You can read the entire piece at: Editorial - Time for Iraq to Pay the Bill - Editorial - NYTimes.com

I agree with this editorial. To those who say that we destroyed Iraq and should pay for its reconstruction, I remind them that we have already spent many billions. And I also want to use the analogy of 911: the vast majority of terrorists who destroyed the WTC and part of the pentagon were Saudis, yet I didn't see the Saudi government give us any money for reparations, and I didn't see any groups here demanding that they do so.

Since we have already spent so much in Iraq, and our economy is going down the tubes while Iraq's is flourishing, it's time to cut the apron strings and allow Iraq to either sink or swim on its own. There is no good reason to squander any more of our nation's resources there. We've done enough.

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Walter Mondale: "George Bush doesn't have the manhood to apologize." George Bush: "Well, on the manhood thing, I'll put mine up against his any time."

It is obscene for the Iraqi government to be putting oil revenue funds into their savings account when most of Iraq does not have adequate public utilities. Electricity is typically on a couple of hours a day in the early evening. Running water and drinking water are inadequate. Sewage and garbage removal is inadequate.

I am totally unimpressed while this low standard of living is maintained on the one hand while the government piles up tens of billions of dollars. And it is all because they are still bickering about how to share the revenues fairly between provinces.

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National Debt =

Can't force people to be intelligent. If the Iraqi government doesn't want to spend on its citizens, it doesn't have to. In fact, there are plenty on this forum who dislike spending on people's welfare...

Wait.....are you talking about Iraq or America...?

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An employee gets trampled to death by a frenzied, greedy mob at a Walmart sale, and customers actually complained when the store closed. Yet, I'm the bad guy for suggesting policies that assume people act like retarded herd animals that need government nannying and control....

As long as the US is stupid enough to foot the bill, why shouldn't Iraq take advantage?

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A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.

"Why?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes toward the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

"I'm a panda," he says at the door. "Look it up."

The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.

"Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."

Now they have the money to do it themselves, this is the perfect opportunity for us to leave. Why don't we take advantage of that?

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Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils

Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.

When I die, I want to go peacefully like my Grandfather did, in his sleep -- not screaming, like the passengers in his car.

A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.

The only reason people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory.

I could've eaten Alphabit soup and crapped out a better post!

...because too many people are making money off of our presence and our throwing money there. GRR.

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Walter Mondale: "George Bush doesn't have the manhood to apologize." George Bush: "Well, on the manhood thing, I'll put mine up against his any time."

I don't consider public utilities welfare. It is infrastructure. Yes, America needs to be spending on our own infrastructure in of Iraq's. Our bridges ae collapsing, hundreds evaluated as unsafe, and we are on the other side of the planet building bridges for the Iraqis with money we borrowed from countries like China and Saudi Arabia.

No, we do not have a surplus like Iraq. We are headed quickly toward a $10 trillion national debt and longterm unfunded fiscal commitments of over $60 trillion.

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National Debt =

I don't know whom you are blaming? US, Iraqi Government or the Iraqi People?

I'd like to blame everybody.......

it is hard to me to say that: but I blame the Iraqi People (My people) for following Religious Leaders who led Iraq into sectarian violence and almost civil war.

I blame the Iraqi Government for being -NOT IRAQI-

I blame America, for screwing up deeply..........US Army screwed up sh*t in Iraq- of course not the soldiers but the Generals and Ramsfilled-

Tut tut. It's not a governmental thing. The US government is acting at the behest of oil companies. The costs are borne by the US taxpayer, the oil companies are laughing all the way to the bank.

And you have to spend many more billions to fix what you destroyed. Do you want to be like the chinese who execute prisoners, then send their families a bill for the bullets?

Since the Saudi government didn't do it, you have no claim against them.


No you haven't. You bombed it, you fix it.

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"Well done Dubya. You freakin' imbecile." - ViolaLee