Bush's U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense, Paul Wolfowitz, testifying before congress for one. There were many others.
bestcyrano.org
.."However, in the run up to the invasion, Wolfowitz stated that this would be war on the cheap. Iraq had oil wealth and they could pay for their own reconstruction. This perspective was stated various ways in various venues (see resources at end).
"I resented the statement every time I heard it. Why would a nation – regardless of its wealth – pay for the destruction caused by an aggressor engaging in an invasion? Further, an invasion aimed largely at control of those very resources that were being promoted as the nation’s source of wealth?
Now, Iraq supposedly has a multi-billion dollar surplus so the hew and cry is that they should being paying for their own reconstruction. Paying whom? The US gave out cost-plus contracts to largely U.S. corporations. A number of those corporations have done worse than a lousy job. Further, they did not hire Iraqi’s. They brought in laborers from outside the country. And, with the aid of the U.S. have operated outside of any law. Is Iraq now supposed to start paying those contractors? As, their failed attempt to kick Blackwater out of Iraq proved, they can’t just send those corporations packing. Are they supposed to pay out those contracts on the condition they stop work, AND hire Iraqi’s to replace them?"
(Links @ link)
Miscellaneous Resources
Nightline, 1/22/08. False Statements Preceded War
Paul Wolfowitz’s Happy Talk Five Years On
Cost of Iraq War and Nation Building
On Iraq – testimony of Paul Wolfowitz, Joshua Bolton and John Keane before Senate Foreign Relations Committee 7/29/2003.
Wright, Guardian. 6/04/2003. Wolfowitz: Iraq war was about oil
Washington Post, 3/20/2005. Wolfowitz Strives To Quell Criticism:
The clip showed Wolfowitz telling a congressional panel, “It’s hard to conceive that it would take more forces to provide stability in post-Saddam Iraq than it would take to conduct the war itself,” and “The oil revenue of that country could bring between 50 and 100 billion dollars over the course of the next two or three years. We’re dealing with a country that could really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon.”
Schmitt, NY Times, 2/28/2003, Pentagon Contradicts General on Iraq Occupation Force’s Size:
Enlisting countries to help to pay for this war and its aftermath would take more time, he said. “I expect we will get a lot of mitigation, but it will be easier after the fact than before the fact,” Mr. Wolfowitz said. Mr. Wolfowitz spent much of the hearing knocking down published estimates of the costs of war and rebuilding, saying the upper range of $95 billion was too high, and that the estimates were almost meaningless because of the variables. Moreover, he said such estimates, and speculation that postwar reconstruction costs could climb even higher, ignored the fact that Iraq is a wealthy country, with annual oil exports worth $15 billion to $20 billion. “To assume we’re going to pay for it all is just wrong,” he said. |
