(Sigh) Another Bush lie - this time of Abu Ghraib

From Jonathan Weisman in the Washington Post today:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55622-2004May25.html

Bottom line: the money to tear down and rebuild Abu Ghraib just isn't there unless Dubya shorts something else in Iraq.

In other words, not unlike what he does here in the United States. Or did to Afghanistan in the run up to Iraq.

Key grafs:

"White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said U.S. taxpayers will finance a second prison to replace Abu Ghraib. She said there is sufficient flexibility within the $18.4 billion in Iraq reconstruction aid approved in October to build the prison.

But Tim Rieser, a Democratic aide on the Senate Appropriations foreign operations subcommittee, which is monitoring the reconstruction, said Bush would have to consult Congress on such a large transfer of money. "For all intents and purposes, the money is not there," Rieser said.

It is clear that Bush's dramatic promise to raze Abu Ghraib will take quite some time to fulfill. The prison -- notorious for torture and killing during Saddam Hussein's reign and a still-growing prisoner abuse scandal under U.S. control -- will not be torn down until its replacement is ready, Bush said. And aides in Congress and the occupation authority said construction of a bare-bones facility would take 18 months to two years.

If the White House intends the new prison to be "a showcase for progressive Western penal thinking," it may take longer to build health, athletic and rehabilitation facilities along with the cellblocks, a House Republican aide said."