Over 500 Billion and still Counting

I couldn't agree with you more on the war spending, especially since we were told the Iraqi oil would pay for it. It seems we are not alone in feeling this way as apparently there are Senators from both parties including both supporters of the war and those who have spoken out against it who are saying the same thing: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/14/iraqs-financial-free-ride_n_96637.html Here is an excerpt from the linked article: "From the fiercest foes of the war to the most steadfast Bush supporters, they are looking at Iraq's surging oil income and saying Baghdad should start picking up more of the tab, particularly for rebuilding hospitals, roads, power lines and the rest of the shattered country. "I think the American people are growing weary not only of the war, but they are looking at why Baghdad can't pay more of these costs. And the answer is they can," said Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska. Nelson, a Democrat, is drafting legislation with Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Democrat Evan Bayh of Indiana that would restrict future reconstruction dollars to loans instead of grants. Their bill also would require that Baghdad pay for the fuel used by American troops and take over U.S. payments to predominantly Sunni fighters in the Awakening movement. Plans are to propose the legislation as part of a war bill to cover spending through September. Likewise, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said he wants to add a provision to a defense policy bill that would force the Iraqi government to spend its own surplus in oil revenues to rebuild the country before U.S. dollars are spent." This may go nowhere (but it does seem there is support for it) and heaven knows it could take forever. A few weeks ago the Iraqi Foreign Minister was interviewed on TV and he was asked about using their oil revenue to pay for the reconstruction in their country and he said - I'm paraphrasing, but you'll get the overall meaning - "It's the Iraqi people's money and they must decide how it's spent". My thought was that I guess we, the American people, don't get to choose how our money is spent, including our money being spent for Iraq because THEY don't wish to spend their own money! Someone someday will have to pay the bill and whoever is still around then will wish someone today would have put their foot down. Good post! Annie