Iraqi government expected to have $79 billion surplus.
Iraqi government expected to have $79 billion surplus.
A new report by the Government Accountability Office estimates that the “soaring price of oil will leave the Iraqi government with a cumulative budget surplus of as much as $79 billion by year’s end.” Federal lawmakers have responded angrily to the news, noting that the U.S. government has spent $42 billion for the stabilization and reconstruction in Iraq since 2003. From a statement by House Oversight Committee chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA):
This report is going to make a lot of American families very angry. The record gas prices they are paying have turned into an economic windfall for Iraq. But the Iraqi government isn’t spending the money on rebuilding. American taxpayers are paying that bill too. This doesn’t make any sense, and the Bush Administration never should have let this happen.
The report also notes that although the Iraqi government has allocated $28 billion for similar improvements, it has spent less than $4 billion. (HT: Atrios)
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The Iraqis have learned well from their puppetmasters.
August 5th, 2008 at 3:34 pmWell, hey, the IRAQI crooks--er, I mean polticians -- have to have *something* to steal, don't they?
August 5th, 2008 at 3:35 pmThe Iraqi's aren't going to give us money for uninhabitable buildings, for non-working water or sewer systems. The cost of poor quality is billions in wasted taxpayer money.
August 5th, 2008 at 3:35 pmIraq will have a $79 billion surplus?
Isn't that nice. Sounds like it's time for a TAX CUT!!!!
August 5th, 2008 at 3:35 pm::::cues in the trolls:::::
See, Iraqi is a success, Iraq is a success!
August 5th, 2008 at 3:36 pmYour US tax dollars at work.
August 5th, 2008 at 3:36 pmShouldn't they give that back to us? Should the Iraqi leaders make a profit off this invasion?
August 5th, 2008 at 3:36 pmWaxman: This report is going to make a lot of American families very angry.
Yeah, almost as angry as "Impeachment off the Table" and writing Bushco another nasty letter while the Democratic MisLeadership sits with their thumbs up their collective A$$e$.
Almost.
So what are you going to DO about it, Waxman????
August 5th, 2008 at 3:36 pmILLEGAL INVADERS AND OCCUPIERS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY AND ALL REPARATIONS TO THAT COUNTRY.
IRAQ IS NO MORE RESPONSIBLE FOR IT'S OWN REBUILDING THAN A MURDER VICTIM IS RESPONSIBLE TO PAY FOR THE BULLET THAT KILLED THEM.
August 5th, 2008 at 3:42 pmApparently, they are fiscal conservatives who know how to get
dumb shits like Bush to pick up the tab.
August 5th, 2008 at 3:42 pmThis is the leverage for big oil to get contracts. Only the tzxpayer financed the war and ExxonMobile, Chevron, et al will reap the profits,
August 5th, 2008 at 3:44 pmDid anyone really expect anything different? At least anyone that has given the situation a second thought ! If you are going to invade a country for its oil then do it all the way; take its profits, too!
Disclaimer: I don't believe that the invasion of Iraq should have occurred, i have the utmost respect for all Iraqis: Muslim, Jew, Christian or agnostic; we should leave as soon as they want us to leave. The sacrifices of our troops will always be remembered and I hope that someday in the near future the world can look upon Iraq and all Iraqis as a free, sovereign and prosperous nation that is successful despite oil only be 3 dollars per barrel (USD, that is)
August 5th, 2008 at 3:45 pmIraqi government does not mean Iraqi people control the money
August 5th, 2008 at 3:50 pmFew people in Iraqi government have the power to use this money.
It is also put in one or two US banks in New York.
The Iraqis want only clean water and 24 hrs. electricity,which they still do not have.
While basic necessities of life still out of reach by the majority of Iraqis, US recently agreed to sell Iraq 9 billion dollars worth weapons.
Coming from the minds and not the lips of Iraqi lawmakers ??
August 5th, 2008 at 3:53 pmAMERICANS are such dumbasses...............
And yet Waxman and the rest of the craven democrat hoard keep funding Bush's war. Your right Henry, the American people are pissed off. AT YOU AND THE REST OF THE DEMOCRATS!!!
STOP THE WAR!!!
August 5th, 2008 at 4:09 pmAmerica is being fleeced by Bush and the neocons to <strong>"starve the beast."
August 5th, 2008 at 4:31 pmraynman Says:
The Iraqis have learned well from their puppetmasters.
August 5th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
______
No, that can't be right. If they learned from us, they'd be running a $79 billion deficit and borrowing the money from China.
August 5th, 2008 at 4:37 pmI think it's pretty amazing that a broken kleptocracy like Iraq actually has $79 billion left over after all those bureaucrats were done taking their slices of the pie. Pish-kesh, anyone?
I'll bet any amount that Iran is running a decent surplus these days, too. Oil is still at six times the market price pre-Iraq-Invasion...
August 5th, 2008 at 4:42 pmIraqi government expected to have $79 billion surplus.»
That's because the Iraqis don't have any Republicans in their government.
August 5th, 2008 at 4:43 pmAlert to RNC! See #18.
One of your bots is malfunctioning and is repeating itself over and over.
August 5th, 2008 at 4:45 pmHey, Themis, buddy...is the irony of a trillion dollars in US taxes being thrown into Iraq lost on you in light of their $79 billion 'surplus'?
Their 'surplus' is as artificial as the rug on your head, or the Rogaine that you use. It's being propped up by the U.S. military. They have money, thanks to approximately 100 times more money being spent by us in that country, not to mention the lives lost.
Yeah, it would be even more pessimistic if it weren't downright laughable.
August 5th, 2008 at 4:46 pmThemis, nobody's going to tell YOU what to think.
Comic relief, fellow liberals and progressives. That's what these people have sunk to at this point. Don't forget it.
August 5th, 2008 at 4:48 pmThemis Says:
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This proves that we were not there to “take their oil.” Otherwise, those profts would be ours, not theirs.
You fool. The neocons didn't invade Iraq to make profits for the American public. Where did you ever get that idea? They don't give a crap about you.
Saddam Hussein had to be removed because he controlled the Iraqi oil contracts and because he was about to start trading oil in Euros.
The neocons invaded to gain the ability to reward their favorite multi-national oil companies with contracts, and more importantly, to stop any selling of oil for Euros.
There was never any plan to deny oil drilling royalties to the Iraqi government. They have US federal lands for that.
August 5th, 2008 at 4:52 pmHey, Themis, if they didn't invade Iraq for oil, then why did they invade?
Because it looks like the cover story is coming apart at the seams.
Fool, indeed.
August 5th, 2008 at 4:54 pmIraq has learned to sucker the US taxpayer into paying for their needs ? They have learned the way of the Enron KBR.
Or how much do we owe the Iraqis for bombing them to the dark ages and leaving behind an environmental catastrophe ?
Or he who has the gold, rules. Iraq has the gold and we have the check. Additionally, Iraq has the oil. What are the chances that they are going to side for the USA against the rest of OPEC ?
August 5th, 2008 at 5:35 pmA $79 Billion surplus!!!
Now I remember why we invaded Iraq.
August 5th, 2008 at 6:00 pmThemis: Violence is down in Iraq. The surge is working!
Themis: Violence is up in Iraq. The surge is working!
It must be tough being so stupid all the time.
August 5th, 2008 at 6:49 pmFirst we go in and bomb the place back to the stone age, and then we totally botch the occupation/liberation and the re-building, leaving untold dead and millions refugees. Now we're outraged that they're not the ones paying for it.
August 5th, 2008 at 7:58 pmI sure as hell hope they have a surplus, since we have paid for everything since the start of this debacle. Interesting how a country that has been so devastated by an illegal occupation can have a $79B surplus, and the invading country, which is supposedly so far advanced and superior, has a $482B deficit this year alone and an over all 9 TRILLION dollar debt.
August 5th, 2008 at 8:06 pmIt;s very convenient that the same people who cheered on shock and awe now discover the old adage "Your break it you bought it" I can't seem to remember the part where the Iraqs asked us to invade their country and blow it all to hell. Maybe I was napping during that request
August 5th, 2008 at 9:13 pmSo they hate us for our... deficits?
PEACE
August 5th, 2008 at 10:53 pmmaybe now THEY can start paying thier own citizens not to kill our troops, so we dont have to anymore.
August 6th, 2008 at 1:28 amEveryone let's give Themis a break...it's clear that Themis never learned anything about critical thinking and laps up GOP Propaganda like a dog...
I almost feel sorry for her/him...
August 6th, 2008 at 2:01 amdidnt Colin Powel said before the war to Herr Bush ,you break it ,you pay for it.
August 6th, 2008 at 6:18 amThe iraqi's understand that all to well ,so they say ,screw you america ,you break it you pay for it.
rudolf Says:
The iraqi’s understand that all to well ,so they say ,screw you america ,you break it you pay for it.
True. What makes me mad though is that Bush broke it and I'm the one paying for it.
August 6th, 2008 at 12:02 pm