By Jonathan Weisman and Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, September 26, 2003; Page A01
A new curriculum for training an Iraqi army for $164 million. Five hundred experts, at $200,000 each, to investigate crimes against humanity. A witness protection program for $200,000 per Iraqi participant. A computer study for the Iraqi postal service: $54 million.
Such numbers, buried in President Bush's $20.3 billion request for Iraq's reconstruction, have made some congressional Republicans nervous, even furious. Although the GOP leadership has tried to unite publicly around its president, cracks are beginning to show.
"President Bush should live up to his recent pledges to restrain spending, by . . . taking a strong stance that the new Iraq can and should pay for its own reconstruction," wrote Rep. Tom Feeney (Fla.), a freshman Republican, and Stephen Moore, a conservative economist, in an editorial for the National Review.
The discontent is relatively contained so far, said Jim Dyer, Republican staff director of the House Appropriations Committee, but that is because few lawmakers have read the proposal's fine print. As more details seep out, he said, anger is sure to rise.
Those details include $100 million to build seven planned communities with a total of 3,258 houses, plus roads, an elementary school, two high schools, a clinic, a place of worship and a market for each; $10 million to finance 100 prison-building experts for six months, at $100,000 an expert; 40 garbage trucks at $50,000 each; $900 million to import petroleum products such as kerosene and diesel to a country with the world's second-largest oil reserves; and $20 million for a four-week business course, at $10,000 per student.
"If those are what the costs are, I'm glad Congress is asking questions," said Brian Reidl, a budget analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation. "If the White House wants to be portrayed as spending tax dollars in Iraq as cost-effectively as they spend [money] anywhere else, they're going to have to explain this."
Already, the administration's request for $400 million to build two 4,000-bed prisons at $50,000 a bed has raised enough questions in Congress to force Provisional Authority Administrator L. Paul Bremer to explain that cement must be imported to make concrete.
"We're not talking sanity here," Dyer said. "The world's second-largest oil country is importing oil, and a country full of concrete is importing concrete."
Continued....
[ edited by Helenjw on Sep 26, 2003 10:27 AM ]
posted on September 26, 2003 09:08:12 AM
Also from the article
It is the reconstruction spending, however, that is drawing some conservatives' ire. Moore, who heads the political action committee Club for Growth, called some of the aid request "frivolous" and much of it "preposterous." Pete Sepp, a spokesman for the conservative National Taxpayers Union, said Americans are being misled.
"Many members of the general public are being led to believe this money is just to turn the lights back on in Iraq," Sepp said. "Once word gets out about the nature of some of these projects, it will pose a real dilemma for a number of policymakers who believe U.S. foreign aid is already suffering from administrative problems as well as overambitious goals. These are the kinds of things that radio talk show hosts love to chew up and give to their listeners."
posted on September 26, 2003 09:18:22 AM
Too bad Detroit isn't sitting on the second biggest oil reserves. many sections of it look like they have been bombed out and 60% of the population recieves some form of public assistance. They can't even keep the street lights on. It could use rebuilt instead of the few working people there paying to rebuild a neighborhood half way around the world.
If they want to patrol in tanks that might be a smart move too. I sure don't go down there after dark. Turn down the wrong street and they may never even find your car much less you.
[ edited by gravid on Sep 26, 2003 09:20 AM ]
posted on September 26, 2003 10:16:42 AM
For conservatives pushing for less spending in the United States, such comparisons hold little value. It is not the dollar totals but the targets. "A $54 million study for their post office?" asked Dan Mitchell of the Heritage Foundation.
And, in the meantime....
More than a million Americans sank into poverty last year, an annual Census report is expected to show today. It would be the first time in nearly a decade that the number of poor rose two years in a row.
Thirty three million live in povery. And what's "poverty"? A family of four with annual household income lower than $12,207.
posted on September 26, 2003 10:19:02 AM
If Iraq succeeds as a democracy and then spreads democracy through the Middle East, then the couple hundred billion dollar price tag will be a bargain. You lefties should be on our side.
[ edited by ebayauctionguy on Sep 26, 2003 03:36 PM ]
posted on September 26, 2003 10:26:27 AM
What side is that e.a.g.?
The side that doesn't want to see barrels of oil quoted in Euros???
Operation Iraqi Freedom ROFLMAO
And what about seeing USA succeed as a democracy (remember the elections)
posted on September 26, 2003 03:25:24 PM the couple billion dollar price tag
HA HA HA HA HA HA !!!
GOOD ONE!!!
___________________________________
In this world of sin and sorrow, there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican. -- H.L. Mencken
posted on September 26, 2003 03:27:08 PM
And by the way, ebag, in the original article above, it isn't LEFTIES who are surprised at all the PORK built into the president's request, it REPUBLICANS!!!
___________________________________
In this world of sin and sorrow, there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican. -- H.L. Mencken
posted on September 26, 2003 03:50:53 PM
Can Americans afford this? Doesn't this sound like the road to economic collapse to you? What if a terrorist struck again? Would there be enough money for that? Would there even be a recovery?
posted on September 26, 2003 04:01:41 PM
This money is simply being redistributed from the taxpayers (of the future) to the wealthy via Haliburton who will be executing the majority of the contracts on a no bid basis. One of Haliburtons largest labor pools for many of the projects are Sri Lankan contract workers who they fly in at low wages to accomplish the actual tasks at a low cost.
Republican, the other white meat!
$15.0 billion for school construction resulting in 356,475 new jobs,
AND
105,319 new affordable housing units, creating 257,820 new jobs,
AND
$15.0 billion for local and state roads and bridges, creating 423,131 new jobs,
AND
418,060 new firefighters,
AND
health care coverage for 5,723,077 people.
posted on September 27, 2003 07:27:26 PM
Got to love the healthcare figures. The economic picture for this country is pretty bleak considering 3,000,000 have lost their jobs thanks in part to this adminstration's bungling.
Thanks, Helen, for posting all the links. I'm so busy most of the time I cannot search the web myself. Having them here where I can keep up-to-date has really been a blessing!
posted on September 27, 2003 08:00:31 PM
e.b.a.g.:
you went from:
the couple billion dollar price tag
to:
the couple hundred billion dollar price tag
nice edit...probably an honest mistake....all those zeros after all...who's got time to count them?
___________________________________
In this world of sin and sorrow, there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican. -- H.L. Mencken
