who should pay Iraq's reconstruction?

Post-9/11 Era Forum

According you, who should pay for Iraq's reconstruction?

I think it should be a shared responsibility from those who are in a position to offer assistance. I think the US must have some kind of a role, to show that they do have the long term prosperity of the Iraqi people in mind, but I don't think it should only be them, and quite frankly, at this point in time the US couldn't afford to go it alone anyway.

pay the bill would mean encouraging USA in further wars, wouldn't it...?

No, I don't think so. The US still has to shoulder the costs of the military campaign itself, and as I said, I think they should still be involved in the costs afterwards. The US simply cannot shoulder the entire burden itself though. If it is forced to, the Iraqi people will be severely disadvantaged, becuase the US will not be able to provide everything that is required to establish a stable country. There is no sence in causing even more troubles to the Iraqi people just to "teach the US a lesson".

the US has been working on the payment of reconstruction, our gov. is in process of allocating monies to pay for the war and reconstruction costs..
last I heard they were up to 80 billion dollars, some of which is to be used for reconstruction

also, in case anyone forgot, Iraq has oil, lots of it, and oil is a very valuable resource which can be used to pay for rebuilding as well as used for building wealth...
all any country needs is water and some product that can be sold to others to generate revenue....In the long term Iraq should become a very prosperous nation, and that wealth should be enjoyed by all iraqis' insted of just a select few, like that oil money is now....
i read somewhere( cant remember where) that saddam himself gets 40 million a day from oil revenues...that money could be used for many greater things than supporting saddams' palaces and keeping him living like a king....

There are so many difficult issues after the regime change.

Here is an example of one that floored me with the complexity of it. I was watching a report on how the coalition forces are hiring Iraqi citizens to work as dock workers in the city if Um Casar. They said they were going to pay the guys $40 a month in pay. I about jumped out of my chair saying to myself, "You cheap bastards, there is no way we couldn't pay those guys much more than $40 a month, thats BS!"

Just as I thought that, the reporter echo'd that opinion then pointed out the issue. To the people of Um Casar at this time, $40 a month is a pretty good wage, but if they made it into a great wage, doctors, teachers, policemen, etc... would quit to become dock workers to make more money.

Once they pointed that out, it really sank in how complex it will be to get that country back into the land of the living.

Iraq is a secular society everywhere and probably the least religious state in the ME thankgod. Kurdistan has a very good government in place and I doubt the rest won't adjust. Iraq is a quite modern society brought down by Saddam.

One has to try fix it though and its no use running away from the problems anymore. An Iraqi consprict soldier earns $2 a month as well so most will be better off considering the Western world's wealth to make things better along with their own oil profits.

Things are going to work and the society with resources are there already.

Fred Hooper

Baghdad won't need to be rebuilt after this, there'll merely be a few blocks of prime residential land right next to the water that are now vacant, and some really nasty potholes on the roads on the outskirts of the city. :P

Seriously though, the damage to Baghdad is farily localised on perticular areas. This isn't the kind of carpet bombing that we've seen occur in wars in the past. If you want to see what it really means to bomb a city, look into WWII.

I have heard this morning that the US and UK are proposing a United Nations Resolution to take control of Iraq's oil sell it and give ALL the money back to the Iraqi people. France said it would veto that resolution.

the point that i was trying to make is that iraq has a way to sustain itself and make money for its citizens to boot

no one knows the actuall costs of war and reconstruction i was saying what has been tossed around in our legislature recently was 80 billion in immediate funds

as for your lucrative contracts idea, which is better, geting the oil flowing and bring in monies, or just leaving it lay in the ground, useless to iraq?

your bias against our leaders is apparent, and so i would expect that you subscibe to the "we want thier oil" theory
also, if the liberation of the iraqi people is meaningless to the US, why do we try with such great effort to only destroy what is absolutly nessecary?
our military has put itself in great danger just to avoid civilian casualties ,and the basics( electricity and water), have been mostly untouched so as NOT to disrupt any more than we have to....

nobody likes war, but to suggest that our leaders have started this in order to "get rich" is ill informed, biased, and simplistic in nature....also, dont you think that with all the power that out leaders weild, that they could have diverted money to themselves from our own goverment with much less effort, expediture, and loss of human life?....Its called "pork" here in the US and our goverment is overloaded with it, it would have been far easier to "get rich" through pork programs....

It is entirely possible that the bombing of the Market Place's were the result of Iraqi anti Aircraft missiles. You know when they shoot those things in the air and they don't hit anything what happens to them? They fall back to earth.

On your second point. They are already giving jobs to the Iraqi people in Um Qasar in the humanitarian relief efforts.

And your third point. You may not like GWB's policies but hey in American that is your right. You don't have to agree. I don't agree with Saddams policies or Frances policies. As far as Afghanistan It was a very nice place under the King however under the Talaban all those nice places were destroyed. The Talaban converted the football stadium into a public execution area. They destroyed ancient shrines. If you think that the Bush Administration is not giving to the Afghanistan's then you aren't looking.

I think your hatered for our President and the US has blured your vision as to the good that is being done.

Hey GuyFromPakistan

Are you Muslim, can you help me understand what a Fatwah is. Does it have to come from a Muslim Cleric?

help rebuild iraq with the millions saddam has in his accounts all over the world, it was the iraqi peoples money not saddams. Also any other country involved in this war and any country that can. And im sure as you all seem to keep putting isareal down but once this war is done im sure they will be there first like in the past for other countrys they have helped.