W.House Assembles Iraq Package, May Seek $65 Billion

[peterh]

<http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=3383447>

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration is assembling an ambitious spending plan for postwar Iraq, with preliminary estimates it may seek up to $65 billion in coming weeks to bolster military operations and reconstruction, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
Senior White House officials told key members of Congress they would propose the emergency spending package "sooner rather than later," most likely before President Bush attends the annual session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Sept. 23, sources said.
The proposed emergency budget request would be a dramatic change of course for the administration, which had not planned to ask Congress for additional money until late this year.


In a related item with no link yet…..

EW YORK (Dow Jones)--Republican senators are preparing to tell the White
House that any additional U.S. money spent on post-war Iraq must be repaid with
Iraqi oil revenues or by foreign governments, NBC News reported Wednesday night.
Republican congressional leaders met at the White House late Wednesday
afternoon with President George W. Bush but made no public comments afterward.
Various media reports have said the White House is preparing to send a
supplemental budget request to Congress for spending in Iraq. The Cable News
Network reported Tuesday that estimates by sources in Congress on the size of
that request ranged from $30 billion to $60 billion.



This will make for some interesting debating on the Hill. What a fucking fine mess you’ve gotten us into……

[RedEarth]

1. Oil revenues.......???

"Republican senators are preparing to tell the White
House that any additional U.S. money spent on post-war Iraq must be repaid with
Iraqi oil revenues or by foreign governments, NBC News reported Wednesday night."

Sounds like election time is coming up.....The odds of Iraq oil revenues coming close to covering the cost of rebuilding are next to nil. We heard this same story from b... before the war and as it stands now they can't even secure the pipelines. This is strictly political spin by the repub senators. Instead they need to be up front with the American public and let us know that it will be coming out of our pocket. But that will never happen.

[hang a left]

2. what are the dem senators and reps

saying

[stickdog]

3. What's another 65 billion when you've got about 500 billion on your

credit card already this year alone?

Jeez, what's 65 billion? That's less than Dick Cheney's first bonus once he gets back to Halliburton.

[NNN0LHI]

4. Gosh. Them Polish troops sure don't fight for cheap, do they? n/t

[aquart]

5. Seek it from whom?

Somebody tell George the United States is not his piggy bank.

[cliss]

6. "additional US money spent", to be repaid by:

1. Iraqi Oil. Problem = the insurgents are planning to blast a hole in the pipeline again as soon as it is fixed. There are 600 miles of pipeline. How do they expect to guard it? Answer = not 1 pint of oil in the foreseeable future.

2. Foreign governments. Problem = who? Who is going to volunteer either $$$ or soldiers. They might as well give it directly to Halliburton or Bechtel (on another post - witty!). Soldiers: there would be a huge amount of resistance from the nations themselves. Security is such a huge issue right now.

Conclusion: the US is stuck with this mess for now.

[realFedUp]

7. cut up his f**king American Express card

he's an addict. Just say no.