OMG: Donate to US Government Iraq rebuilding??

From The Lexington Herald

Aren't we already donating to this charity?

New twist on Iraq aid: U.S. seeks donations

BY CAM SIMPSON, Chicago Tribune, Sep. 18, 2005

WASHINGTON - (KRT) - From the Indian Ocean tsunami to the church around the corner, Americans have shown time and again they are willing to open their pocketbooks for charity, for a total of about $250 billion last year alone.

But now, amid pleas for aid after Hurricane Katrina, the Bush administration has launched an unusual effort to raise charitable contributions for another cause: the government's attempt to rebuild Iraq.

Although more than $30 billion in taxpayer funds have been appropriated for Iraqi reconstruction, the administration earlier this month launched an Internet-based fundraising effort that it says is aimed at giving Americans "a further stake in building a free and prosperous Iraq."

Contributors have no way of knowing who's getting the money or precisely where it's headed, because the government says it must keep the details secret for security reasons.

But taxpayers already finance the projects the administration is seeking charitable donations for, such as providing water pumps for farmers. And officials say any contributions they receive will increase the scope of those efforts, rather than relieve existing taxpayer burdens.

•  This is obviously insane

  Donate to the government so that it can re-build Iraq? So my money can go the way of the missing billions: into Halliburton's pockets? This is a scam if I ever heard of one. Let the wingnuts contribute -- they're all for personal charity over government spending, anyway.

  by trueblue illinois on Mon Sep 19, 2005 at 07:20:07 PM PDT

•  Unbelievable isn't it ?

  I heard about this on Air America tonight. Sam Seder said he will bet anyone that they never release the amount raised.

  What I'd like to know is WHO IN THE HELL would be stupid enough to donate to this fund ? Maybe promoting this fundraiser ought to be a new project for 'Operation Yellow Elephant' ?

  They should do TV ads:

  Exterior:  Halliburton Headquarters.

  A weeping Dick Cheney, wearing a platinum wig reminiscent of Sally Struthers, his faced smeared with mascara, pleads for money for his hurtin' Halliburton.

  'Just $ 10 a day will feed a Halliburton executive a continental breakfast every morning.

  '$100 a month will pay for a week's worth of dry cleaning.

  '$1,000 a month buys that executive a cheap motel room where he can bang his favorite bimbette without leaving a paper trail for his wife to find.

  'Please.  Give.  A Halliburton executive's life depends on your generosity.

  'Thank you.  Thank you so much.'

  Fade out.
  

  by RobertInWisconsin on Mon Sep 19, 2005 at 07:26:43 PM PDT

  •  What makes Bushco different

    from a televangelist weeping on tv to extract yet more money from people who can't afford it and for whom his tears and his ministrations can do NOTHING ON THIS EARTH?

    Damn, these people know that their little jig is up and they are pulling out all the stops now in their rape of this country.

    by concernedamerican on Mon Sep 19, 2005 at 07:36:58 PM PDT

  •  LOL Robert

    by trueblue illinois on Mon Sep 19, 2005 at 07:41:58 PM PDT

•  No.

  by aitoaster on Mon Sep 19, 2005 at 07:28:11 PM PDT

•  from chicago tribune.

  http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0509180280sep18,1,4734651.story?ctrack=1&cset =true

  New twist on aid for Iraq: U.S. seeks donations

  By Cam Simpson
  Washington Bureau
  Published September 18, 2005

  WASHINGTON -- From the Indian Ocean tsunami to the church around the corner, Americans have shown time and again they are willing to open their pocketbooks for charity, for a total of about $250 billion last year alone.

  But now, amid pleas for aid after Hurricane Katrina, the Bush administration has launched an unusual effort to raise charitable contributions for another cause: the government's attempt to rebuild Iraq.

  by mattes on Mon Sep 19, 2005 at 07:50:17 PM PDT

•  here's the site

  http://www.iraqpartnership.org/
     it's through USAID

  by parryander on Mon Sep 19, 2005 at 08:07:37 PM PDT

•  Silly me,

  if only I hadn't wasted all my money on Katrina relief, food, and my uninsured neighbor's medical bills.

  by melvin on Mon Sep 19, 2005 at 08:34:04 PM PDT