Rosy Rhetoric Revisited
Rosy Rhetoric Revisited
Because it has been more than two years since the original invasion of Iraq, much of the American public has forgotten how easy Bush administration officials predicted the occupation of Iraq would be. The Washington Post reports the hard truth:
Efforts to rebuild water, electricity and health networks in Iraq are being shortchanged by higher-than-expected costs to provide security and by generous financial awards to contractors, according to a series of reports by government investigators released yesterday.
Taken together, the reports seem to run contrary to the Bush administration’s upbeat assessment that reconstruction efforts are moving vigorously ahead and that the insurgency is dying down.
Here are just a couple of instances of the Bush administration’s rosy rhetoric failing to meet the current harsh reality in Iraq:
CLAIM: Iraq Reconstruction Would Cost Only $1.7 Billion
TED KOPPEL: You’re saying the, the top cost for the US taxpayer will be $1.7 billion. No more than that?
ANDREW NATSIOS, director of U.S. Agency for International Development: For the reconstruction. And then there’s 700 million in the supplemental budget for humanitarian relief, which we don’t competitively bid ’cause it’s charities that get that money.
TED KOPPEL: I understand. But as far as reconstruction goes, the American taxpayer will not be hit for more than $1.7 billion no matter how long the process takes?
ANDREW NATSIOS: That is our plan and that is our intention. And these figures, outlandish figures I’ve seen, I have to say, there’s a little bit of hoopla involved in this. [ABC, Nightline, 4/23/03]
FACT: U.S. Has Appropriated $24 Billion For Iraq Reconstruction
“The reconstruction projects in Iraq and Afghanistan together represent the largest U.S. assistance efforts since World War II. In Iraq alone, the GAO said, the United States has allocated $24 billion and has spent $9 billion since 2003.” [Washington Post, 7/29/05]
CLAIM: Iraq Could Finance Own Reconstruction With Oil Money
PAUL WOLFOWITZ: “And on a rough recollection, the oil revenues of that country could bring between $50 and $100 billion over the course of the next two or three years We’re dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon.”[House Appropriations Committee, 3/27/03]
FACT: Crude Oil Production Has Declined In Past 2 Years
“Crude oil production has also dropped in the past two years, even with more than $5 billion in U.S. and Iraqi funds available for rebuilding. Oil export revenue is needed to fund more than 90 percent of the nascent Iraqi government’s 2005 budget, the State Department has said.” [Washington Post, 7/29/05]
“Restoring and sustaining Iraq’s crude oil production and export capacity have been slower than originally planned, and these levels were lower in May 2005 than in March 2003.” [GAO report, July 2005]
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umm, i live in Kansas. Wut’s all this “war” talk about? Where’s Eye-Rack?
July 29th, 2005 at 11:35 amNow even the Council for Forign Relations say that U.S. reconstruction failures are “fueling” militants.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4723281.stm
Any more stating-the-obvious reports out there?
July 29th, 2005 at 12:14 pmI live in the midwest and I say we’re perfectly safe now.
So you liberals in NY, DC, and other major cities can quit yer bellyachin’! You lost the election ha ha ha.
July 29th, 2005 at 12:16 pmThey have done little but build new military bases. Had hospitals or schools been rebuilt, we would be seeing them all the time on MSM.
July 29th, 2005 at 12:35 pmIraq “reconstruction” is yet another method to subsidize oil companies, as if the latest energy bill didn’t rape tax payers enough already.
July 29th, 2005 at 12:48 pmStill waiting for those right wing talk radio jocks to go to Iraq and show us how great things are going.
July 29th, 2005 at 12:55 pmMikey, you are absolutely right on. I would guess 99% of the money is going straight from the Treasury straight to Halliburton, Custer Battles, Bechtel. I guess some is going offshore – to the various Caribbean tax shelters. The only thing ending up in Iraq are Happy Meals for the troops and DU shells for the locals.
July 29th, 2005 at 1:08 pmCynical, they’ve gone and come back
http://www.buzzpatterson.com/main.asp
Buzz Is Home From Iraq!
Buzz and 6 other radio hosts have returned from their week of speaking with troops, broadcasting live, and delivering the message Liberal Media won’t! It was a fantastic opportunity to see our men and women in action; defending us and helping the Iraqi’s with their democracy.
Thank you to Stafford Hospitality in Tifton, Georgia, The
Quorum Resort in Tampa, FL and Stiles Travel in Sacramento, CA for your exceptional support!!
You can see reports and pictures of their historic trip at
http://www.rightalk.com and http://www.voicesofsoldiers.com. A short video is also available at techlily.com/videocards/danh/Soldiers_Voice.html.
Cynical, let’s see if you’re still so cynical after seeing and hearing the truth about how our troops are defending us and helping Iraqis with their democracy, after a short message from our sponsor — Halliburton, where looting the treasury isn’t just a figure of speech.
July 29th, 2005 at 1:20 pmThat put me in my place. They even took pictures of all the places they visited to get the real story: coalition hq, camp victory, and the green zone. No wonder I didn’t hear about it. The MSM doesn’t report all the good things happening within the green zone and other high-security areas.
July 29th, 2005 at 2:02 pmFor more background on what I call “the other intelligence failure” go to my blog. It has all the background on the Bushies’ prewar claims about reconstruction costs and their postwar lies about why they were so far off the mark.
Just click on my username.
trblmkr
July 29th, 2005 at 2:15 pmName ONE thing that the Bushies have been right on. One thing that they have done that has benefitted America as a whole. They are failures — all of them — and they are running the country off the road and into the ditch.
July 29th, 2005 at 6:20 pmMarie, they’ve been right on one thing – lie often enough and consistently enough and you’ll all buy it. Thanks a lot. I used to think Americans were quaint in their ignorance – its not so quaint now. How do we fight these bastards?
July 30th, 2005 at 3:19 am“if they package it nice and market it right we’ll buy bologna”….. (song from a Strisand movie)
It seems as if the Iraq people had more reliable utilities and voting rights under the Sadam regime…..
Hmmmmm……….
August 8th, 2005 at 4:44 amsite link popularity
One notable blogging tool that does not support trackback yet is Blogger. Many blogs have stopped using trackbacks because dealing
March 29th, 2008 at 4:21 pm[...] do more to pay for our heavy-handed occupation”– similar to the old Bush administration lying point? PAUL WOLFOWITZ: “And on a rough recollection, the oil revenues of that country could bring [...]
April 8th, 2008 at 6:34 pm