Full StoryDemocrats say pausing troop reductions would signal to the Iraqis that the United States was committed to the war indefinitely. They plan to push legislation this spring that would force the Iraqi government to spend its own surplus in oil revenues to rebuild the country, sparing U.S. dollars.
"This nation is facing record deficits and the Iraqis have translated their oil revenues into budget surpluses rather than effective services," Skelton said. "Under these circumstances and with the strategic risk to our nation and our military readiness, we and the American people must ask _ why should we stay in Iraq in large numbers?"
Iraq is looking at a potential boon in oil revenue this year, possibly as much as $100 billion in 2007 and 2008. Meanwhile, the U.S. military is having to buy its fuel on the open market, paying on average $3.23 a gallon and spending some $153 million a month in Iraq on fuel alone.
While Iraq pays for fuel for its own troops, it has relied heavily on U.S. dollars to provide people with basic services, including more than $45 billion for reconstruction.
Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, estimated on Tuesday that Iraq has some $30 billion in U.S. banks. He said he expects legislation addressing the issue will be proposed as part of this year's war spending bill or the 2009 defense authorization bill.
Lacking the votes to order troops home by a certain date, Democrats see fencing off reconstruction money as an alternative to challenging the Bush administration's Iraq policies. And several Republicans have signaled their concerns about burgeoning Iraqi oil revenues at a time when the war is growing increasingly costly.
Finally, some policy from the Democraps that makes sense, rather than just the partisan Bush policy-hounding and general bitching they've done for the past 8 years.
What really bothers me about this story is that, I guess it's fine to have your rich uncle footing the bill, but aren't Arabs supposed to be prideful to a fault? Why would they let us continue to pay for crap they could be paying for themselves? By doing so, they could say, "Hey, look how far we've come!", to their own people and perhaps get a little bit of faith. Instead, they're probably working on the 29th palace.
