Ask Obama if they are pulling their weight.

So what does Obama have to say about this???

Better yet, ask McCain if this is the surge he was talking about? A surge of money into Iraqie pockets.

hey oilman, ask GW. He's pulling the strings right now.

I say let's send Iraq our bill for services rendered.

You mean Iraq is not sticking to the delusional NeoCON plan of them repaying us for the devastation we have reeked upon their country? Shame on them!

If Iraq has surplus it is reasonable then that they should be funding their country's reconstruction efforts. I am a republican that supports the US being in Iraq until they can stand on their own. No time table...but this is encouraging to see that Iraq, even with its battered infrastructure, has a surplus available for its rebuilding. Let's get to it and maybe by doing so get the American economy going too!

Bush borrowed billions for this war and the American Taxpayer is facing another record deficit, weak dollar, inflation etc.. Why are we rebuilding Iraq when they have more money than we do????? We have debt they have cash!

Why are we, the USA citizens, supporting Iraq. Our government needs to be brought to the table and answer WHY! Our government cannot win the world powers with our money - this needs to stop.

How stupid. An unprovoked invasion of a country is evil and immoral, but then failing to plunder their wealth after invading is just dumb.

Why are we, the USA citizens, supporting Iraq. Our government needs to be brought to the table and answer WHY! Our government cannot win the world powers with our money - this needs to stop.

Great! They have enough money to take care of their own DAMN country. Now let's pull out and start reinvesting and rebuilding OURS for once. We could learn something from Iraq. Or is it that they have learned from us. On how to scavenge and profit off another countries wealth without distributing any of it back into your own lands. Yeah I'd have to say Iraq was paying attention and learned how to do that quite well from us, wouldn't you say...

So how do we get all those billion sback that we gave to American contractors who completely ripped us off...

Iraq has money, the contractors have money, the oil companies have broken profit records, but the real American people are being fist ---ked in the u know what.

Get off that left wing crap . . . America's economy is certainly not in "shambles". Furthermore, it's great that Iraq has enormous wealth with which to build a workable and secure democracy. It is remarkable how the perspective from the leftist media always portrays gloom for America.

I'm not an Obama fan, but I'm confused as to why people are acting as if somehow he's responsible for this. The current administration should be billing Iraq for any monies we put into the reconstruction or working something out for reduced cost of oil exports, etc. That our deficit is at an all time high (thanks to the CURRENT ADMINSITRATION) and they have a huge surplus is just a ridiculous situation.

One more detail...I was born in Michigan where Levin is from too and am a republican. Though I disagree on many of his stances I believe that Sen. Carl Levin is stating something very good in his statement above. A cautionary note though is to make sure that the US does not appear as being "paid back" from the costs of "Invading Iraq" but is seen from the position of genuinely wanting to turn over to a sovereign country the responsibility it should now shoulder for its own good. The US decided to help Iraq and the US should pay for that decision. Now that the country is manageable by its own citizens and government let Iraq invest in its future. Though the cost of oil is hurting many around the world...US included, what great timing, from Iraq's perspective, for a country to have a budget surplus when it most desperately needs it from the world oil prices. They have the same opportunity to rebuild their country completely - With Cash. How great is that!

He failed in business. His DADY was threatend. He was angry and Chaney HELPED. we get what we get. Wake up people....

rplat - "Get off that left wing crap . . . America's economy is certainly not in "shambles"." - No kidding! Jeesh. Just because we have the worse rate of mortgage defaults since the great depression, many financial institutions that have either failed or in dire straights, massive job losses, a bear market, etc, etc, who's to say it's in shambles?

If you guys will recall we were told in the beginning they would pay us some of this back.

One comment, "do you think that America will ever learn"??? Thanks to our great leaders with their worldly skills that all this has happened.
Remember America we are not the "Super Power" of yesterday..

It is sad that Iraq has this surplus but their country has such high unemployment. Surely they should be spending some of this surplus to create jobs, as well as improve their military's pay to individual soldiers as they do their dangerous job.
As for them to assume the expense of reconstruction, that wouldn't be fair. We broke it, we invaded their country, it is our bill to pay for everything we blew up.
The big problem I see is we've spent billions on reconstruction but see little results. Too much money is unaccounted for, we didn't hire local labor but let Halliburton and other companies over-charge us for their services. As in the recent example in the news of the deaths and injuries from faulty electrical installations at our bases in Iraq, we are paying too much for too little.

It's quite ironic that $50 billion is also the amount of money the oil companies combined to profit this quarter. So that's roughly $100 billion in proceeds for the select few. Good for them! They really know how to do business.

The Republicans understand economics! That's why they have presided over the greatest transfer of US wealth in history to oil producers and China. That's why US assets are cheap, the dollar cheaper and our grandchildren wage slaves of the foreign owners.

This headline is ridiculous, aren't we trying to create a successful sovereign state in the middle east that isn't dependent upon the money of rogue individuals to survive? In addition to this reality it is also alarmist journalism to describe our economy as "in shambles" seeing that we are still exhibiting growth, albeit only nominally.

Ask McCain. He wants to continue this farce. Neocons wasted American lives and resources on the Iraq War and there has been very, very little return. It is the paramount case of WASTE, FRAUD and ABUSE in our entire history.

how about we send nothing but republicans over to iraq that would serve them right.

"Do you think that America will ever learn"???"

LOL

No. It never has. As long as people in this country think the world has to be what "America" defines it should be, we'll make the same mistakes over and over and over. Until, of course, we can't pay for it anymore.

Maybe that time is shortly coming?

So much for the oil profits paying for us to liberate our oil from Iraqi tyranny.

Howie, I guess the Democrats must "know economic" too. Instead of allowing drilling offshore to keep from having to depend on Iraqi oil, they want to make sure we STAY dependent for fear of "global warming". If Americans drill, they cause global warming. When Iraqi's drill, they don't.

Brilliant, just brilliant. Let's rebuild Iraq while our bridges and other infrastructure is crumbling. We need Iraq off the US welfare payroll - TODAY!

I remember GWB saying that the war would be funded with oil revenues from Iraq. I have yet to see this, so I guess it was just to get us to be ok with spending our money on bombing the heck out of Iraq. I just wonder when we will start getting our rebate checks from Iraq.

Good for Iraq - now our boys can come home!! And now that Iraq has a nice surplus, they can pay for their own defense and also for their own reconstruction.

Didn't Bush say the Iraqis would pay for the entire war with oil revenue? Looks like they not only need to step up and fully take responsibility for their own security they also need to pay us what they owe.

With a new Democratic Administration and Congress, we will see a number of much needed investigations taking place. We will be digging into the rot of the last 8 years for a longtime. This is the last time the cold-war generation puts their hands in politics.

It is a shame that ABC continues to misrepresent the actual events in the War on Terror.

If Iraq starts paying it's own way Bush, Chenny and Haliburton may lose their kick backs!

Remember when Bush and his cronies told us that Iraqi oil revenues would pay for the country's reconstruction? Another scam perpetrated on the American people by Bush's GOP!

How about another article with the heading "Exxon and Chevron sit on a pile of cash while american economy is in shambles". First look in your own backyard before you point fingers at others.

Its bout time people have noticed this...its been goin on for 20+ yrs and only the poor common ppl noticed it...now the rich guys in congress who have been fillin their pockets r starting to feel it and now theyre gonna gripe! well on behalf of the lil ppl in the u.s. boo hoo mr money bags congressman!!

The problem is that Iraq will never be able to jump-start their economy while we remain. The have all that cash just sitting there and high unemployment. Well, the Iraqis could get jobs if the Americans weren't doing them. If Iraqi citizens could be getting paid for what the US troops and contractors are doing that might get the ball rolling.

wasn't one of the lies the Bush administration told the American people was that Iraqi oil revenues would pay for the war and reconstruction? What is going on here? Why is the Bush administration allowing the American people to be fleeced?

"...they have spent less than 30 percent of the $12.2 billion budgeted for capitol improvements this year."

Capitol improvements? Doesn't the reporter mean capital improvements? The reporter must have been an English major in college. Duhhhh.

Sandra - "If you guys will recall we were told in the beginning they would pay us some of this back." - Yes, right after we found the WMD's and were greeted with open arms by the population. Couple of things didn't quite go as planned.

Dave, Dave do you have any exact amount of kick backs the President and VP have received? Opps< I thought not.

Hey Iraq! How about selling the usa oil at a cheaper price? How about at the same price we were paying you 8 yrs ago.It's only fair. The USA gave you a better place to live and got rid of Saddam,seems you owe the USA.

Whatever happened to GWB's plan to have the Iraqi's use oil revenues to pay for the reconstruction costs? Another one of those projects that Americans will likely pay for, while our own roads and infrastructure are a crumbling mess. Thank you GWB.

ivan123 - Drilling for oil will not make us less dependent since it is likely to produce 2 percent or less of this country's growing demand. Oil is a finite resource and would be consumed. Eventually and we'd be back to square one. We will need oil for many things i.e. plastics etc. but we need to dramatically shift to alternatives like solar, wind, fuel cells ...and we need to conserve oil-based use by developing more fuel efficient technologies. This is neither a Democratic or Republican problem. It is THE national problem that underlies our economy, security...and our environment.

Yepper buddy this surge is really working now. McSame and the GOP buddies are making billions...forget millions off this war. Thank you George Bush and gang for raping America and killing are troops.

If I recall, when the justified the war in 2003, they said Iraq oil was supposed to pay for the whole reconstruction. Now they sit on nest oil nest egg and we get drained...through Halliburton. Sounds like someone had a hidden agenda.

What can you expect ? when we send several truck loads of cash on pallets. and then turn loose the dogs of war,haliburton, blackwater,all the oil co.the carlyle group, and all the other parasites that bleed off oursurplus that should be used for our own infrostructure,health insurance,education etc.Levis is right let them use thier own war booty to finance the reconstruction much of which was caused by thier own terrorist bombers.They also have thier Oil that we are paying thoughn the nose for.Last but not least Impeach George Bush now for his lies and treason.

William, william - Do you know how much haliburton and KBR ahve and continue to profit from the Iraq debacle? Oops, I thought not. It's a good thing there are som any mindless followers in America or McCain wouldn't stand a chance.

Remember the anthrax scare and how ABC News spread the lie that Saddam was responsible? When will ABC News answer the question about who were their four government sources for this lie perpetrated on the American people?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jay-rosen/three-key-questions-for-a_b_116671.html "It now appears that the attacks were of domestic origin and the anthrax came from within U.S. government facilities. This leads us to ask you: who were the "four well-placed and separate sources" who falsely told ABC News that tests conducted at Fort Detrick showed bentonite in the anthrax sent to Sen. Tom Daschle, causing ABC News to connect the attacks to Iraq in multiple reports over a five day period in October, 2001? "

This is the "Pottery Barn", you break it you bought it.
So sympathy for an invasion that should never have happened to begin with...the great American Whiners!
Next time think before you act!

America's economy in shambels??? Maybe the editor of this story needs to talk to someone who actually lived during the depression, and not a bunch of whiners who complain about the high cost of gas while driving their BMW to Starbucks...

Why are we supporting Iraq? Well! because we brock it unless we were invited.

Perhaps they are saving it for construction of the following projects:http://www.theage.com.au/news/news/luxury-hotels-and-a-fun-park-the-new-green-zone/2008/05/06/1209839624833.html

GOD BLESS GEORGE F. BUSH!

Another reason why we should leave immediately....enough with the B.S. As long as we are there we will continue to pour billions down the drain and for what? Absolutely nothing! And McCain wants to keep us there for another 100 years? What a joke! We should have never gone. Then we go and screw things up for a few years. And now we find out that we have pouring billions down the drain while Iraqis buy homes without having to put mortgages and U.S. contractors rich....The Republicans caused this with their foolish idealogy. Get the hell out of Iraq now! And McCain's idiotic statements about losing the war is ridiculous. The war was unwinnable the moment we invaded....For the life I cannot understand can support continuing this fiasco. I feel sorry for the troops....they are doing their jobs. It is the politicians (as always in war) who have betrayed them by putting them in the position they are in.

Somebody tell Iraq we want that fifty billion dollars back. That's OUR money!!!

A wonderful documentary came out two years ago called "Iraq For Sale". Very eye opening, infuriating, and sad. You guys should check it out. It really made me beleive Bush and Cheney lack souls. I also heard an interesting report by the Inspector General for the U.S. in Iraq detailing how there is a second, vehemant insurgency in Iraq, and that is the insurgency of Corruption. He says that corruption continues be to be a very substantial issue in Iraq and they have scores of new indictments in just this year alone.

"Shambles?" Talk to Jimmy Carter about "Shambles" he would qualify as an expert on the matter. Can you guys tell the truth? I know it's illusive but try. Try telling us true stories with real true facts. Truth - not "Shambles."

Wendy: "I'm not an Obama fan, but I'm confused as to why people are acting as if somehow he's responsible for this."

Because, Wendy, that's the general course of this Republican campaign. Obama is responsible for gas prices according to a McCain ad.

Come to think of it, where was Obama the day the Lindburgh baby was kidnapped?

indy voter: "And McCain wants to keep us there for another 100 years?"

Indy, McCain never said that. And if you've seen a video of him saying that, it wasn't what he meant. And even if it was what he meant, he doesn't speak for the campaign.

They should be giving all that back to us. What is going on here!

"The Iraqi government now has tens of billions of dollars at its disposal to fund large scale reconstruction projects...............
WELL you see Iraq's New government
herd tell that the world was running out of Oil .... SO as they see it ....
The must start Building NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS....... LOL.. Yes indeed .. I guess they are on the phone to Russia Putting in a Order for a dozen or So...
They like to call it the Iran .. MODEL...LOL.. think about it...
have a NICE DAY..... McBuch Rules not

Iraq should be paying back the US all the money we spent to rebuild the country. Send us your oil,and no more money for Iraq! I know those military contractors will suffer,too bad.

Those that blame Obama are just ignorant. I don't just blame the bush administration, I also blame the idiots who voted for him, they never got a clue after 4 yrs of his mess. I am not a fan of Obama but I know where the blame lies and I will not push it to someone else because of some racist hatred.

When Senator Levin visited Iraq, he observed some reconstruction going on being paid by the USA. He asked a high ranking Iraq official why they were not paying for it when they obviously had the funds to do so. The official replied, "why should we pay for anything when you are willing to do so". In a nutshell, that is what this thing is all about. The Iraqs will not pay for anything as long as Uncle Sucker is willing to pay.

I'm sure that some reperations will be haggled over and compromised upon and debated over with the Iraq's gevernment. I'd like to know why the new Iraq Denar is not even worth a penny
and the Kuwaite Denar is at $3.75. There isn't even any oil to drill there.

WHY HASENT ANYONE GONE OF AT BUSH FOR THIS YET ANOTHER SCREW UP, AND MCAIN WONT FIX IT EITHER, HES BUSH BABY,..

Paul:
McCain has lied on every one of his ads concerning Barack Obama. And you still believe McCain! How ironic!

We elected "The Decider" to make these decisions. He got together with his advisors and determined the the return on investment of invading Iraq to gain control over the oil reserves there was worth it. Worth lying to the American People. Worth thousands of lives. Remind me again what a life costs these days.

I keep hearing that this is Bush's war. I have news for you this is America's war. We elected Bush to lead us, and he certainly has done that. Are you enjoying the journey? Oh. You didn't vote for Bush. Great. Did you vote at all? Did you work to assure that Bush didn't get (re)elected? The great thing about democracy is that it doesn't matter. The guy who is elected is our President. Where he goes, we go. So make sure you get the guy elected who is going to take you on the journey you want to take. Talk to your neighbors. Get involved. Decide what is important to you,let your good sense guide you.

If the most important issue to you is whether gay couples can marry or whether a woman should have the right to chose, then by all means continue to support good men of faith like GW who will only lie, cheat, torture, and murder when it is for a good cause. I think that is what Jesus said. As long as you have a good reason ignore my words of love and compassion. Defiitely don't worry about the poor and downtrodden people. Someone else will take care of them. Worship at the church of corporate profits and nationalism.

This is all Bush fault.

Perhaps the people of Iraq should portion off some of those billions in profits and send an equal amount to every family of a service member who was killed over in their country for lost lives that will never be brought back, no matter how much money they make.

That's a lot of money! That would never happen here. Congress would have already spent the money before they found out there was a surplus. ayayay.

indy-voter:
I feel you!!! That's a wonderful post.

Is this not a sign of the success of our mission,though?

McShame's 100 year plan will keep the Iraq oil revenues continue to pile up in the bank.

Dave, Dave do you have any exact amount of kick backs the President and VP have received? Opps< I thought not.

US Economy in "shambles". What a joke. The US economy is stronger, more stable and more adaptable than any other in the world. The author should do a little research on the state of other world economies before besmirching ours. This article is a left wing hack job.

It should not be a wonder to anyone why Iraq is not just handing over this money to us, as if they somehow now owe us. WE invaded their soveirgn country, WE meddled in their affairs, WE were the catalysts to the upturn in violence that killed thousands of their citizens, injured tens of thousands, and displaced hundreds of thousands. So no one should be surprised in the least that they arent scrambling to throw this money our way. They have a $50 billion surplus but their country, culture and people are decimated. This isnt to discount in the least the price in American blood and maimings that have occured, but the Iraqis were fine before we got there and they wouldve continued to be fine and work out their problems in their own way in their own time. The Iraq war was a setup.

We should make a deal with Iraq to supply us oil at $50 a barrel until our reconstruction/security fees are recovered.

US Economy in "shambles". What a joke.
when we are giving away trillions
of dollars to Iraq and the Mighty
war effort, All Hail the Mighty G.W. Bush
and his Clone in Waiting...

Iraq needs to pay for our surge in Afghanistan.

Divvy up.

NO!!

Withdraw. Problem solved.

Isn't the road to hell paved with good intentions? So far I haven't seen it fail that when someone with their own perceived good intention sticks their nose in gets it cut off. From what I recall the good intention was to rescue a country from an evil dictator with WMD. Turns out he had to rule these nut cases with an iron hand. My hopes of Iraq appreciating or preserving what they now have over the long haul is really low. And I doubt they have any desire to compensate us for any of our personal sacrific for them.

Looks like Attacking Iraq under false pretence was the right thing to do! The Iraqi's deserve every cet from you dumb Americans. You allowed this stupid war so shut up and suffer the consequences.

So why does McSame want to keep sending our tax dollars to Iraq?

Help me out with this logic.

We spend more than a trillion dollars to rebuild Iraq. Allowing contrators and corrupt Iraqi bureacrats to milk the system.

Then because we don't have the money we borrow that money from the Chinese. Paying the Chinese interest on that debt.

And what does the American citizen get in return? Well... massive indebtedness as our money devalues to nothing.

Great plan!