Iraq: The New Congress

Of all the things that might be investigated by the New Dems it seems to me that the unbelievable triumverate of Greed, Corruption and Incompetence which had a bachannal with American billions in Iraq would be the softest target. We are talking of the loss and theft of so much money we couldn’t count it before we die. We are talking about the party of business — those who take pride in their acumen and fiscal sense — who are constantly painting the Dems with their tax and spend brush. Here we have the tax and steal Republicans without a shred of shame. Investigations of military matters, strategic assumptions etc would tend to get mired in secrecy and “don’t dishonor the troops” logic. But going after the tax payer’s dollar might return enormous dividends for 2008.

I recommend reading this review of several investigative documents and sending it on to staffers of every congressperson you might know.

The Least Accountable Regime in the Middle East
Ed Harriman

US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction
| Link: http://www.sigir.mil

US Government Accountability Office
| Link: http://www.gao.gov

US Congressional Research Service
| Link: http://www.crs.gov

US Department of State
| Link: http://www.state.gov

Kurdistan Regional Government
| Link: http://www.krg.org

Platform
| Link: http://www.platformlondon.org

American military spending on Iraq is now approaching $8 billion a month. Accounting for inflation, this is half as much again as the average monthly cost of the Vietnam War; the total spent so far has long surpassed the cost of the entire Apollo space programme. Three and a half months of occupation costs the equivalent of Iraq’s estimated oil revenues for the current financial year. We now know, thanks to the leaked report of James Baker’s Iraq Study Group, that if US troops withdrew, they would in all probability be redeployed to neighbouring countries, increasing the already massive expenditure and inevitably threatening new arenas of conflict. Here’s an unimaginable alternative. If the US army left the region, and if the money was instead handed out to every Iraqi man, woman and child, they would each receive more than $300 a month.


The Least Accountable Regime in the Middle East

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