Bush request fires up critics, advisers

[Democrats unite]

I don't know if this has been posted yet, but there is a poll on the left side of the page a little wasy down. Please vote.



WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 — Only hours after President Bush said he would ask Congress for $87 billion to pay for U.S. engagement in Iraq and Afghanistan, a domestic battle was being fought Monday over those billions and the bigger policy picture. Democratic presidential hopefuls poured criticism on the president, while the president’s advisers defended his request, which would come on top of the $79 billion approved in April for the initial costs of the war and its aftermath and for worldwide efforts against terrorism.


http://www.msnbc.com/news/951994.asp?0cv=CA01

[HootieMcBoob]

1. there's also a dean link from the Today Show

You can vote on the poll and then a little farther down the page there's a link to Dean's interview this morning on The Today Showl

[Kolesar]

4. where is the Today Show link?

the nbc site stinks.

[readmylips]

2. Iraq Windfall...Who will benefit?

http://abcnews.go.com/iraq_reconstruction030906.html

W A S H I N G T O N, Sept. 6 — Paul Bremer, the U.S. civil administrator in Iraq, has said the reconstruction there would require "several tens of billions of dollars" in just the next year.
Americans may think this cash is all going to U.S. soldiers or the Iraqi people.

Guess again.

"Much of it is going to big companies like Halliburton and Bechtel, which are doing extremely well in terms of their own profitability," Chellie Pingree, president of the citizens' activist group Common Cause, told ABCNEWS. "Much of that money is just coming back to their stockholders in the company and their CEO."

More Lucrative Than Thought

Army documents show Halliburton will make more than previously thought — $1.7 billion for contracts ranging from hot meals to hunting for weapons of mass destruction, with much of the money generated by an exclusive, no-bid contract.

Bechtel's contract to rebuild Iraqi infrastructure such as airports and schools had been capped at $680 million. But now it may exceed $1 billion.

The Pentagon argues that the military is stretched thin and needs the help.

The degree to which private contractors are being used in Iraq is unprecedented. But there are questions about employee safety, cost savings and favoritism in bidding.

ETC....

Yep...Other nations are very eager to send their young men and women to die in Iraq so that Chaney and the bushies can get richer.

[Serial Mom]

3. Bechtel says cost for minimum reconstruction

is $16B

to make infrastructure as they should have it . . $30B

So a good portion of each year's approval on money spent on "saving us from terra" will go to Bechtel and Haliburton.

Plus I heard that they can't get enough civilian workers over there to do the job and they are way behind on providing things (buildings, water, etc.) so our troops can live half way decently while they are over there.

Condi said this morning on Today show something like that we underestimated the damage Saddam did to the Iraqi infrastructure. Didn't the US bombs do the damage?

[barbaraann]

6. OMG! They've scrubbed that story!

It's "not available."

Do you know if it's anywhere else?

[salin]

7. found it:

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/World/iraq_reconstruction030906.html

[barbaraann]

8. Oh, thank you! I was in a panic.

If this article isn't enough to show that Bush and Cheney are treasonous, I don't know what is.

[1monster]

5. As of 10:47 a.m.

Did President Bush make the case for greater funding and prolonged involvement in Iraq?

* 15041 responses

Yes 30%
No 62%
Not sure 9%

Survey results tallied every 60 seconds. Live Votes reflect respondents' views and are not scientifically valid surveys.