Article: Iraqi Troops Will Stand Up?

OK, let me see if I have a clear view of our US policy on Iraq. If there is a civil war, which according to the Bush administration and his cronies there isn't going to be, but if there is, we are going to have the Iraq forces deal with it. The same forces that were reported as last year as having four battalions independent that were reduced to one battalion. The same forces that went from one battalion to zero battalions a couple of months ago. (Good thing Gen. Pace has told every talk show that everything is going very, very good in Iraq.) The obvious question is, if there are no Iraq forces ready to handle, well, anything by themselves, just how are they going to deal with a civil war? Not to mention that they consist mostly of Shiite forces who are currently operating death squads with the blessing of the interior ministry. Rumsfeld and others declined to answer the democrat's tough questions. (Which it seems to me the safety of US troops should be a bi-partisan issue, but the republican congress is still wearing those rose colored glasses and questioning where are the flowers for our troops.) "The real issue here is, where will those security forces place their loyalties, and will we be caught in the middle of a situation in which it's unclear to us who the enemy is," Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) Those and other questions have been left unanswered. Do you remember where these leaders stance was on the cost of the Iraq war during the first year? The following is a brief summery of Bush's "war experts":

Press Secretary Ari Fleischer: "Well, the reconstruction costs remain a very -- an issue for the future. And Iraq, unlike Afghanistan, is a rather wealthy country. Iraq has tremendous resources that belong to the Iraqi people. And so there are a variety of means that Iraq has to be able to shoulder much of the burden for their own reconstruction." [Source: White House Press Briefing, 2/18/03]

Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage: "This is not Afghanistan"When we approach the question of Iraq, we realize here is a country which has a resource. And it's obvious, it's oil. And it can bring in and does bring in a certain amount of revenue each year"$10, $15, even $18 billion"this is not a broke country." [Source: House Committee on Appropriations Hearing on a Supplemental War Regulation, 3/27/03]

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz: "There's a lot of money to pay for this that doesn't have to be U.S. taxpayer money, and it starts with the assets of the Iraqi people"and on a rough recollection, the oil revenues of that country could bring between $50 and $100 billion over the course of the next two or three years"We're dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon." [Source: House Committee on Appropriations Hearing on a Supplemental War Regulation, 3/27/03]

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld: "If you worry about just the cost, the money, Iraq is a very different situation from Afghanistan"Iraq has oil. They have financial resources." [Source: Fortune Magazine, Fall 2002]

State Department Official Alan Larson: "On the resource side, Iraq itself will rightly shoulder much of the responsibilities. Among the sources of revenue available are $1.7 billion in invested Iraqi assets, the found assets in Iraq"and unallocated oil-for-food money that will be deposited in the development fund." [Source: Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearing on Iraq Stabilization, 06/04/03]

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld: "I don't believe that the United States has the responsibility for reconstruction, in a sense"[Reconstruction] funds can come from those various sources I mentioned: frozen assets, oil revenues and a variety of other things, including the Oil for Food, which has a very substantial number of billions of dollars in it. [Source: Senate Appropriations Hearing, 3/27/03]

The current cost on the war with Iraq is $246 billion and a request before congress for another $91 billion. These are the same people telling us not to worry about a civil war with no plans on how to handle it if the Iraq troops fail to act (which every indication tells us they will fail based on prior history). "What, me worry?" You bet I will. And so should every one else. So until there is a change in leadership, our troops, as well as the rest of our nation, is in danger. As I live in Missouri now, there are many who are against the president, but feel the discussion of impeachment hurts the country. All I have to say is "how could we be hurt any worse?" The neo-cons need a dose of reality and people to stand up and say, "No More!"