Applying GOP Accountability to the War in Iraq (P-I editorial)

[freeplessinseattle]

Remember those good old Republican Party ideas and catchwords for assuring government money is well spent? Accountability! Fiscal prudence! Performance audits! All day and night! Yes. Let's make sure our federal dollars are well-spent.

<snip>

I keep listening but I don't hear the same rhetoric or values applied to the war that have been put on, for example, school teachers and education. The No Child Left Behind law attempts to make sure federal education dollars are spent usefully. OK, so even if you buy the logic, you wonder, do people just call for fiscal responsibility on the particular topics they want accountability for?

Every Republican and many Democrats want accountability and lots of testing to make sure those scary public-school teachers earning modest salaries and working 10 to 12 hours a day aren't trying to rip off the federal piggy bank.

<snip>

How will we know when we have spent enough to help that faraway country? Is it a good investment to rebuild infrastructure that might be blown up the very next day? What would a similar federal investment in road-building and infrastructure in our own communities look like?


http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2002902916_joni02.html