Baghdad wants U.S. to pay $1 billion for damage to city

Baghdad wants U.S. to pay $1 billion for damage to city

www.rawstory.com

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's capital wants the United States to apologize and pay $1 billion for the damage done to the city not by bombs but by blast walls and Humvees since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

The city's government issued its demands in a statement on Wednesday that said Baghdad's infrastructure and aesthetics have been seriously damaged by the American military.

"The U.S. forces changed this beautiful city to a camp in an ugly and destructive way, which refl

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Get ready America for more of the ‘transfer of wealth’ Obama spoke of on the campaign trail. Many hopeful and needy Americans thought that meant from the richer to the poorer in this country. Much to their chagrin the constant transfer of wealth in the past few years have been from the poorer to the richer, as we bail out the banks and mega corporations to big to fail and funnel more money that ever to our overseas allies.

Baghdad now wants a billion dollars to start cleaning up the environmental impact of the ‘ugly American’ caused by wear and tear on the ancient city by American vehicles and personnel.

At first glance people might say ‘keep dreaming Baghdad’ but the sad truth is they will likely be given the money to prop up the Iraqi government in Baghdad.

Several years ago I was dating a former naval officer whose job for the Navy prior to retirement was processing Saudi claims for environmental damage by U.S. troops during the Desert Storm Operation. Basically if they said exhaust fumes from an Abraham’s tank dirtied a sand dune in the middle of no where, we would pay hundreds of thousands to cart out the old sand dune, to replace it with a new sand dune!

Whether it’s Halliburton sending brand new vehicles to be crushed and compacted because they have a flat tire and they need to spend the million dollars a day in their million dollar a day no-bid contract to run Iraq’s post war infrastructure or paying to restore a sand dune after some careless soldier left a empty water bottle on it, the Middle East Wars are an endless money pit to the American Tax payer and our treasury now trillions of dollars in debt, that our grandchildren’s grandchildren will still be paying the interest on the debt, from a principle that just grows and grows.

Yet I think we should also ask is this just another way to transfer money to the beleaguered and not to popular Iraqi Government and political parties to prop them up for yet another tainted election to keep them in power?

When do the taxpayers stop paying for wars that benefit no one but the Oil Companies, Banks and Military Industrial Complex?


www.rawstory.com
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Yup it'll happen too! With that sorry excuse for a President we have, he'll allocate millions if not billions of tax payer money to fund Baghdad. While many of our own citizenry lose their jobs and homes, he'll sign a blank check~

Gotta love that " redistribution of wealth " philosophy!

But isn't this is how it is supposed to be done?

Phase 1: tax dollars are transfered to the military industrial complex to properly destroy a city.

Phase 2: tax dollars are transfered to corporations in charge of reconstruction.

Since the "estimate" is for $1 billion, the actual cost will probably run closer to $100 billion, but not to worry, the tax payers are good for it.

the Billmeister

I'm confused why arnt they mad about the bombs being dropped on them? Or like do they think there was a reason for it?

reply to post by kunuk


Simple philosophy, they know that the US will give hand outs at every turn, so why not get theirs?

Oh. Wow. Well hell—what's another measly billion between friends. How about we scram out of there, leave them our $1 billion dollar embassy, and call it even? Sounds like a plan to me.

Just one more side effect of that miserable excuse for "leadership" otherwise known as the Bush Regime, that Obama and successors have to clean up.

But oh, I'm sorry, we're not supposed to mention Bush, are we? Those 8 years never happened, and nothing Bush did had any impact, it's all Obama's fault, from war reparations to the economic hole in the ground Bush drove the US into.

The US should have to pay for the destruction we caused there! We went in there under false pretenses and destroyed their city (AFTER Saddam was gone), not to mention killing hundreds of thousands of their citizens. Why shouldn't we have to pay for such an extreme act of violence and war?

If another country invaded us under false pretenses and destroyed New York (including the Museum of Natural History, the Met and the Guggenheim), not to mention the buildings that still stand, we'd want them to pay us for it, too!

I'm not crazy about having to shell out more money, but we made a HUGE mistake that costs hundreds of billions of dollars and who knows how many lives... Yeah, we have to pay for it.

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
I'm not crazy about having to shell out more money, but we made a HUGE mistake that costs hundreds of billions of dollars and who knows how many lives... Yeah, we have to pay for it.

I concur that there is an obligation to Iraq. But how about the war profiteers pay a special tax to cover it instead of the American taxpayer? This ain't no Marshall Plan.

reply to post by Open_Minded Skeptic

Obama and successors have to clean up

I dont see how a trillion dollar deficit is cleaning anything up, nor do I see how an additional spending in his budget proposal is reducing the debt?

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic

Ummm—I don't disagree with your sentiment, but the reality is that we've already paid. In spades. This "request" is just ludicrous.

What about all the schools and hospitals we built? The roads and infrastructure we fixed already?

And don't even get me started about the missing billions from the Iraqi treasury and the pallets of billions we shipped there to pay Iraqis to work.

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


Though i don't condone the war, which i firmly believe was illegal, but it is a war non-the-less, and within war ( if you ever have served) you would know that there is a thing called collateral damage, and casualties. It happens, its part of the system.... regardless if you agree with the war or not, it happens...deal with it~

Originally posted by kunuk
I'm confused why arnt they mad about the bombs being dropped on them? Or like do they think there was a reason for it?

This is a way to transfer money with out decrying the invaders for invading, but for being bad guests.

We spend time selecting and then installing people into these Puppet Governments that are part of regime change, so in part we can control the spin on how the invasion is presented to the people. Saddam was a bad man and he would have killed a lot more of you than the Americans did, type of logic.

Yet it takes a corrupt political machine locally to keep those kinds of stooges who go against the real will of their people in office. That needs cash to run, cash that will no doubt come out of the kind of slush fund that this request for environmental cleanup can create and allow for politicians there to be put in charge of.

Plus it gives the Iraqi Government some illusion of credibility "we put our foot down with the Americans" by being critical, just not so critical as to speak to the deeper uglier truths.

Thanks for posting.

Have Haliburton pay for it...

reply to post by JohnnyCanuck


It's a deal. Unfortunately, that is NOT going to happen. Rummy and Bush and Company are all off writing their memoirs (admitting to their atrocities) and enjoying the life of an ex-politician on our dollar. SOMEONE has to step up and be the man here. We have to learn from these mistakes if anything is to change.

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
The US should have to pay for the destruction we caused there! We went in there under false pretenses and destroyed their city (AFTER Saddam was gone), not to mention killing hundreds of thousands of their citizens. Why shouldn't we have to pay for such an extreme act of violence and war?

If another country invaded us under false pretenses and destroyed New York (including the Museum of Natural History, the Met and the Guggenheim), not to mention the buildings that still stand, we'd want them to pay us for it, too!

I'm not crazy about having to shell out more money, but we made a HUGE mistake that costs hundreds of billions of dollars and who knows how many lives... Yeah, we have to pay for it.

You know morally I agree with you here BH, but the bigger concern I have is when if ever will we get to stop paying for it. We have in fact invaded a country and killed hundreds of thousands of people needlessly, and there is bound to be a bill come due on that, that can't be paid in dollars and cents.

While our media and politicians spin it to be anything but the truth, the truth is we have created more people to hate us to the point of possibly wanting revenge (terrorist style reprisals) than we ridded ourselves of.

We are going to be paying a long time for these dishonest wars, in more ways than one.

Something people should remember as our government agitates for more potential wars of 'regime change' in the Middle East

Originally posted by Whereweheaded
Though i don't condone the war, which i firmly believe was illegal, but it is a war non-the-less, and within war ( if you ever have served) you would know that there is a thing called collateral damage, and casualties.

I have never served, but I still know about collateral damage. Amazing isn't it? That someone who never bent over for the military industrial complex is still smart enough to know about collateral damage and casualties.

But this war was unjust from the start! It was based on lies. This wasn't a war, it was an illegal act of aggression and those who benefited from it should be punished. Not us.

First
Criticize
The US for the invasion.

Then
Criticize
The US for the occupation.

Now
Criticize
The US for compensation and reconstruction.


This day on ATS is starting out with it's usual slam the US mantra.

In any case.
We should pay up and get the hell out.

Originally posted by Whereweheaded
reply to post by Benevolent Heretic

 

Though i don't condone the war, which i firmly believe was illegal, but it is a war non-the-less, and within war ( if you ever have served) you would know that there is a thing called collateral damage, and casualties. It happens, its part of the system.... regardless if you agree with the war or not, it happens...deal with it~

Well if that's the case maybe Iran should belly up to the bar and help out. They were the ones who were supplying, supporting and equipping the Insurgency that extended the conflict a full three years or more trying to gain some sort of influence on the new Iraqi Government as well.

But that get's ignored because it's not part of the Slam the US Mantra.

Originally posted by ProtoplasmicTraveler
Something people should remember as our government agitates for more potential wars of 'regime change' in the Middle East

It's one thing to support a country's people in their quest for democracy and to support them as they rise up against a tyrannical government. It's quite another to go in, guns blazing and try to FORCE democracy on a country that's not ready for it.

I fully support any country whose people want a different government - but the PEOPLE have to do it. Not some other big, powerful country, throwing their weight around as the democracy police of the world. I don't get angry often, but nothing makes me more angry than to think of what the Bush admin did to this country while people sat by and supported him - and continue to support him to this day!

Obama should be working with the DoJ to prosecute these criminals instead of carefully trying to clean up their mess. It's one of the things I STRONGLY disagree with him on.