Dr. Shane Posted March 1, 2007 Share Posted March 1, 2007 The invasion was brief. I remember the flowers and dancing in the streets. I don't recall anyone in authority ever talking about using Iraq's oil revenues to fix their problems. I think a bit of mischarachterization is going on. Quote Pastoral Family Counselor... Find me at www.PostumCafe.com Author of Peculiar Christianity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bevin Posted March 1, 2007 Share Posted March 1, 2007 You don't remember? Perhaps just a few quotes would help you remember the stupidity of the Bush Administration... http://www.house.gov/schakowsky/iraqquotes_web.htm Quote: Press Secretary Ari Fleischer: “Well, the reconstruction costs remain a very -- an issue for the future. And Iraq, unlike Afghanistan, is a rather wealthy country. Iraq has tremendous resources that belong to the Iraqi people. And so there are a variety of means that Iraq has to be able to shoulder much of the burden for their own reconstruction.” [source: White House Press Briefing, 2/18/03] Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage: “This is not Afghanistan…When we approach the question of Iraq, we realize here is a country which has a resource. And it’s obvious, it’s oil. And it can bring in and does bring in a certain amount of revenue each year…$10, $15, even $18 billion…this is not a broke country.” [source: House Committee on Appropriations Hearing on a Supplemental War Regulation, 3/27/03] Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz: “There’s a lot of money to pay for this that doesn’t have to be U.S. taxpayer money, and it starts with the assets of the Iraqi people…and on a rough recollection, the oil revenues of that country could bring between $50 and $100 billion over the course of the next two or three years…We’re dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon.” [source: House Committee on Appropriations Hearing on a Supplemental War Regulation, 3/27/03] Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld: “If you [source: worry about just] the cost, the money, Iraq is a very different situation from Afghanistan…Iraq has oil. They have financial resources.” [source: Fortune Magazine, Fall 2002] State Department Official Alan Larson: “On the resource side, Iraq itself will rightly shoulder much of the responsibilities. Among the sources of revenue available are $1.7 billion in invested Iraqi assets, the found assets in Iraq…and unallocated oil-for-food money that will be deposited in the development fund.” [source: Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearing on Iraq Stabilization, 06/04/03] Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld: “I don't believe that the United States has the responsibility for reconstruction, in a sense…[Reconstruction] funds can come from those various sources I mentioned: frozen assets, oil revenues and a variety of other things, including the Oil for Food, which has a very substantial number of billions of dollars in it. [source: Senate Appropriations Hearing, 3/27/03] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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