzed....and perhaps have a U.S. sponsored carnival!, complete with an old fashioned dunk tank with guys dressed up like Sadam and his sons. For a $1, the Shi-ites can dunk their favorite enemy of the state...of course, this would not work in the Sunni triangle. There, we might have a Rummy lookalike or perhaps even the boy prince himself.....

[jamesinca]

17. An idea I got from George Carlin

this is changed to fit the Middle East situation but it is the same idea he had back in 1972. Take all the Arabs and have them fill in the Bearing Straight, then charge them a $1 per head to go home. This will give us a lot of jobs and get rid of people that don't like the U.S. anyway.

How dare they think about cutting corners, they got into this thing as an occupying force and they need to bear the brunt of it, and we as Americans are going to have to suck it up until this is done. Had they voted no on the war, we would not be faced with this miserable situation.

[gratuitous]

2. Here's a crazy cost-saving measure

Don't launch unilateral invasions of other countries that aren't a threat to us!

[jayfish]

3. That Is Nutty! -NT-

Jay

[Evanstondem]

6. Naah

Unilateral invasions make it much easier for W & Cheney to funnel huge boatloads of money to the people who made them rich!

[Nottingham]

4. Oh Ya and Iraqi's Give us that cheap oil and we will help ya!

Aren't we really sweet! :bounce:

[Enraged_Ape]

5. How about (GASP) taking international bids to rebuild the oil network?

But then Cheney's Halliburton might (most likely would) get cut out of it, and that would just be a shame, wouldn't it?

Plus there would probably be less "sabotage" of the pipelines, and we can't have that either, can we?

[roguevalley]

7. cost cutting ... in Iraq ...

I suppose our boys won't be eating butter on their bread, or sleeping in real shelters or drinking too much water. Uh, oh.
They aren't NOW.

Sorry. Never mind.

[pansypoo53219]

8. butter?

are you insane. not in 120f.

i say Bush will just send the civilians to India. sort of like jobs.

[lanlady]

10. I'd like to know the names of the Democrats

who, acc. to this article, are agreeing :mad: with the dopey Sen. Hutchinson.:puke:

[Mari333]

11. Think they might start by rolling back the tax cuts to the wealthy

Benefactors and corporations who own the GOP? NAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW...
Hypocrites.
They will steal the life saving of elderly widows and throw the poor into cardboard boxes first...or dig the gold teeth out of their grandmother's mouths ..
They wont touch Halliburton or their own interests.
Whores .

[Aidoneus]

12. *cough*end the occupation*cough*

there's some $60,000,000,000 freed up overnight..

[jayfish]

16. Your Post Got Me Thinking A Bit.

How much is it going to cost to bring our forces home once the occupation is over and has this figure been included in any of the cost estimates we have been hearing?

Jay

[KharmaTrain]

13. I'm Dreaming Of A Windfall Profits Tax...

Again only dreaming here, folks...

Think of how many billions we could use in this "reconstruction" effort (of all the stuff we destroyed) with a simple 25% windfall tax on the profits of Brown & Root, HaLLiburton, Bechtel and any other company with a government contract in Iraq. Now isn't their work supposed to be for the "security" of the American people? Doesn't that mean sacrifice? Since we wouldn't dare draft those geeky Repugnican nurds, let's just ask them to make a financial...the ultimate sacrifice.

Again...only dreaming here folks...

[booksenkatz]

14. Yoo-hoo, Miss Kay

Does it *really* seem fair to make the rape victim we've impregnated pay for the costs of giving birth to/raising the child? They didn't ask for this, you know. Bitch. (Sorry, couldn't help myself. Carefully coiffed snooty WASPs who've never known the meaning of discomfort or deprivation bring out the worst in me.)

[Jack Rabbit]

15. First, we had war on the cheap

Now, we'll have colonial occupation on the cheap.

It's not just Republicans. I was watching an except of Mr. Bremer's testimoney before a Senate committee the other day. Senator Byron Dorgen (D-North Dakota) asked Bremer why Iraqi oil couldn't finance Iraq's reconstruction. As one who protested the war and its colonial colonial nature last winter, the suggestion that Iraq pay for its rape by forking over its natural resources to the rapist doesn't sound any better coming from a Democratic senator than it does coming from a PNAC thug.

The solution is to find real Iraqi leaders (distinct from Bremer's handpicked quislings) who can govern the country and hand over power to them soon, then leave. The contracts awarded by the Bushies to their multinational corporate cronies should be cancelled and any sales of Iraqi resources to Bush's cronies approved by the quisling Governing Council should be nullified. The new Iraqi government should be negotiate new roconstruction contracts and arrange for the delivery of public services as it sees fit.

[underpants]

19. How many ways were those magic oil dollars being spent?

Let's see

Rebuild Iraqi infrastructure
Pay for our military costs
Pay the return on investment of the contractors
Pay off Iraqi debt
oh yeah return the wealth to the Iraqi people

Gee that's one magic dollar.
With all the CEO's and Board members who put this together you'd think they would understand revenue and cost better.....oh yeah W himself never could make a buck without stealing land from farmers to build a ballpark and Dick was a virtual government hand out welfare queen.

Talk about cheap how about the pay the military gets and add the fact that they can't really quit. Of course they do have to pay fo rtheir meals if injured, ya know not killing to make THEM more money (not "producing").

[Bandit]

18. I know ~ Let's have a bake sale.

It's all half baked anyway. :silly:

[Minstrel Boy]

20. For starters, how about Bremer

stops sending his laundry to Kuwait?

[underpants]

22. What happened to all that money they were finding?

Remember it was like $30 Million in a two day span as well as piles here and boxes there. Hell didn't they find all of the BILLION dollars Saddam had trucked out of the main bank?

What happened to all of that? Can we get an accounting for that or should I just shut my 'Murka hating liberal piehole and go sit with my nose in the corner for asking such questions?

[rocktivity]

21. From Today's Baghdad Burning:

"As for employing the locals… things are becoming a little bit clearer. Major reconstruction contracts are being given to the huge companies, like Bechtel and Halliburton, for millions of dollars. These companies, in turn, employ the Iraqis in the following way: they first ask for bids on specific projects. The Iraqi company with the lowest bid is selected to do the work. The Iraqi company gets *exactly* what it bid from the huge conglomerate, which is usually only a fraction of the original contract price. Hence, projects that should cost $1,000,000 end up costing $50,000,000.

"...wouldn’t it be a) more economical and b) more profitable to the Iraqis to hand the work over directly to experienced Iraqi companies? Why not work directly with...companies and factories that...made everything from missiles to electrical components...to...candy...? Why not work with the bridge, housing and building companies under the Ministry of Housing that have been heading the reconstruction efforts ever since 1991?

"...Some of the best engineers, scientists, architects and technicians are currently out of work because their companies have nothing to do and there are no funds to keep them functioning...Instead of spending the endless billions on multinational companies, why not spend only millions on importing spare parts and renovating factories and plants?"

http://www.riverbendblog.blogspot.com/


rocknation

[underpants]

23. But then where's the middle man? Where the profit margin?

Come on the "liberation" was only mentioned when the sandstorms hit and the "well fair of the Iraqi" people is just UN-appeasementspeak.

Notice that "freeing the Iraqis" was not one of the shrunken for mass consumption selling points, that is too wishywashy liberal type stuff. That doesn't make you think you pecker is bigger because you watch it on television.

[rocktivity]

24. Dupe--sorry

eom

[Buns_of_Fire]

25. The time has truly come...

Americathon at Amazon.com

[treepig]

26. it's just common sense that the iraqi's should pay for the rebuilding

heck, they should also be billed for all those smart bombs used in their liberation!

(or if you don't subscribe to the myth of the iraqi's liberation, perhaps a better analogy would be the families of those executed in china being billed a few cents for the bullets used in the execution).

[davidinalameda]

27. please pay us for invading your country

and destroying your infrastructure

makes perfect sense to me