I was just talking about this with some friends. What the fuck does Iraq produce?? Is there anyone driving an Iraqi car? Wearing imported Iraqi designer clothes? Is there any Iraqi technology that is making the world a better place? Medicine? Science? Agriculture? Manufacturing? WHAT???? The only listing for Iraqi GNP is oil, "oil producing nation". They don't produce it, it's just luck of geology that it's there. Over 60% of that country is welfare. It's bullshit that we are going to cough up all this money to rebuild a welfare state. I'm sure we'll get paid back in oil, maybe. They are already bitching about us being there. Fuckers. If they are so brave why didn't they throw out their own dictator?? They have the potential to be one of the richest nations in the world, but they live in the 12th century and herd goats. They come to the western countries to get world class educations, then go home and live in adobe houses and wail to the east 5 times a day. I would like to think that most of the idiots there are idiots for being denied any type of education that does not involve religion. BUT there is no excuse after learning that there is a whole world and universe out there that does not revolve around a god damn book! So the way I understand it, is that we're going to rebuild their infrastructure, basic necessities. Fine, needs to be done. We blew them up, I guess we clean up the mess. We teach them to keep the electricity running, the water sanitized, the sewage out of the streets, how to repair roads, how to keep clean, basic medicine, how to grow their own food so that if the government truck doesn't arrive with the pita they won't starve, basically how to fend for themselves, etc. These are things they should know how to do anyways. But that is a lot of money going to people who won't appreciate it, nor do I believe they would understand what we've done enought to appreciate it. A friend of mine went into the Peace Corp after high school. He went to central america. He told me that they'd go into these dirt poor villages, dig wells, build aquifers, irrigations systems, build a sewage system, teach the villagers how to use it and move on. After several months of this they would go back the route they took, and visit the previous villages. He told me that every one of those villages had all the wells polluted, the aquifers were destroyed, dead animals and sewage in the wells, basic hospitals destroyed, and the people would just ask them to build the stuff for them again. He finally got so sick of it he quit, but others kept rebuilding the same things for the people who would destroy it....over and over again. So without these people knowing the full potential of the things we would rebuild and give to them, it's worthless in my point of view. It's a nation of mostly welfare cases who want others to take care of them. I wonder if we are going to adopt them as a welfare state that wants our money and our goods, but does nothing in return. A nation of consumers. We got the boot of their oppresor of their necks, lets just give them a a boost, and nothing more. If we can recoup some of our expenses with oil, fine. It's all they have to give to pay us back. All that food and supplies come from somewhere. Since most states can't even fund school programs anymore, I don't think that much money is needed and could be better spent here at home.
My 2 cents rambled into a dollar, sorry.

~Scott the angry man