Senators: Where is Iraq's oil money going?

Spencer Collins · #1 (**permalink**) 03-09-2008, 05:10 PM

Senators: Where is Iraq's oil money going?

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Two senators are asking congressional investigators to look at Iraq's oil revenues and see if the war-ravaged nation can pay for its own reconstruction, an effort that has been bankrolled to this point mostly by U.S. taxpayers.

Carl Levin, D-Michigan, and John Warner, R-Virginia, said in their Friday letter to the Government Accountability Office that Iraq has "tremendous resources" in banks worldwide but is doing little to improve security and reconstruction efforts.

Iraqi officials did not immediately respond to the senators' allegations.

"We believe that it has been overwhelmingly U.S. taxpayer money that has funded Iraq reconstruction over the last five years, despite Iraq earning billions of dollars in oil revenue over that time period that have ended up in non-Iraqi banks," wrote the senators, who are their party's top members on the Armed Services Committee.

The senators cited testimony of then-Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz who told a House subcommittee in March 2003 that the U.S. would not foot the entire bill for rebuilding Iraq. Wolfowitz predicted then that Iraq's oil revenues could reach between $50 billion and $100 billion in the next two or three years.

"We are dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction and relatively soon," Wolfowitz said in 2003.

Senators: Where is Iraq's oil money going? - CNN.com

I'm all for helping with security and reconstruction but soon Iraq must do it's part.

cnredd · #2 (**permalink**) 03-09-2008, 05:22 PM

If they find any hidden revenues they should be redirected striaght to the military as repayment...

Spencer Collins · #3 (**permalink**) 03-09-2008, 05:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cnredd

If they find any hidden revenues they should be redirected striaght to the military as repayment...

Exactly..if they are able to pay,they should financially support their own future.

saltwn · #4 (**permalink**) 03-09-2008, 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spencer Collins

Senators: Where is Iraq's oil money going?

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Two senators are asking congressional investigators to look at Iraq's oil revenues and see if the war-ravaged nation can pay for its own reconstruction, an effort that has been bankrolled to this point mostly by U.S. taxpayers.

Carl Levin, D-Michigan, and John Warner, R-Virginia, said in their Friday letter to the Government Accountability Office that Iraq has "tremendous resources" in banks worldwide but is doing little to improve security and reconstruction efforts.

Iraqi officials did not immediately respond to the senators' allegations.

"We believe that it has been overwhelmingly U.S. taxpayer money that has funded Iraq reconstruction over the last five years, despite Iraq earning billions of dollars in oil revenue over that time period that have ended up in non-Iraqi banks," wrote the senators, who are their party's top members on the Armed Services Committee.

The senators cited testimony of then-Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz who told a House subcommittee in March 2003 that the U.S. would not foot the entire bill for rebuilding Iraq. Wolfowitz predicted then that Iraq's oil revenues could reach between $50 billion and $100 billion in the next two or three years.

"We are dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction and relatively soon," Wolfowitz said in 2003.

Senators: Where is Iraq's oil money going? - CNN.com

I'm all for helping with security and reconstruction but soon Iraq must do it's part.

I've been saying it for years: Put a big sign on each oil well. "Reconstruction"
, "Pay soldiers", "re compensate families of 9-11 victims"

saltwn · #5 (**permalink**) 03-10-2008, 05:15 AM

And the cost of the war itself is staggering

Studies: Iraq a $12 billion-a-month war - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com

Quote:

The flow of blood may be ebbing, but the flood of money into the Iraq war is steadily rising, new analyses show.

In 2008, its sixth year, the war will cost approximately $12 billion a month, triple the "burn" rate of its earliest years, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz and co-author Linda J. Bilmes report in a new book.

Beyond 2008, working with "best-case" and "realistic-moderate" scenarios, they project the Iraq and Afghan wars, including long-term U.S. military occupations of those countries, will cost the U.S. budget between $1.7 trillion and $2.7 trillion — or more — by 2017.

Quote:

Interest on money borrowed to pay those costs could alone add $816 billion to that bottom line, they say.

Quote:

These numbers don't include the war's cost to the rest of the world. In Iraq itself, the 2003 U.S.-led invasion _ with its devastating air bombardments — and the looting and arson that followed, severely damaged electricity and other utilities, the oil industry, countless factories, hospitals, schools and other underpinnings of an economy.

Untold economic damage
No one has tried to calculate the economic damage done to Iraq, said spokesman Niels Buenemann of the International Monetary Fund, which closely tracks national economies.

[quote]That total far surpasses the $670 billion in 2007 dollars the Congressional Research Service says was the U.S. price tag for the 12-year Vietnam War.[/quote]

And to be fair:

Quote:

Critics: Leaving has costs, too
Estimating all economic and social costs might push the U.S. war bill up toward $5 trillion by 2017, they say.

Their book already figures in the stay-or-leave debate over Iraq.

When Stiglitz testified on Feb. 28 before the congressional Joint Economic Committee, the ranking Republican, Rep. Jim Saxton, complained that such projections are too imprecise to help determine relative costs and benefits of the Iraq war.

Saxton said a rapid U.S. pullout could lead to full-scale civil war and Iranian domination of Iraq, "enormous costs" that he said should be weighed in any calculation.

cnredd · #6 (**permalink**) 03-10-2008, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by saltwn

And the cost of the war itself is staggering

Nah...It's pretty cheap actually...

The Iraq War is costing the government LESS than 3% of the GNP...

WWII was hovering around 9%...

saltwn · #7 (**permalink**) 03-11-2008, 02:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cnredd

Nah...It's pretty cheap actually...

The Iraq War is costing the government LESS than 3% of the GNP...

WWII was hovering around 9%...

But people were more self sufficient then for the most part. And they were behind the war effort. Doing things that made the country survive. I think people are more dependant now and a severe economic drop will have harsh consequences.

cnredd · #8 (**permalink**) 03-11-2008, 02:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by saltwn

But people were more self sufficient then for the most part. And they were behind the war effort. Doing things that made the country survive. I think people are more dependant now and a severe economic drop will have harsh consequences.

but a "severe economic drop" is not severe by comparable standards...

We could throw a trillion dollars out of the front window and STILL not hit the GNP as hard as we did in WWII...

What you're really saying is "The reality is better, but the percetion is worse."...

saltwn · #9 (**permalink**) 03-11-2008, 03:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cnredd

but a "severe economic drop" is not severe by comparable standards...

We could throw a trillion dollars out of the front window and STILL not hit the GNP as hard as we did in WWII...

What you're really saying is "The reality is better, but the percetion is worse."...

The gross national product as so many other statistics and even laws has been minipulated into a potion that makes people feel they are just doing something wrong. You have to look at the economy of the individual. My dollars in today's money or in yester year's money terms are worth less than in WWII. Look at insurance. It used to be a thing you bought into after you figured you might be worth something. Now insurance on cars and houses is mandatory. And health insurance may as well be cause the costs are geared to law suit pricing. Paying fees and taxes on everything you do.
Housing is another one. Not only Californian's out to make a quick buck raising the average cost of local homes, but government handouts such as Section 8 have raised the average rent far beyond the reach of the average renter. Add all the little and big things in there that take a bite out of your payday and then throw that war cost on top of it and the war cost itself is inflated-we are definately worse off than during WWII.

cnredd · #10 (**permalink**) 03-11-2008, 03:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by saltwn

The gross national product as so many other statistics and even laws has been minipulated into a potion that makes people feel they are just doing something wrong. You have to look at the economy of the individual. My dollars in today's money or in yester year's money terms are worth less than in WWII. Look at insurance. It used to be a thing you bought into after you figured you might be worth something. Now insurance on cars and houses is mandatory. And health insurance may as well be cause the costs are geared to law suit pricing. Paying fees and taxes on everything you do.
Housing is another one. Not only Californian's out to make a quick buck raising the average cost of local homes, but government handouts such as Section 8 have raised the average rent far beyond the reach of the average renter. Add all the little and big things in there that take a bite out of your payday and then throw that war cost on top of it and the war cost itself is inflated-we are definately worse off than during WWII.

But the "little and big things" are things are ALL considered "big things" in today's cultural eyes...

You know...REALLY BIG THINGS...like cellphone plans, minivans with videos in the seats, the DVD collection, and let's not forget the number of people that let others mow their lawns...

If you were to take those away (considering the WWII-generation didn't have those options) and you'd find the ecomonic impact a breeze...

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