One of the unspoken understandings among the politically-engaged prior to the latest Iraqi adventure was that, barring absolute military defeat in detail, we would quickly prevail in the conflict and, whatever else may come, the oil revenues of a rapidly-revitalized Iraq would pay for the whole shebang (and, it was hinted, help pick up a moribund American economy in the process by ensuring that the world price of oil declined substantially). Many on the political Left castigated the Administration as being driven solely by the desire to exploit the Iraqi oil fields for the selfish benefit of the United States and her ally, Great Britain.
Indeed, this basic tent was a source of some small comfort to many conservatives who opposed the invasion on other grounds; if nothing else, we'd recoup our costs toot-sweet, and would get a stimulus of our own economy in the process. The President himself mentioned on more than one occasion that a primary motive among the ever-shifting justifications for the involvement of the United States in Iraq was to finally bring the benefits of Iraq's natural resources to the Iraqi people, as they so richly deserved.
Now, however, we're hearing a different tune.
On another note, the officials said their projections for revenues from Iraqi oil sales now stand at:• $12 billion for fiscal 2004, which begins in October.
• $20 billion for fiscal 2005 and fiscal 2006.
The administration initially had predicted that Iraqi oil sales would pay for the bulk of the reconstruction and political transition after the war.
Now the administration says it wants $20 billion from Congress and tens of billions more from other nations to help pay reconstruction costs.
To recap, we've invaded one of the most oil-rich countries in the world; despite extensive experience in postwar reconstruction of defeated enemies, a supposed focus in recent years on 'nation-building' (whatever that is), and the fact that our septuagenerian SecDef is old enough to have direct memories of how we handled said reconstruction, we seem to've been totally unprepared to run a competent occupation government in Iraq; gasoline prices in the U.S. now exceed $2/gallon for no discernible reason other than vague mutterings about pipelines in Arizona and Labor Day weekend demand; we've done things like put out the oil fires of Kuwait after the first Gulf conflict in months rather than years, not to mention putting the carrier USS Yorktown back into action in less than 48 hours after it was heavily damaged in the Battle of the Coral Sea, this herculean task being within our capabilities some 60 years ago; and yet we can't even seem to get the oil fields of Iraq pumping again within something approaching a reasonable timeframe so as to benefit both the Iraqis and ourselves?
This empire-building we've embarked upon in the Middle East sure seems to be an expensive proposition, at least for the American taxpayer. Where's our share of the spoils?
