Voices in the Wilderness on Democracy Now about Bush Budget for Iraq...

[Postman]

A Voices in the Wilderness activist living in Iraq critiqued the $87 Billion Budget.

$87 Billion to be spent for Iraq and Afghanistan
$70 Billion earmarked for Iraq
-$50 Billion for US Military
leaves $20 Billion
-$5 Billion for an Iraq Army and Police Force
leaves $15 Billion which is the same amount of cash, according to this man, that was used to keep Iraq afloat (oil for food program, workers salaries) while UN Sanctions were being imposed in the pre-invasion era. Voices man questions- Where is the money for rebuilding for infrastructure?

[patdem]

1. Heard this same question on TOTN on my way home today?

Bremmer claims it will cost 13 billion to get the water back running...that leaves 2 billion for everything else...I guess the Iraqi's will just have to starve so that the Halliburton monster can be fed?

[tom_paine]

3. We will all pay by and by for the Busheviks Monsters to be fed

What do they eat?

National Wealth, prosperity, the Middle Class, Amerikan Credibility...

And that's just for an apartif...

[Robbien]

4. If we contracted with the Iraqi people to do the reconstruction

those two numbers would be reversed. But the Hallibeast must be fed.

[seemslikeadream]

2. Kathy Kelly Northern Illinois University Sept. 25th

She will have just returned from a humanitarian trip to Iraq and thus will present an up-to-date, eye-witness view of conditions in Iraq now.

In 1996 she co-founded Voices in the Wilderness. Ms. Kelly has taught in Chicago area schools and community colleges since 1974. Original goal was to end the economic sanctions imposed by the United Nations after the Gulf War in 1991. VITW has sponsored more than 70 humanitarian missions to Iraq, focusing their efforts on Iraqi children by delievering shipments of medicine and toys in open defiance of the sanctions. Their current "Spotlight Iraq" campaign aims to ensure U.S. compliance with Geneva Convention requirements of an occupying force, advocate replacement ofU.S./U.K. troops with international peacekeepers, promote the cancellation of Iraqi debt from the first Gulf War, and stop the corporate looting of Iraq's resources.
Among Kathy Kelly's numerous awards are the 1998 Pax Christi Teacher of Peace Award, the 1998 Newberry Library Free Speech Award, and two nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize: in 2001 as an individual and in 2003 as a member of Voices in the Wilderness.