Here's an Idea -- Get Out of Iraq to pay for the Bailout

[Armstead]

Since we're going to be stuck with this huge bill to bail out the rich, perhaps we should simultaneously get the hell out of Iraq. Take that expense out of the equation to even the books somewhat.

Iraq has been a luxury. In hard times you cut back on the luxuries you can;t afford.

Admittedly, I'm a fuzzy math guy, so this is probably too simplistic. But there is an argument to be made for that.

[mscuedawg]

1. That would make too much sense for this govt...

...or how about going to all the countries that we helped in their messes...

[Proud Liberal Dem]

3. Maybe we should form a new "coalition of the willing.........

to bail us out"?

[JCMach1]

2. Exactly, tie the time-table to the economic bail-out

[Benhurst]

4. And while we're at it,

The World's Only Superpower needs to be cut down to size. 9/11 should have made clear just how much "defense" we were buying for the trillions of Dollars we spend playing policeman for corporations around the world.

[firedupdem]

5. I like the "coalition of the winning" idea. We spend 10 billion

monthly on this war...I think stopping this war mess is a step in paying down our huge deficit.

[Armstead]

6. Too much sense

Paying down the deficit?

Them repugs like the deficit.

[Celebrandil]

7. America has to clean up the mess!

Even if I'm an european and strongly opposed to the war in Iraq, I have one thing to say. America has to stay in Iraq and clean up the mess! It really doesn't matter that your didn't agree with your president when the war started. If you just take home your troops and leave the country in chaos, no one will ever join you next time around.

[Binka]

9. Right! NOT! You Joined FIVE Fucking Years Ago And This Is What You Bring To The Table

Go back in your hole.

[Celebrandil]

11. NOT!

A couple of european countries with right-wing governments joined the war, but the majority of countries didn't. So... America should clean up the mess... together with Britain, Spain and Italy. In Sweden we have one small community that has accepted more Iraqi refugees than America and Canada together. That's what we have brought to the table.

[krkaufman]

10. Yes, the (mythical) "Pottery Barn" rule makes for a good rationalization ...

... for a continued occupation, but it may not be the rational thing to do. One of the problems in Iraq is a lack of faith in the central government, and that distrust will likely continue so long as the government is seen as a puppet of the US -- a perception that will be near impossible to shake while US occupation continues.

By the way, no one really joined the US this time around, in Iraq, or at least those who were initially "willing" aren't sticking around to, as you say, clean up the mess they helped create.

Thanks for the suggestion, though.

[krkaufman]

8. Well, that wouldn't so much pay for the bailout, so much as reduce our car lease payments ...

... from one car to two, driving us into debt and bankruptcy just a little bit slower.

[TheKentuckian]

12. Iraq is already borrowed money

The only thing worth borrowing for is for infrastructure, education, and development that will actually GROW the economy.

What they have done is diabolical. They are robbing the bank three and four times all in one action and leave the People holding the bang and taking the consequences. They have robbed us of our present and have put the future into such a hock that its almost out of reach.
The government only exists to protect the people and to do what we cannot, but instead they have systematically set up a system that has made very few live beyond the means of the kings of the past at the expense of the many.
Already they took advantage of the fear of the People starving and broken from, as it once again their own excess and greed and established the Federal Reserve which has made us all each and everyone a slave that they don't even have to bother to feed or house. Now, they're going back to the well and are going to hock us out of our dreams for tomorrow.

At this point we need to damn well demand that this goes back to our court or it can crash and burn, as it is likely to do anyway without greasing their greedy palms more in the process.