Iraq awash in oil money but it’s still tapping U.S.

At the very least, the Bush administration owes it to the families of the 4,000-plus Americans who have been killed in Iraq and to American taxpayers (for the hundreds of billions of dollars spent in that country) to ensure that the estimated $79 billion Iraqi government budget surplus doesn’t end up in the pockets of individuals who are now running the fledgling democracy.

Money does have a way of disappearing in Iraq.

Remember the pallets stacked high with dollars covered in plastic wrap sent in during the early days of the post-Saddam Hussein era that simply disappeared? There still hasn’t been an accounting.

Or, how about the $100 million — or more — given to Bush administration ally Ahmad Chalabi to finance an internal uprising against Saddam?

And, does anyone believe that the $100 billion that will have been paid to military contractors from the start of the 2003 invasion of Iraq to the end of this year will be fully accounted for by the U.S. government?

Bottom line: When it comes to American taxpayer dollars, Iraq is a sieve.

That is why the report by the Government Accountability Office on the Iraqi government’s estimated $79 billion budget surplus at the end of the year has caused such an uproar on Capitol Hill and around the nation. If there is a sucker born every day, America certainly tops the list.

Insulting

The excuses from the administration for why Iraq is not being forced to pay for its own reconstruction are at once not persuasive and insulting. To contend that the Iraqis do not have the knowledge or the wherewithal to spend their own money on their own needs — there are parts of the country that still lack all-day electricity supply and clean water — is to beg the question, “If not now, when?”

The GAO fiscal analysis was sought by Sens. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and John Warner, R-Va., the chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

“The Iraqi government now has tens of billions of dollars at its disposal to fund large-scale reconstruction projects,” said Levin. “It is inexcusable for U.S. taxpayers to continue to foot the bill for projects the Iraqis are fully capable of funding themselves.”

The United States is spending about $10 billion a month in Iraq, money that could be used to bring our own roads and bridges up to safety standards, or even rebuild parts of New Orleans that still have not recovered from Hurricane Katrina.

Sen. Warner was just as pointed as his colleague in his criticism of what is taking place in Iraq.

“It is time for the sovereign government of Iraq, using its revenues, expenditures and surpluses, to fully assume the responsibility to provide essential services and improve the quality of life for the Iraqi people,” the veteran Republican legislator said.

Members of Congress will undoubtedly be hearing from their constituents, as well they should. Given the shaky economy — President Bush’s ridiculous contention that America has no problem, notwithstanding — and the high price of gas, Americans are justified in asking why oil rich Iraq isn’t supplying the U.S. at bargain prices, seeing as how their oil industry has been revived by American taxpayers.

The spread of democracy, the cornerstone of President Bush’s foreign policy, and the fight against global terrorism do not mean that America should played for a fool by our so-called friends.