President Bush thinks that he has already won the September debate …Not that Bush cares about that detail he is only looking at the part that says we can win. However notice that the Iraq government is refusing to take ownership of the crappy rebuilding projects Bechtel has “cough” put together…Bush thinks that the report from Petreus will box us in. He thinks the Commanders on the ground argument trumps all. We need an estimate on how much money it would take to get Iraq’s infrastructure Power, Water etc up and working to at least a Saddam level of efficiency. We need estimates on how many troops it would take to secure these projects because without them we can’t win hearts and minds and might as well go home.
We need Bush to come up with a proposal on where we would get all this money. We need him to either make a tough decision on how we pay for this or we get out now. Plus Bechtel and Haliburton both really need to be investigated for war profiteering.

You seem to be referring to the report of the Inspector General, Stuart Bowen, who has repeatedly demonstrated (and most recently in his July 30, 2007 Report) that the reconstruction effort is in shambles, and this is not solely because the Iraqi’s aren’t meeting goals (that too). But they are being caught up in a morass of bureaucracy from the Bush Administration/Pentagon and being compelled by military contractors like Bechtel to supply money almost “up front”…. It’s an utter mess:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Iraq’s government failed to take responsibility for reconstruction projects and is struggling to administer its budget for oil, public works and education, a U.S. special inspector general said on Monday. Looking at how $44 billion in U.S. funds has been spent in Iraq for relief and reconstruction since 2003, the inspector general found “troubling concerns” in the last quarter about the process meant to transfer control of projects to the Iraqi government.

“My auditors found that the asset-transfer process is broken: since June 2006, the GOI (government of Iraq) has not formally accepted a single IRRF (Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund) project,“
Congress created the post of special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction to oversee how U.S. funds were being spent. The U.S. government is unilaterally transferring many projects to Iraq without the Iraqi government’s consent, the report said… “In some cases, the United States has continued to pay for maintaining complete projects that have not been accepted” by Iraq.”

The U.S. funds for Iraq reconstruction have been largely expended…(but) Iraq failed to manage effectively its capital budget in 2006, spending only 22 percent of it, the report said.

The inspector general looked specifically at the largest reconstruction contract in Iraq last quarter, $1.33 billion for various projects to Bechtel National Inc. issued by the U.S. Agency for International Development. “The problems addressed in the Bechtel audit include reduction in scope, cancellations, costs that outstripped planned budgets and significant delays in the completion of projects,” the report said. Auditors also found a contractual provision requiring all Bechtel invoices be paid within 10 days of receipt, which was “troubling” because only two officials were assigned to review invoices, raising concerns “about the reliability of receipt review process.”

In other words…a recipe for embezzlement!

Inspector Generals Quarterly Report July 30, 2007

http://www.sigir.mil/reports/q…..fault.aspx

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200…..V_AxALewgF

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/200…..xLRAis0NUE

As far as where the money is going to come from? Well just tack it on to the Federal Deficit and when the bill comes due (provided there is a Republican President) steal the entitlement money from Social Security, Medicaid, and Federal Pensions (even those vets who fought in Iraq). And privatize Education, sell off Public Lands (National Parks), and make those freeloading little kids start to work earlier!

Hi, TexB -

Looks like it’s just you and me, babe.

CNN finally getting around to asking the question whether there s/b greater control over TV choppers covering things like high speed car chases. Well, duh. I’d like to see the practice completely outlawed; there’s absolutely no reason to put those in the birds and those on the ground at risk just for the “best” shot of the action.

But! But!…What about the slow-motion pursuit of OJ’s White Bronco!!!

Mitch, I just thought it was interesting and know I wouldn’t want to miss someones comment due to the dreaded EPU.. I have thoughts on it all but am to tired to get into it now..)’

BTW, I scored 7 on the liberal test.

I scored 11. But that was likely because I had some problems with the nuances of the questions. For example, I have no problem with having singularly viewed “talk shows”. My problem is that the BROADCASTERS do not have many different programs that are representative and balanced. Let O’Reilly and those of his ilk exist exist…but Fox should have to commit an equal amount of time for folks like Amy Goodman, Christy, and others to serve the public interest on the airwaves. Just putting “token liberals” on programs to be batted about by extremist hosts…who then have other extremist right-wingers on to bolster their views is NOT in the public interest.

Many of the questions similarly set up false dichotomies (like the HIV vs. Cancer question “because it affects younger people more often”).

wigwam @ 133

During that appearance at the U.N., I think that:
– Tenet knew what was going to be said was false.
– Powell “chose to believe,” but at some level knew that he shouldn’t take their word for anything.

I place the bulk of the blame on Tenet! Col. Wilkerson is a credible source, in my eyes!

Which is why Tenet received the Medal of Freedom from Bush, I’m sure. He kept his trap shut until well after the invasion had started, and even failed to support Plame by revealing that she was, indeed, covert…and had little to do with the actual approval of her husband being sent to Niger. He also kept his mouth shut about Condi being briefed in July 2001 about the threat of Al Qaida using hijacked aircraft as “bombs” to attack American buildings (”An imminent ~ 10 out of 10!” This silence was amazing as it was clearly relevant to the 9/11 Commission…yet had been held out of the report by Condi’s former co-author, and future #2 at the State Department (another buy-off) Phil Zelikow. But Miss Condi “Nobody Would Have Expected that Al Qaida would fly airplanes into BUILDINGS” Rice…couldn’t be challenged with this evidence by the 9/11 Commission…as they didn’t know about it!

I’m waiting for the film in which George Clooney expands his acting potential and plays a deeply malevolant Tenet in this sordid episode.

But what about our strategic interest in the region. Fine we do need oil but what would be cheaper and involve less loss of American lives staying in Iraq?
Or paying the American car companies the cost to retool their factories to only make cars that get 45 mpg and trucks, SUVs that get 30 mpg.
We could pay the autoworkers while the big three automakers retool their factories to make fuel efficent cars. If the Big three say they can’t make them then we tell them to licsense the technology from Toyota or Honda. Toyota has already liscsensed the technology to Nissan.
The end result is we chop demand for oil. Plus we can help the big three by making it ilegal to sell any new car, truck or SUV that does not meet the new mpg standards.
If America suddenly does not need that much oil the price of oil will drop. The Arabs will blame Al Quieda for their rapidly impending poverty instead of funding Al Quieda like they do now. The troops coming home will find good paying jobs making cars as not even the Jappenese have that many cars that meet the new standards and it would take them a few years to retool their factories.
Plus with car makers around the world all retooling their factories to meet the new mpg standards for the American market well chances are they will also sell these cars in their markets if they don’t already. This would further drive down oil prices.
Conservatives can’t come up with creative solutions because they oppose change. When Conservative ideas don’t work that is precisely when we need change the most!

that makes too much sense.

things come undone @ 207

We need Bush to come up with a proposal on where we would get all this money. We need him to either make a tough decision on how we pay for this or we get out now. Plus Bechtel and Haliburton both really need to be investigated for war profiteering.

Who would investigate?

The Democrats will next election, but thats a good point Gonzo can’t be trusted to enforce the law equally for everyone. The law should apply equally for Republicans and Democrats.