Hashishi

Here`s an idea: maybe if we hadn`t embarked on this ridiculous scenario of 'making the war finance itself' by pulling in exclusively foreign, private contractors and paying them ludicrous amounts instead of using existing Iraqi firms willing to work for far less at an equal quality (if not better), maybe this wouldn`t be the crisis it`s becoming.

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Viper420

Have we really improved the lives of the Iraqi people? The Kurds, most definately yes unless Turkey gets involved too much. But for the most of the population, I don't think so. We brought them freedom but what is freedom worth if you can't feed your family or turn on the lights or get clean water? The surge provided a certain level of security by force of numbers. Is it a permanent form of security? Probably not.
This war is bleeding the US dry. Anybody have an idea as to how long we can maintain this expenditure of tax dollars?

Hashishi

^ Yup, it`s totally perverse. You can only keep the Shiites and Sunnis apart for so long. Hell, we all know the lengths Saddam had to go to to do it.

Not to mention that Iraq`s on the fast-track to theocracy. Before the last elections the entirety of the cabinet bar one had roots with fundamentalist Islamic parties- mostly those exiled to Iran during Saddam`s reign. Give it a decade, says I.

I`m angry enough watching the damn thing, but if my taxes were significantly involved like you guys in the States... well:

Billions of dollars for the Halliburton crew with what to show for it? Hospitals who`s drainage floods: power stations that never got into operation and have been picked apart by looters and, to cap it all, hundreds of thousands of lives lost.

Serious scar tissue, right there.

dedbr

All they need to do is spray everybody with Agent Orange. A little defoliation never hurt anybody......well, some......OK, everybody it touched......

Wait a minute, they don't have anything over there to defoliate.....

Ok, scratch that........


Some Where In Ded Land............

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Viper420

Not to mention the ungodly amount of money they are spending on the new US Embassy. It covers 120 acres along the Tigres River (it was a park before we seized it). Over 21 buildings, the facility will have its own water supply and sewage treatment facility. They will have their own power grid and all the buildings will be built to withstand mortar attacks. When its done, it will be the biggest embassy in the world. Guess that means we aren't going anywhere any time soon.

S2

Saddam provided more food to the Iraqis than the US-- No. That is not so. (edit) you know what- maybe that is so, Saddam ruled for 30 years or more--something like that- so yeah, he prolly did provide more food to the Iraqis than the US)


Much as folks may want to view this as another Bush failure, this news is indicative of the considerable progress being made in Iraq.

Reasons for the proposed cuts: Prosperity and increased liberty.

The Iraqi government has been planning to eliminate or limit the scope of the program for quite some time since it was developed in response to the UN sanctions prior to the war. The Saddam era program, riddled with corruption, favoritsm, and prone to abuse, has abysmally failed to satisfy the basic needs of Iraqis. The Ministry cites bottlenecks that have in most months resulted in deliveries that are substantially less than the country’s needs. But many Iraqi officials, esepcially Sunnis, have resisted scraping the program altogether, fearing a public backlash.

Currently all Iraqis qualify for the program. Families of Cabinet ministers, legislators, businessmen, wealthy traders and better paid government employees currently get rations and would likely lose them under a plan that will not be finalized for 6 more months. The Finance Ministry indicated it plans to eliminate well-off families from receiving rations. The Ministry's goal is the removal of well off Iraqis to give more resources and freedom to help other people in real need. Currently, many Iraqi children are suffering from malnutrition while wealthy Iraqis consume or resell free food provided them under the ration program. The Finance Ministry also said an extra US$200 million was added to the original US$3 billion budget allocated for next year to offset any possible increase in foodstuff prices in international markets.

Additionally, Iraq recieves substantial UN humaitarian food aid and the US spent over $200 million in food aid in 2006 and 2007 and is planning on at least the same in 2008.

Oh and by the way-- No one in Iraq can import grain except the government. That is about to change -- coincidental to the changes in the rationing program

The change in the food rationing system was planned in conjunction with the Iraqi Agriculture Ministry who plans to phase out next year its decades old state monopoly over the import of wheat and rice and allow the private sector to enter the market to improve deliveries of basic commodities.

For thousands of years, Iraq was a food exporter. But as oil became a larger part of the economy, agriculture was neglected. Now, for the first time in half a century, Iraq is exporting food. Agriculture has come back big time, mainly because many of the regulations government bureaucrats have piled on farmers for decades, have been eliminated. A farmer can now make a lot of money, growing food in the most productive agricultural land in the region

The Iraqi government is transitioning out of the food business and converting its sanction-era food ration program to a need based system for the poor and market system for the rest of the country.

Other interesting tid bits from Iraq:

Iraq has the fastest growing economy in the world. Increases in GDP for the next five years: 16.8, 13.6, 12.5, 7.8, and 7.2.


On an index of political freedom for countries in the Middle East, Iraq now ranks fourth, just below Israel, Lebanon, and Morocco.


Crude oil production reached 2.14 million barrels a day (MBD) in April of this year. It had dropped to 0.3 MBD in May of 2003.


Revenues from oil export have increased from pre-war levels of $0.2 billion, to $0.62 billion.

Electrical output exceeds the pre-war level overall, but is still slightly lower in bagdhad.

The unemployment rate in June of 2003 was 50-60%, and in April of this year it had dropped to 25-40%
.
Countries other than the U.S., plus the World Bank and IMF, have pledged over $29 billion in reconstruction aid to Iraq.

In May 2003 there were no trained judges, but as of October 2005 there were 351.

Since last Fall, over fifty U.S. bases have been transferred to Iraqi control. American troops are moving to larger, consolidated, bases out in the countryside. These require fewer troops to defend, and keep U.S. troops out of sight. Iraqi soldiers and police are taking care of security in many areas where American used to do it. This is why you keep hearing reports of plans to pull most American troops out of Iraq in the next 12-18 months.

Over 1.2 million refugess have returned to Iraq, most of the them Kurds and Shia Arabs.

Iraqi has gone from police state, to media madhouse, in three years. Under Saddam, media was tightly controlled with one state televsion station, one state radio station and one state newspaper. Terhe are now hundreds of newspapers, magazines, radio and TV stations-- not to mention bloggers.

More hospitals and schools are open and operating than ever before.

There's more.

It may suck to not be able to nail Bush to the floor with the state of things in Iraq-- but IMO, its time to wish for success for the Iraqis and celebrate progress in the hopes that they have an opportunity for self determination and progress.

Lets take the lessons we learned from the folly of our entry into that war and apply it to the future to attempt to hold our government accountable, but lets also bet on and will success for the Iraqis who deserve a friggin break after the past 5 years of war and decades of oppression under Saddam. Abandoning them now might give a warm and fuzzy "stick it to Bush and the neocons" glow, but it would screw the Iraqis and simply make them pawns of the left instead of Bush and the neocons.

(there's about 500,000 square miles of forestedland in Iraq and almost as much plantation and orchard land)

Hashishi

^ What`s this all about, then?

disheartenedwamerica

Or just another result of a war that never should have happened in the first place. The Bush Administration outright lied about the intelligence, sold the war to the American people, and then when it came time to show the "WMDs"...suprise suprise there were none. No I can easily see starving Iraqis as another Bush failure. I will get into specific reasons further on. For anyone who says they used the intelligence that they had, yes if they used the PUBLIC intelligence reports, the intel the gov't agencies had was drastically different and held that Saddam had no way of developing WMDs until at the earliest 2008, so right about now...

Call Saddam what you will...but atleast in a time of persecution from the U.N. our apparent global leaders, he was willing and heres the key...ABLE to feed his own people. Whether you would like to admit it or not the Bush administration sees to it that the funds go to more important things...like the military industrial complex, blackwater, haliburton, not mention the list of other contractors.



Considering it had a very low GDP to begin with and the fact that the U.S. is flooding money into the country I would hope it would grow.

As for political freedom, I don't see puppet governments as being politically free...

Increasing oil revenues may have to do with the fact that a great deal of the oil comes to the U.S. where subsequently gas prices have also risen drastically...funny how those two would be linked.

And as for the $29 billion going to "reconstruction", that isn't going to the Iraqi people it is going to U.S. contractors because the current civil wars usually leave most new infrastructure built leveled soon after it is finished. So yes, there is $29 billion going into Iraq, but don't expect to see that much more built. The U.S. has spent over $1 Trillion dollars in Iraq, a very small nation, and aside from not being able to quell violence with the most sophisticated, technologically advanced, not to mention best equipped army in the world, as well as mercenaries being hired, there is still no stable peace, or actual growth of infrastructure aside from the new embassy. Frankly it leaves me, an American taxpayer asking...where did that $1 trillion go, and dear lord who the hell decided we needed an embassy in Iraq, especially one that big. You want to talk about politcal freedom. Imagine opening your front door, in your "newly freed" country and seeing the occupying army building a super massive building, and still proclaiming that it is in their best interest...or the best interest of the region. Who are they kidding. Wonder why Al Quaida can recruit so many people....that is why.

If you call a puppet government and an occupied country free and a reason to celebrate, I must ask you sir, What are you smoking?

Nylo

That's an interesting article. It's a shame that standards still fall short in Iraq. However I have to side with the U.S on this one. Comparing how well Saddam was able to provide for the Iraqis to the capability of the United States is a bad way to observe the situation.

Being as informed as you obviously are, you're aware of the level of brutality and fear needed for Saddam to keep control in Iraq. 1. He wasn't fighting a global war. And 2. He never, nor could he, contribute a fraction of how much money the United States and privately organized U.S citizens pour into developing nations.

The poor rationing is shameful; but not really comparable to how Saddam managed Iraq. We could have this war over in a few weeks, if you really want to go that route.