Bush plea for cash to rebuild Iraq raises $600

[struggle4progress]

Mark Townsend in Houston
Sunday September 25, 2005
The Observer


An extraordinary appeal to Americans from the Bush administration for money to help pay for the reconstruction of Iraq has raised only $600 (£337), The Observer has learnt. Yet since the appeal was launched earlier this month, donations to rebuild New Orleans have attracted hundreds of millions of dollars.

The public's reluctance to contribute much more than the cost of two iPods to the administration's attempt to offer citizens 'a further stake in building a free and prosperous Iraq' has been seized on by critics as evidence of growing ambivalence over that country.

This coincides with concern over the increasing cost of the war. More than $30 billion has been appropriated for the reconstruction. Initially, America's overseas aid agency, USaid, expected it to cost taxpayers no more than $1.7bn, but it is now asking the public if they want to contribute even more.

It is understood to be the first time that a US government has made an appeal to taxpayers for foreign aid money. Contributors have no way of knowing who will receive their donations or even where they may go, after officials said details had be kept secret for security reasons. <snip>

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1577750,00.html

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. LOL!!!

Now, this is funny!

Too bad it is connected with such a widespread tragedy.

[SammyBlue]

69. This should tell you the support for Iraq, even among is RFA supporters.

Grasping at straws.

"I am broke. . .help me."

"Here's a penny. . .fuck off!"

I LOVE IT!

:rofl:

[ShockediSay]

2. Mostly from family members, the wealthy ones, I'll bet n/t

[MADem]

42. The cheap bastards probably kicked in a buck each!!! nt

[Lindsay]

3. Maybe Laura oughta set up a lemonade stand in front of

the White House, proceeds to the Great Iraq Adventure.

[Montauk6]

4. "$600??? Hey, let's go to the movies!"

(You gotta love "Mean Streets")

[struggle4progress]

61. It's the "America's Weekly Pizza for Iraq" reconstruction plan. eom

[Historic NY]

5. Someone ought to send it to free republic so they can have a fundraiser.

[Child_Of_Isis]

8. Do it, man! eom

[Greylyn58]

57. Since Jack Cafferty is on such a roll on CNN

someone should send it to him...let him report on it.

Better yet, Keith Olbermann should get this.

[Carolab]

6. Hah! Did 600 people give a buck each? This is too funny. n/t

[Auntie Bush]

93. I wonder just how much "Little George Porgy"and the "Big Dick"

(with a little dick) donated? Someone ought to ask O'lielly to go on a rant on how the Rethugs...all for Iraq freedom are obviously not putting their money where there mouth is. I'm thinking of a disgusting comment...which I won't say...but you can use your imagination.

[Child_Of_Isis]

7. Shouldn't freepers be donating?

where is the link to donate anyway? We need it to give it to out to our freeper "friends".

[ClintonTyree]

60. They're too busy at their "Pro-War" rally today.......

all 400 of them. They had expected as many as 20,000 Pro-War supporters at today's rally. 400 showed up. Lets see, hundreds of thousands yesterday ANTI-WAR, and 400 today PRO-WAR. Tell me again, why the hell are we in Iraq?

This is just as funny, $600 to rebuild Iraq. That would mean for instance that every person at the PRO-WAR rally gave $1.50 each. Dig deep, freeps! :rofl: Way to support your pretzelnit!

[Dem2theMax]

9. Hey * .

Remember Pottery Barn! :evilgrin:

[Starbucks Anarchist]

10. The size of the average tax cut, too.

[Pam-Moby]

11. OMG where is all of the Bush and war loving supporters.

Maybe the freeps have not seen the site yet. Maybe they will give until it hurts. :rofl:

[Up2Late]

12. That's great, I say we just evacuate the Women and Children...

...and let the Iraqi men fight their stupid war among themselves.

[leesa]

48. "their war"?...this is OUR war ...we provoked it

[Up2Late]

83. Sort of, but not really, the British and the French Screwed up Iraq...

...long before we ever got there, by drawing all those straight lines in the desert. Then in the 1980's we went and propped up and armed Saddam, who, considering the ethnic and tribal hatred we are seeing today, was probably Iraq's least worst option.

Saddam did need to go, but considering the ethnic and religious friction between the groups in Iraq, once this new war is done (the Iraqi Civil War) we will most likely end up with another Iraqi Dictator.

[The_Casual_Observer]

13. Shit, the fact that we are fighting them over there so we don't have to

fight them here ought to be worth more that $600 to freepers!

[applegrove]

14. He taught the rich they could get a free ride - so what does he expect?

None of the war has been paid for. Why would they start now?

[Mind_your_head]

18. Yes, indeed....

The rich never have to 'sacrafice' their children's lives...and, for any money the rich/powerful give, they get back double/triple/'X' times in return.

When *co can't 'deliver' anymore to THAT group (which that time is almost/is upon us)....there's just someone else - a new name - who's going to do the same that all of us 'suckers' will pin our hopes upon....until a few years later we realize we've been lied to....AGAIN!

Those in power will not give up that power (and why should they?)

[wryter2000]

50. Welcome to DU

:hi:

[SammyBlue]

70. WELCOME Aboard, Mind_Your_Head

We love new faces here.

:yourock: :yourock: :yourock: :headbang: :headbang: :hug: :hug: :loveya:

[Mind_your_head]

78. Thank you for the nice welcome Sammyblue & wryter2000 - n/t

[better2know]

15. more from article-must read

"More than $30 billion has been appropriated for the reconstruction. Initially, America's overseas aid agency, USaid, expected it to cost taxpayers no more than $1.7bn, but it is now asking the public if they want to contribute even more."
-price up 15x already-

"It is understood to be the first time that a US government has made an appeal to taxpayers for foreign aid money. Contributors have no way of knowing who will receive their donations or even where they may go, after officials said details had be kept secret for security reasons."
-secret where money goes-

"USaid's Heather Layman denied it was disappointed with the meagre sum raised after a fortnight. 'Every little helps,' she said."
-denial is a good description

"In the past 12 months, Americans raised some $250bn for charity, including other foreign causes such as the Asian tsunami victims."
-proves that american hate charities (sarcasm-)

talk about a majority
money talks -bs walks
our emperor has no clothes

[fooj]

16. Hey- what about that upper 1%?

It's time these rat bastards own their evil!

Peace.

[Canuckistanian]

17. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you "compassionate conservatism"

Remember all these passionate pleas for the "poor Iraqi women and children" who were "suffering all these years" from "rape rooms" and "mass graves" under the evil Saddam.

Never mind that these right wing pro-any-war types only came up with this meme after the "WMD", "9/11", "Ties to Al-Qaeda", and "Mushroom Cloud" rationales failed.

I always wondered, if the wingnuts really cared about the "Iraqi People", why didn't they start charities or have fundraisers for these poor unfortunates. Why no bake sales, no Clint Black concerts, no Richard Mellon Scaife trust funds?

No, my friends the "poor Iraqi women and children" must look elsewhere for support.

It seems their "liberators" have abandoned them or never really were there in the first place.

[Ilsa]

38. It will take the generous hearts of people who typically vote

Democratic to help ease the pain of the women and children of Iraq and Afghanistan. Freeper-types will only give advice: "Pull yourself up by your bootstraps, which is what I did with Grandma's money left to me."

[BrotherBuzz]

19. And how much money was spent pitching this idea?

Oh, and what PR firm landed the Fat Cat contract to follow through with the pitch?

Inquiring minds want to know.

[Mojorabbit]

20. Did he really make this request?

I have spent the last week camping out in my sisters yard in Ocean Springs sifting through the rubble of her house in hundred degree heat and am behind the curve in information.

[barbaraann]

25. Yup.

http://www.iraqpartnership.org/

[Lorien]

21. C'mon Freepers, cough it up

since the majority of you WON'T sign up to fight your beloved war, you ought to give poor Georgie a check...

...oh yeah, that's right; party before God and country, and Greed over all. THAT'S the way it works in Freeperville!

[ingac70]

22. Aw! Come on! That's all?

The freepers need to take their king cab trucks to the nearest title pawn shop and help out the chimp!

[pinniped]

23. Un-F-believable.

Any there any links to US based news sites or is this another UK exclusive?

Is $600.00 what the college repukes meant when they claimed to contribute in ways other than serving in the military????

[Ilsa]

39. Yeah, this is the culture war they say they are "fighting":

While they want to do what King George tells them to do, they don't really wnat to give to improve the lives of Muslims.

[displacedtexan]

24. What's next? A Bake Sale?

That was my first protest sign ever:

What if they funded education
And had to have
a bake sale
to fund the war?

1972.

[radfringe]

29. car wash?

and they better hurry - with gas expected to go up there won't be many cars on the road to wash

[Buns_of_Fire]

59. I know how to save the farm, gang -- let's put on a show!

And I'll bet you all thought "Americathon" was a gag movie, didn't you? :rofl:

[teryang]

26. How much did Halliburton contribute?

They're 400 points of light short.

[muriel_volestrangler]

27. Someone ought to ask Scott McClellan how much he contributed

or anyone else in the White House. You'd think they'd be backing their own aid appeal, wouldn't you?

[hippywife]

28. Really good point, Muriel!

You would think that they would have exceeded $600 if they all had "given at the office!"

[Spurt]

30. I know one thing....

...for sure.
Rice bubble didn't throw in the price of a pair of shoes to help the millions of poor, oppressed women in Iraq.

Now that's leadership.

[wryter2000]

52. Welcome to DU

:hi:

[The Backlash Cometh]

31. Growing ambivalence over Iraq reconstruction?

The party who was always AGAINST nation building goes to war without convincing the party who believes in nation building that the war was ever necessary.

I would say that this was a major failure to communicate.

[0007]

32. This is rich!

[Fridays Child]

33. If hypocritical freepers would put their money where their mouths are...

...Bush could have done at least as well as RimJob, who, unless I'm mistaken, raises in excess of $60,000 per quarterly fund drive.

[DoctorMyEyes]

34. I love this line

"People are looking for a way to help rebuild Iraq and this is a way to facilitate that.'

LOL! Uh.... no, apparently they are NOT.

[Enraged_Ape]

35. 600$ is only THREE hours with Jeff Gannon

That guy needs to get on his knees and start doing a little pro-bono work for His Majesty's war.

[klyon]

36. what a f'ing joke

and a couple hundred to support war yesterday

KL

[SillyGoose]

37. Remember when we were told Iraqi oil profits would pay for much of

the reconstruction? Whatever happened to that? There is never any mention of that anymore.


from a CRS report to Congress 10/02/03...

...
It has been expected that Iraq’s oil reserves will help it “shoulder much of the burden for own reconstruction.”7 Efforts are being made to quickly restore Iraq’s oil production capacity; some oil exporting resumed in mid-June. The ability of the United States to use oil reserves for more long-term reconstruction purposes was assured by the May 22 Security Council resolution which ended sanctions.
...

PDF file
http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/25434.pdf

[Zynx]

40. $600?

Probably just White House staffers each giving $20.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

41. Did any members of the Bush family contribute? Rummy? Wolfowitz?

:shrug:

[Cocoa]

43. almost enough for one of Texasleo's shirts

:-)

[Rose Siding]

44. Well, it isn't the first US appeal to taxpayers for foreign aid money

I recall tremendous generosity after the tsunami. -But we hadn't already sent them vast, untold amts of tax money.

[symbolman]

45. We're keeping the money over Here

so they won't have to FIGHT about it Over THERE.

Isn't that what it's all about Mr Bush?

Wonder how much Halliburton has donated to Katrina or Iraq or Rita or even the US.

[wryter2000]

53. LOL

:rofl: I love DU! :applause:

[Mr_Spock]

46. Funniest post title ever

lol

[BiggJawn]

47. 2 I-Pods would do more good than anything Il Douche would buy them.

Big Deal...Il Douche calls over to Treasury and tells them to crank the presses up...

[JustSayNO 2 Sheeples]

49. Dig Deep, Merica. Open Yur Pockets, Merica. NOT!

[wryter2000]

51. Do you suppose...?

Do you suppose that freepers are smart enough to figure out that any money they give will end up going into a bonus for some Halliburton exec?

....nah...

They're just greedy, heartless bastards. :evilgrin:

[fortyfeetunder]

54. I already gave...to Halliburton

along with the other taxpayers. As Phil Donahue reminded O'Lielly last week, Halliburton's stock doubled from $33/share to $66/share. I am sure a few of my tax dollars are in that bunch.

[genieroze]

55. Let me get this straight. They want the average working person

to fork over 600.00 bucks each to rebuild a country that THEY unjustly destroyed so the rich can get richer. At the same time giving those rich people tax cuts while jacking up the cost of fuel which hurts the working class more then the rich. At a time when the federal government is closing bases, outsourcing jobs and taking away bankruptcy protection. While they are running up hugh deficits????????????????
Are they on crack?

On edit: Tell those rich f--ks to give back their tax cuts to pay for Iraq.

[Rainscents]

56. Is this shit for real? OMG, these people have no shame!

Someone please post the article over at FREEPERland!

[drm604]

58. Probably from these people.

Probably these people gave $3.00 each.

[jmatthan]

62. Condi would have contributed if it

had not been for those $1000 shoes she had to get!

[Cozmosis]

63. You could get a small LCD TV for that much!!

Iraq is in good hands!

[morffin]

64. $600 ?

how many yellow ribbons does that buy.

[ellenfl]

65. i saw the fundraising drive and was appalled!

can you imagine people donating $ to vietnam? i guess this is a chance for all the repug hawks to put their money where their mouths are. :evilgrin:

at least jeb donated his $20 to hurricane katrina relief. :sarcasm:

ellen fl

[Barrett808]

66. LA Times reported a few weeks ago that reconstruction money has run out

This charity drive was the pathetic Bush mob response.

[tinymontgomery]

67. They should hold a car wash

last one I held of for my group raised $400.00 in the 6 hours we ran it. (I know not as much as some but I don't put H S girls out there in g strings or bikini's).

[sakabatou]

68. BWAHAHAH!

[powwowdancer]

71. Terrible Ted

Ted Rall did a super cool editorial about just this kind of thing... it's called "charity is for suckers." In other words, why are WE being asked to foot the bill for services which our government, (for which we likewise foot the bill), should provide. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for charity, it's just that it's not an adequate substitute for GOVERNMENT. Bush needs to pull his faith-based head out'n his faith-based ass and come to the startling realization that the only thing he can truly have rock hard faith in, is the fact that he's a terminal f*ck up.

:dem:
powwowdancer out

[Gregorian]

73. I always agree with him.

And as usual he's right again.

It seems he's been hiding lately. Maybe he has too much common sense. People can't handle it.

[Inland]

72. And $100 of that was from Poppy: he was told it was for tsunami relief.

[Lisa]

74. but ... but ... the results from their rummage sales and eBay auctions ...

... haven't come in yet! (You know how much Dick Cheney loves eBay -- he said it was a major part of the economic resurgence.) Give them a break, folks! That might even double that amount, to well over $1000.00!

"Every little bit counts" -- what, did they hire someone from the United Way to spin this? That's what all of us who are used to grassroots fundraising keep saying ... pennies for UNICEF, paper drives for Little League teams, etc.

[savemefromdumbya]

75. Only 100 showed up at the pro-war rally today LOL!

as compared to our 250,000 plus event yesterday LOL!

[Oilwellian]

76. When Bush plead....

was he on his knees? :rofl:

[yellowcanine]

77. Holy shit, that is enough to feed a U.S. Marine for a couple of days in

a KBR mess! Way to go shrubmeister!

[ngGale]

79. Gawd, what a joke...

~Contributors have no way of knowing who will receive their donations or even where they may go, after officials said details had be kept secret for security reasons.~

Three guesses and the first two don't count.:rofl:

[ladylibertee]

80. I would love the govmt pay for something.Just once...In the U.S.A!!!

[conflictgirl]

81. OMG! I'm gonna die laughing over here

You mean the American public thinks we've already paid enough for the rebuilding (and destruction we caused) of Iraq? Really, I'm just shocked. :rofl:

But seriously, where are all those pro-war chumps? Why aren't they kicking in some money? Aren't they always telling us freedom isn't free? Funny how they always expect *someone else* to pay for it...

[LTR]

82. Well, I could pitch in a couple quarters

Then he can call someone who gives a shit.

[muriel_volestrangler]

84. Give Generously or the Dog Gets It

[Maggie_May]

85. Whey doesn't he ask Cheney to kick in a few bucks.

[ladylibertee]

86. He should re-direct that cash to Katrina Relief.Oh wait, this George

Bush we're talking about: Never mind:eyes: :sarcasm:

[liberal N proud]

87. I can't stop laughing at this

1. This is the first time I heard of the plea - Damn librul media anyway.
2. That should tell them just how much support they actually have for this illegal war.

[WePurrsevere]

88. Hey BUSHCo & Friends, it's YOUR Illegal Murderous War, YOU scarf up the $$

The rest of America has already paid (and will pay for a long time) a whole lot MORE then enough for your ANTI-American traitorous BS both in $$$ and LIVES. :nuke: :grr: :nuke:

[Crux of the Biscuit]

89. Not another dime.

I've started to tax-shelter every available dime of my income possible, and by GOD I'm not giving another penny to this f***ing administration if I can help it. This administration is using our tax money against us. STOP ALLOWING THIS!!! I have this beautiful dream in which we all just stopped funding this government. Let's see how far their $600 gets them.

[CJCRANE]

90. Cut out the middleman

and donate straight to Halliburton.

[xxqqqzme]

91. maybe he'll get some money from

the saudis or sharon. Seems only fair after all we have given them! since their little buddy is in such deep doo doo.

[oneold1-4u]

92. They (Iraqis) pay very little or nothing for -

anything they need. Start charging them $3.00 a gallon for gasoline and it can help to rebuild their infrastructure and slow down all the vehicle bombing. On 5&10 cent gas with no tax, they keep destroying everything and everyone they can. We should just allow them to do for themselves and after all is destroyed another Sadam will show up, and we can do business with them again.