So we are all seeing the reports indicating the fight going on over "aid" to Iraq.
There are good arguments made which support simply giving this obscenity of a national presidential administration the money it has the audacity to demand unconditionally and without apology to the public:
* The Versaille model - massive debt and reparations built NAZI power in Germany. Don't want to reprise in the Middle East.
* Massive debt in Iraq can impact world economy in years to come.
* Moral requirement that the US fulfill its obligation it made to "rebuild" Iraq - never mind Afghanistan, the Land That Time Forgot Again.
I have not decided my own position yet. I acknowledge the legitimacy of the above arguments, but I have some thoughts on the matter ...
* This administration started an unneeded, calamitous war in pursuit of a lunatic radical right agenda. The war was not needed, and Bush should deal with that, not me and my wallet and grandkids and their wallets too.
* This administration was under massive public pressure to give information PRIOR to the war about the cost of "rebuilding", and refused to give any figures whatsoever.
* This administration has not made any attempt to redress the fiscal train wreck it has already created in America, let alone the ramifications of adding the cost of the radical rightwing's pet war in Iraq to our already staggering and historical deficits,
* This administration has been pathologically and profoundly dishonest with all aspects of the Iraq issue from 12 PM 9/11/2001 EDT to present, and I deeply resent giving money to liars to clean up the messes they make. This obscenity of a national presidential administration has not come clean to the public; even as it slowly capitulates to foreign powers in foreign relations, the administration continues to relate to its own people with an unending extent of dishonesty and arrogance. This administration has completely ruined its own credibility and its relationship with every American who is not completely brainwashed.
* This administration, despite the staggering deficits it is incurring, is failing to manage foreign relations completely and miserably, and I wonder why we should continue to fund incompetent efforts. The administration is also failing miserably to manage our energy economy, demanding more money for Iraq and ExxonMobil at the same time without addressing the core issue of gluttonous oil consumption in America in any way whatsoever. Again, why fund incompetence.
* This administration has imposed on this country a radical and reckless agenda of tax cuts for the filthy rich. Why the HELL should I pay for cleaning up this obscenity of an administration's failures in imperialist adventurism with my tax money as this administration essentially exempts its own social class - the filthy rich - from anything like the same degree of financial responsibility. The rich in America, in particular, rich people like the Bush family, are making money HAND OVER FIST as a result of the historical catastrophe that Bush has wrought. Why should the many who are not part of that elite group, the American rich, pay for the adventurism even as the primary beneficiaries are increasingly protected from paying THEIR FAIR SHARE?
There are so many reasons why not. Yes, it would be nice to "rebuild" "Iraq", especially in light of the immorality and illegitimacy behind Bush's destruction of Iraq, and the profound arrogance, dishonesty, and greed with which he has addressed myself, anyone like myself, my social class, and my descendants, I think that Bush, in addition to having created this historical calamity, may have actually created circumstances in which the body of the public can have reasonable reasons to not clean it up for him.
Damn you Bush. What a wreck you have made!