Ex-Iraq Bank Head Says Cost Will Force U.S. Pullout

[kayell]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20031020/wl_nm/iraq_cost_dc_1

GENEVA (Reuters) - A former head of Iraq (news - web sites)'s Central Bank predicted Monday that the spiraling cost of holding down Iraq will compel the United States to look for an early way to pull out of the country.



An exile in the West for the past two decades, Salah Shaikhly also said "democratic forces" in Iraq were on the retreat from religious and fundamentalist groups while political leaders were sowing ethnic division.


"Once the U.S. Congress and public opinion realize the true cost burden of the Iraqi campaigns for the U.S. taxpayer, they will force this and any future administration to quickly look for an honorable exit strategy," Shaikhly said.

snip

A senior economic official in the 1970s under the ruling Baath Party who left the country when now ousted President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) took full power, Shaikhly said the U.S. invasion and occupation would cost Washington more than $300 billion.

more

Why do people say it will cost Washington, when of course the costs come from you, me, our children and grandchildren?

[gratuitous]

1. That seems to sum up a lot of people's views

By waiting patiently while the Bushistas blow their wad like a junior on prom night, they can get a cut-rate piece of the action in Iraq without spending their own fighting forces. About the only tension involved is whether the Bushistas will be forced to back down before or after the November elections.

My guess is that without a massive infusion of fresh troops before next summer, the U.S. will have to leave Iraq rather ignominiously some time in July or during Stupidhead's annual August vacation.

[lindashaw]

2. An interesting theory I read...that Cheney's "energy pirates" intend

to "plunder Iraq's oil without actually having to produce oil. It would happen through mortgaging Iraq's undergound reserves and making money from selling oil futures," that there was never an intention of physically producing oil.

"The Tragedy Seen from Within Iraq" http://www.khilafah.com/home/printable.php?DocumentID=8516

[Ugnmoose]

3. This will be Bush's Waterloo

Too bad we will be paying for it for many years - damn scoundrels!