Washington File

Boy, the US plan to have Iraq pay for the cost of the War on itself sounds an awful lot like the reparations Germany was ordered to pay after WW1... and we all know how that one turned out.

It won't be long before a charismatic Iraqi leader steps up and wins the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people with a refusal to pay. Oh this all sounds too familiar.

I agree with Paul Madryga,

What Collins said is pure non-sense, anyone in her position who proposes such a bill should be removed from office for blatant stupidity and arrogance...

" It would also have all fuel costs for the American military be paid by the Iraqis, "

This one tops them all.... are you insane Collins ?

I cant even believe such a person would even have a crowd willing to listen into her idiotic bills and non-sense.

I truly hope you meet a quick demise Miss Collins, you deserve nothing....

The most stupid of it all, is that she/they would actually expect the Iraqis to pay back such gigantic amounts....

I would agree that the most logical next step is to roll any further economic commitment by the U.S. into a loan to be repaid by the Iraqi people when the war is over. There is of course the issue of the U.S. having started the war, disrupted the Iraqi economy, and sunbathed in incompetence as they let control of the situation spiral wildly out of their grasp, resulting in over 100,000 deceased Iraqis who, it could be argued, have a case against the United States for a civil lawsuit due to the bereavement caused to them by the US military action. I'm not saying anyone would succeed or even want to start such a lawsuit, but before the U.S. takes on the role of the victim, they should take a look at the victims on the other end of the gun sights and realize that compounding their suffering will only increase resentment of this bumbling 'super'power.

I can't wrap my head around this, so help me if you can. The U.S. invaded Iraq against the wishes of the international community and against the wishes of the Iraqi people themselves. They destroyed the country, terrorized and murdered civilians, committed atrocities in prisons for Iraqi insurgents, and opened the door for Iraq's enemies in Iran, Syria and elsewhere to infiltrate the country, and they want the Iraqi people to pay for all of this. Seems more than a tad odd. Whatever happened to the saying that if "you break it, you bought it?"

I can't help but think to myself when I read comments that show somehow that the Americans have forethought in what they are doing in Iraq. I think that's giving G.W. way too much credit. Papa was insulted. Saddam is dead. Oil prices have skyrocketed (good for GW and his cronies) so it's a win-win situation...the rest makes for good TV.

This war was and always has been about oil! But not in the simplistic sense that some observers make that the Americans are there to steal it from Iraq. Quite the contrary, buying it from them would have been a lot cheaper than this war.

The real reason Iraq was occupied was to keep the Chinese out! China is a rising power and it's energy needs will far exceed America's, in a time when the finitness of resources are becoming apparent. The urgency to invade Iraq was pronounced after the first Gulf War in which Saddam made it clear he no longer was willing to play ball in line with American policies anymore.

Call me a cynic, but this so-called military blundering in Iraq is no accident. The situation in Iraq has been deliberately allowed to remain on the edges of all out chaos as a pretext to allow US forces to remain in Iraq for decades, forcing China to look elsewhere, like Sudan for it's energy needs...at least for the time being.

The competition for oil amongst nations is only beginning.

I think it's clear George W's megalomania with socking it to the Iraqi's has almost bankrupted one of the world's greatest powers. It is interesting that the US was warned not to go into Iraq and did so anyway. I for one am glad that Canada did not. I think that Bush's presidency has definitely pushed the US's economy to the brink of a financial catastrophe. If the US had gotten out of Iraq after Saddam's capture, they would have been better off both in terms of reputation and the economy. Unfortunately we have to watch this terrible waste of people and money as it inevitably draws to a final end.

I, too shake my head in disbelief and dread at what the US is getting itself into in the future by squandering trillions in the present.

Notwithstanding what those resources could do to seed programs for people to help themselves in other countries, like in Africa (think better economies and markets for the US in future), what could those resources do to drive innovation and the economy in the US?

Let's not pretend that China, like the US, will not act selfishly in the future when it has the power to do so (I don't mean militarily). Anyone who knows anything about China's statistics can deduce that the potential of its future economic might is vast, and it will dwarf the US the way the US dwarfs Canada.

Do we see China squandering billions, let alone trillions, in unnecessary foreign quagmires? No, China is investing in infrastructure and other enablers of its economy. And, China is investing in Africa.

Without plans and strategies for the future, companies get scooped by others that do plan ahead and can use their intellectual capacity to become resilient and grow. Countries work the same way. And the US is being run by a cheesehead.

The US has only existed as a superpower for a short blip in the history of nations, and its remaining time as a dominant power will be short, too.

How can people still be surprised by the entire issue with Iraq? Do people not know anything about history anymore? This has happened numerous times in American history. Vietnam, Korea, Gulf War? The world is still recovering from the ripples of those events.

The United States has had this "manifest destiny"/Captain America, hero of the world kind of persona going on with its self-imagine since the first world war. And no one can really deny what America meant to the Allies during WWI and WWII, and so America has always had this view of themselves in the back of their mind, that they are "heroes", that they have to carry the duty of "protecting" the world. And so, they are willing to spend as much of their own taxpayers' money as they want to perpetuate this American identity of their nation as the "home of the brave".

And so, Iraq happened. No big surprise after 9/11. And something like it will happen again; America will interfere in someone else's business, meddle where they often really shouldn't. Because, in the end, it is a lot easier to solve other people's problems and to divert attention from one's own.

"The Surge Has Worked is the message they carried to Washington. It is one to put right up there with George W. Bush's Mission Accomplished back in May 2003." (It's so good a line I have to repeat it.)

A dumb and dumber democracy at work.

How can anyone in the U.S. be supportive of a needless occupation of a country where thousands of U.S. soldiers have been killed and countless thousands more have been harmed both physically and mentally for life. Add to this the cost of this operation and the reality that a win situation is not probable, one has to wonder. China and Russia are sitting back and enjoying the results for sure. This occupation has done nothing more than damage the U.S. reputation throughout the world, help bring their economy down and has put the U.S. population in a position to swallow some pride and do what is right. They have many other wars to fight, all on their own soil. We in Canada have the same decision to make with Afghanistan.

I get it: "Mission accomplished" simply meant, that Great Decider and his masters finally got their fingers on Iraq's oil. Let's pump.

"Republican Senator Susan Collins, from Maine, is a co-sponsor of a bill that would require all future spending on reconstruction in Iraq to take the form of a loan to be repaid. It would also have all fuel costs for the American military be paid by the Iraqis, as well as all costs incurred for the training of the Iraq military and police."

OK, so let me get this straight: US Gov't pays big money to US arms dealers in order to bomb Iraq back into the Stone Age; US Gov't then wants Iraqi Gov't to pay the US firms who are contracted to rebuild it. To top it off, the Iraqi people are also expected to pay other US corporate interests for the privilege of having their own country occupied by an invading foreign power...?

That's quite the racket, I must say. Sounds like one hell of a Make-work Project... If the Iraqi people are a tad upset by this, who could blame them?

The Iraq war will pay for itself after the Americans steal all the oil from Iraq.

There is a lot to be said for the argument that since the Republicans in the US and our Conservatives in Canada don't really believe in "Big" Government, their main mechanism for preventing this is a combination of big spending and tax cuts. If you don't have any money you can't be forced to spend it on medical services or education. We in Canada will hear more and more that government spending will put us in deficit; and it will after the billions in tax cuts.
The Republican approach is even better because they can give all the money to corporate friends to buy their continued support.

Thanks, Mr. Champ. It seems that stalemate, fatigue and unbearable costs are going to end another war for America. What a change. We remember Paul Wolfowitz saying the Iraq war would pay for itself. We also remember the administration warning countries that did not participate in the invasion that they were not going to get any of the lucrative rebuilding contracts.
Iraqis have gone the way of the 18th century American experience of insurgency.
Make the cost of maintaining the colony unbearably expensive in blood and treasure. Use harassment then scatter fighting tactics. Go to an enemy nation for assistance. Make sure loyalists are not particularly helpful in stopping the rebellion. Wait for the inevitable drain on patience and public opinion half a world away to finally see the troops back on ships and sailing away.

Regardless of who becomes President, there is no end in sight for American presence in Iraq.The stage has been carefully set by the neo-cons through plans in the works since 1991.The Americans will be stuck on a closed circuit race track to nowhere in Iraq and will continue to suffer the financial consequences at home.

The Vietnam War syphoned over 200 billion(1.1 trillion in 2008 dollars) from government coffers which made the U.S. vulnerable as the oil embargo of the 70's sparked the first of two recessions within 10yrs. President Reagan's military spending helped a small sector of the economy in the early 80's but the financial void created by the Vietnam & Reagan's expenditures, coupled with tax cuts for the wealthy, was never filled, rendering their federal government impotent financially. Ironically,the Americans find themselves in this deja vu situation today but the epidemic outsourcing of jobs over the past 15yrs will make any economic policies mere wads of gum in a crumbling dam.