AP: Iraq money would go to firefighters, hospitals, ZIP codes

AP/CNN ^ | 9/22/03 | AP

[Mark Felton]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The administration wants $100 million for an Iraqi witness protection program, $290 million to hire, train and house thousands of firefighters, $9 million to modernize the postal service, including establishment of ZIP codes.

A Bush administration document, distributed to members of Congress and obtained by The Associated Press, goes far beyond the details officials have publicly provided for how they would spend the $20.3 billion they have requested for Iraqi reconstruction.

[Mark Felton]

"Were parties here divided merely by a greediness for office,... to take a part with either would be unworthy of a reasonable or moral man." --Thomas Jefferson to William Branch Giles, 1795.

[Sparta]

How about privatizing the Iraqi postal service? Or the electrical company? Or the water company?

[July 4th]

"Tonight on FOX: Basra, 30910"

[general_re]

I doubt that it's possible to do that, politically or diplomatically speaking. I'm fairly sure that nobody in Iraq has the wherewithal to take over operations like the postal service or electricity generation or whatever, which means that to privatize, you have to bring in foreign corporations. And I don't think the Iraqi people will find that palatable in the long run - I'm sure they'd like to take a crack at running their own lives for a change.

It's a nice idea, and maybe worth offering to them down the road, but I don't think it's really workable at the moment...

[Mark Felton]

Great, so now we have a new, more remote, destination for our lost packages.

[MississippiMan]

So WE pay to rebuild Iraq? After we free them from their own oppression, make it so the country can benefit from the enormous amount of cash it sits on, and WE pay for rebuilding their country?

I only had time to skim the article; please tell me I missed the part where this money is coming from IRAQI oil sales.

MM

[Mark Felton]

The only money coming from ANY Mid East country will be the $$ millions being shipped from Saudi Arabia to the Clark Presidential Campaign.

[general_re]

The Iraqi oil industry has to be rebuilt before it becomes a real source of income for anyone, not to mention the security problems that need to be nailed down first - it's tough to sell oil to anyone when your pipelines keep blowing up every few weeks. Eventually, it'll all come back on line, and I think we can reasonably expect a fair slice of the Iraqi oil pie. In the meantime, it's probably best to think of this as seed money.

[CurlyDave]

Complete agreement there.

And, we should point out that people who blow up oil pipelines & such are delaying the restoration effort.

Not a cent should go into IRAQ which doesn't come out of the ground over there.

If they need money faster than they can pump oil, we might condsider a loan to be paid back from future revenue. Or, even better yet, let them sell bonds on the open market.

[mikegi]

paying to rebuild Iraq is pennies on the dollar for the return on investment we will receive as the middle east tastes peace, democracy, and prosperity for the first time.

It's worth a shot, imho. Will it work? I don't know. As with all big ideas it's a high risk, high reward gamble. We need the Iraqis themselves to rise up and take control of their own country. Of course, the Islamists know that a successful Iraq would be a terrible blow to their cause so they will oppose it as much as possible.

[MississippiMan]

paying to rebuild Iraq is pennies on the dollar for the return on investment we will receive as the middle east tastes peace, democracy, and prosperity for the first time.

Yeah, I think I've heard that argument about most foreign aid that never returns anything. What exactly leads you to believe there's going to be peace, democracy, and prosperity in Iraq? Especially since at least two of those three things are diametrically opposed to their way of life.

MM