Iraqis Are Outraged at Suggestion that They Pay Part of War Costs Through Fuel

It was bad enough when polls of Iraqis were polled as overwhelmingly supporting attacks on U.S. personnel. Now, Iraqi officials have expressed absolute outrage at the suggestion that they should bear a small fraction of the costs of the war through cheap fuel for the U.S. military. Iraqi officials have said that the U.S. has a greater debt to pay Iraq and that the request is “immoral.”

With costs projected as high as $2 trillion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (with an additional $108 billion in war funding just sought by the Bush Administration), some in Congress made the modest suggestion that the Iraqis provide fuel for the military. Here is the response from Abdul Basit, the head of Iraq’s Supreme Board of Audit: “America has hardly even begun to repay its debt to Iraq. This is an immoral request because we didn’t ask them to come to Iraq, and before they came in 2003 we didn’t have all these needs.”

Now, let’s take account of the current view from Iraq. Attacks on U.S. personnel is permissible and moral. The U.S. has lost roughly 4000 people with tens of thousands of wounded, but it still have a greater debt to pay for ridding the country of Saddam Hussein. Finally, Iraq can demand such sacrifice, but should not be asked to contribute a dime for the effort. Sounds like a good deal, why is everyone so mad at Bush?

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