Iraq Budget Cut by $171M After Oil-Profit Windfall

by Jarrett Martineau | April 29, 2008 at 02:33 pm

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Why should the U.S. have to foot the reconstruction bill in Iraq?

They're only the ones who invaded the country, waged war against the Iraqi people, tortured and killed innumerable detainees, and established an occupying force in the country that could last 100 years.

Yeah, Iraq should be paying for that.

Besides, America needs to save its pennies for gassin' up those SUVs.

The Pentagon has agreed to cut $171 million from its budget to build police stations in Iraq after demands from Congress that the Iraqi government spend its recent oil windfall on reconstruction projects.
Iraqi employees attend the opening ceremony of a new oil refinery plant in Najaf, Iraq, on March 15.

In a letter to the Senate Armed Services Committee released Tuesday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates wrote that he had heard senators' concerns "loud and clear" during hearings earlier this month. As a result, he wrote, "We will seek full funding from the government of Iraq for this purpose."

The amount is a fraction of the roughly $47 billion Congress has approved to rebuild Iraq since the U.S. invasion in 2003. But Democrats and Republicans have complained that American taxpayers are continuing to fund reconstruction work in Iraq when crude oil prices, now nearing $120 a barrel, have left the country's U.S.-backed government reaping a budget surplus in the tens of billions of dollars.