The news for the Bush administration just got better and even better for the U.S. taxpayer. At a hearing of the House Appropriations Foreign Operations Subcommittee, James Jeffrey, a senior adviser on Iraq for the State Department, said of the Iraq rebuilding, "We have scaled back our projects in many areas...We do not have the money." But don't worry, these projects aren't all that important. They are only water and power plants. The total number is not known as of yet but one contractor has stopped work on six of the eight water treatment plants it is assigned. So no power, no running water, and no water treatment plants. Or as it is called now, New Orleans. Of course Barbara Bush thinks Iraqi people are better off...oh wait, got two stories confused.
One of the problems is that the money ($18.4 billion) that was originally marked to go towards Iraq rebuilding has been redirected to stabilizing Iraq. 22% to be exact or just over $4 billion. Chairman of the subcommittee, Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., said the Bush administration's redirecting of the funds, "was largely a chimera, a castle built of sand." Kolbe went on to say, "Reconstruction in Iraq has been slower, more painful, more complex, more fragmented and more inefficient than anyone in Washington or Baghdad could have imagined a couple of years ago." If this administration can't handle $18.4 billion in funds to rebuild Iraq, imagine what they are going to do with the $51.8 billion they now have with New Orleans and surrounding areas. One more problem is good old corruption. The special inspector general for Iraq rebuilding said they are currently conducting 58 criminal investigations. Only a handful of companies have been formally criminally charged as of date.
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina (or "Karina" as Laura "Babs" Bush pronounces it,) Americans saw record high gas prices across the country. Oil prices soared to over $70 per barrel. So it would be logical to think that oil companies took a hit also. However, ExxonMobil announced yesterday they expect their profits to be over $10 billion this quarter. $10 billion? That works outs to be $110 million per day!!! This a 69% increase from the same period last year and new all time record high profits for any single company.
Article comments
1 - Dave Nalle
>>But don't worry, these projects aren't all that important. They are only water and power plants.<<
Power nationwide has already been restored to a higher level than was available during Saddam's regime. And in fact, more and more projects are being paid for by the Iraqi government and by aid from countries other than the US, so this news isn't exactly the end of the world.
Dave
2 - Kurt
My family helped start this country; it is time we left. Ohh, it is getting ugly. Why can't we just admit it? The USA was sold off a long time ago.
3 - John A. Conley
Dave, "They also said some infrastructure projects handed over to the Iraqis had suffered because of Iraqi government funding shortfalls. As a result, U.S. funds have been directed to simply maintaining electricity and water plants the Iraqis can't afford to operate."
Seattle Times
4 - Lee Richards
Dave's comment#1:
A "higher level" of electricity in Iraq-what a great thing our troops are dying for! (For them, it IS the end of the world.)
Carpe Diem
5 - Dave Nalle
Lee, I made no association of the electric service in Iraq with servicemen dying. They're unrelated issues as anyone but a knee-jerk reactionary would realize.
Dave
6 - Lee Richards
Dave,
When name-calling starts, I know I must have hit a nerve. But your response is disappointing.
I don't even understand why you used "knee-jerk reactionary." Why would you think I am conservative to the extreme and how would that even be relevant?
You can sit in your quiet little personal space and separate "issues" into neat little piles to pontificate on if that's what makes you happy- while our young men and women face some real issues in the quicksand of Iraq. But how you can see each issue as isolated and completely unrelated to their presence and safety there is a mystery. They are as interrelated as it can get for those whose lives are on the line.
That-not a few more lights in Baghdad-is the real bottom line.