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What is Iraq? Some of you would say that it is a country and you would certainly be right, others would say that it is a war, and to some extent that would also be right, but still others would say it is an opportunity. What kind of opportunity could Iraq represent? It is one of the biggest opportunities to steal funds that has ever existed. Money is disappearing faster over there than merchandise at looting time in New Orleans. Besides money disappearing, contracts are in place that give companies huge amounts of money for supposedly running certain operations in that country.

Here is something that I need help with because it is beyond my understanding. Until recently, a country that was in a war with another country and won that war, got richer. Do you think that the Romans lost money when they conquered new lands? No they didn't because they took the spoils of war back with them. This practice even went on in modern times when the Germans in World War II looted the treasures of the countries they conquered, not to mention anything else of value. Enter the United States. We win World War II and what do we do, we rebuild the countries we conquered with American taxpayer money. Every time we get into a war, it costs the taxpayer a fortune, yet fortunes are made by others. You would think that at least the cost of the war would have to be paid for by the losers wouldn't you?

There are two criminal investigations going on against a certain favored corporation that seems to get an inordinate amount of contracts and now it has been found that there are questionable charges of 1.4 Billion dollars that this company has made to the Department of Defense. Wow it is sure nice to have a friend very high up in the government, business has never been better for them. They already have been forced to pay back huge sums of money that they overcharged and never received any criminal penalties for this.

Besides the overcharges being made to the U.S. taxpayer, Iraq itself is getting in on the great giveaway. It is being said that some of the funds sent there, funds that again the U.S. taxpayer is footing the bill for, are disappearing. The UN set up a development fund with 19.6 billion dollars in it, which was solely administered by the U.S. occupation authority. It is said that billions are missing from it and were either taken or misplaced. Hey, how do you misplace billions of dollars? Bad enough that this war is pulling down the lifestyle of every middle class American but now funds are allowed to just disappear. The money might as well just be thrown down a rat hole and buried.

How did almost the entire military procurement budget funds disappear in Iraq? This is the 64,000 dollar question or should I say the ONE BILLION DOLLAR QUESTION since these funds total about that amount? Then there is the question of how Iraqi art treasures are being smuggled out of the country and sold to collectors, including, it is said, collectors in this country. Much of this money will find its way to terrorists and fund their weapons and explosives according to the director of Iraq's national museum.

What is our plan for getting out of Iraq? I thought that this looked like an interesting question until Donald Rumsfeld said that we didn't have one and that what we did have was a victory strategy. Doesn't it seem that you need an exit strategy for every war you are in? Even winners have to figure out how to withdraw their forces. This sounds to me like poor planning, but why not, the entire war seems like it? We keep talking about Iraq making it on it's own, but it is really not ready for that and may never be. The World Bank got promises from Iraq that it would keep its deficit at a certain amount, I believe the figure was around 6 billion dollars, this is not exact. This was a guarantee made so that money could be borrowed to help rebuild the economy but Iraq has a deficit far in excess of the deficit limit promised and it may never be able to cut the deficit to the amount it promised. Will the U.S. have to foot this loan also and eventually forgive it and it has done with so many others?

It's a strange thing, but the living standards under the American occupation in Iraq have decreased. There is an increase in child malnutrition. It is thought that unemployment could be around 65% if accurate figures were available. Iraq has been turned into one of the poorest countries yet it's oil revenue could quickly eliminate some of these problems, if it could be administered properly. The Iraq government has failed miserable in this area. as has the international community, meaning the U.S. and Britain. We promised that we would send $12 billion for road reconstruction by the end of 2004 but instead only sent $2 Billion. I am not saying that we should send tax payer money into Iraq, but we should keep our promises.

Is there any hope of rebuilding Iraq? As we all know, it is very difficult to do while you are constantly being attacked. Some people have calculated that with the current revenue flow into Iraq, the only way that Iraq could rebuild itself, is if it cuts off the free food to it's citizens. This means that many people would starve.

Will any of this resolve itself in the near future? It sure doesn't look that way, it seems a miracle would be needed. The fighting, most likely, will never stop since our international policies and alliances are so hated by the Arab world. With the continued fighting comes a country in chaos. It seems like the only chance Iraq has is if they get back into full oil production and their wells aren't blown up. The revenue could then be used for rebuilding the country if greedy outsiders can keep their hands off.