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The grants
It has been about a month and we're still without electricity in the clinic I work in, it has been a month since I really treated a patient, I just write prescriptions now and I really hate working like this but what can I do…we don't have national grid support to the clinic because it has been built recently and as I said before it's in the outskirts of Baghdad so nobody cares about it since no one of the "hot shots" from the ministry will go there so our requests is lost between the awful Bureaucratic procedures …we used to have a generator to support us with the electricity that we need but it broke down about a month ago and we wrote countless requests to the manager of the whole health offices in the district and he didn't move a hair… 3 days ago we went to talk to him and he said it's not my business! Then whose business is it?
Anyway, I felt a little hungry today (since I'm just sitting and have nothing to do) and I went to buy something from the near-by shop but it was closed and there were workers rebuilding and repainting the shop so I went back to the clinic and asked the pharmacist where to find another shop (since most of the area are farms and I'm new here) and why is it closed? And he said:" The Americans gave grants to all the shop owners in the area, to fix their shops and make them modern, so the shop owner took that grant and he is doing a make over to his shop…you can find another shop about 2Km from here, it's another shop that the Americans gave money for" and because some people refer to any westerner as Americans I asked him if they were US soldiers or just westerners, he said that they were US soldiers they visited the shops and took pictures for them and after the shop owners finish the makeover they come again and take pictures, he was talking in an angry way like it is something bad so I asked him "what's wrong in that, why are you angry" he said" it's our money, our oil money and they pretend that it's theirs!" I answered him" well, if they are taking our oil and do such things then it's better than our government who also takes the oil but never do such things, if they are going to take it, they will take it anyway isn't it better that some Iraqis gets benefits…for example look at us…it has been a month and no one fixed the generator! And that bastard tells us it's not his business!...I'm not saying the Americans are good, but what they did is a good thing… and it's also in their best interest…spending on shops is much cheaper and better than spending on armors of tanks or giving money for the families of their dead soldiers…it is also a way to reduce the violence against them and at the same time benefit the people of the area, I think it is a really smart move and a very good thing" he said " but it's our stolen money" I said "who cares if it's the devil's money, there are people who really in need for this money, and this is a chance for them to have a legal work"….we continued talking and no one was able to convince the other….but I want to clear my view a little….I don't support anyone or any side in particular, I try to be always in the middle, I support what is good and when I see something good I say it's good no matter who did it, even if it was my worst personal enemy and he did something good I'll admit it, this is my personality and this is what I believe in….giving grants for small projects is a really good thing because this will lead to many thing like: improving the situation of the whole neighborhood, there will be job opportunities for those who don't have jobs (because it's not only for small grocery stores but for all the kinds of shops like bakeries for example) and this leads to less people in need for money so this will lead to less people joining the militias for money and doing illegal or violent actions in return for the money they receive and this will lead to a more stable area....and this is a good thing for the US soldiers as well as the Iraqis…some people will look at this as a betrayal to Iraq because they are taking money from an invader, but I don't see it like this...if they were taking it to do bad things to Iraq or Iraqis then it will be betrayal, if they were taking it to be spies it will be betrayal, if they were taking it to help the US doing bad things to Iraqis it will be betrayal…other than that I think it's a food thing and everyone will benefit from it then why not?…I might be mistaken but this is how I see it.
24 comments:
Is there any evidence at all that the Americans have been "stealing Iraq's oil momey"? I think when all is investigated, it will turn out that Bush spent billions of the US taxpayers' money in Iraq, and got nothing (financial) for it.
What the US did get was an end to Saddam, who was dangerous to everyone and especially to US allies such as Saudi Arabia and Israel.
Akhoiya Dr. Mohammed, why do some Iraqis think Americans steal their money? All Iraqi oil revenues go to the Iraqi government. The Iraqi government has been sovereign since June, 2004. If your friend has a problem with how Iraq's oil revenues are being spent, shouldn't he take it up with the Iraqi government? Maybe you should tell him to vote for better leaders in this year's two Iraqi elections.
In fact, Bush has spent about $800 billion worth of America's hard earned tax payer dollars in Iraq. Of this $50 billion went in grants to Iraqis. $750 billion went to fund US military operations. All of this money was paid in taxes by hard working Americans who could have used those tax dollars for many other important and urgent priorities.
If your friend calls Bush dumb as a door nail, and argues that Bush stupidly and inefficiently spent the $50 billion in grants to Iraqis, it is hard to argue with that. Gross incompetence, however, is different from stealing.
I could further mention that Bush's incompetence significantly delayed training and equipping the Iraqi Army and Iraqi Police (which didn't seriously begin until the transfer of sovereignty in June 2004), which in turn lead to many thousands of Iraqis dying who otherwise probably wouldn't have.
President Bush in my view should have asked Congress to appropriate $100 billion in economic and military grants for Iraq (to facilitate economic reconstruction and training/equipping the ISF) before the invasion of Iraq. Bush's failure to do this has ended up costing American taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars in additional military expenditures.
Don Cox, Saudi Arabia is no friend of America. They have behaved as our enemy for decades while hiding behind their hypocritical fake smiles.
well, I think all the comments will be about why the Iraqis think US is stealing their oil....I think they have all the right to think like that because they wouldn't find a reason better than that to justify why the US is here....as for me I think they don't have to steal it like the word "stealing" describes...Iraq will pay the US what they spent here, Iraq will pay the cost of liberation sooner or later and this is common sense. another thing is the fake deals about rebuilding Iraq and the imaginary projects which responsibility's lies on Americans and Iraqi dishonest contractors or the corrupted members of the government (most of them), any Iraqi kid knows that every thing that is done (projects) costs doubles of the real cost for example for changing a pipe in the street they would take about 10,000$ while its real cost is not more than 1,000$ the rest is divided between the Iraqi private contractor and the US army officer who is responsible for spending the Iraqi money...as for me it would be great if 90% of the Iraqi oil went not to the Iraqis because 10% will really change the condition of many Iraqis...Iraq is literally floating on oil....in the area I work in, if you dig a little deep you will have a fountain of oil...many farmers found oil and no one is giving them any attention...Iraqis are getting almost nothing from their oil.
here are some evidents that was't written by Iraqis but by Americans...if you want to say it is a lie, don't tell me, tell the one who wrote them! it was so easy to find, check them out:
http://www.worldproutassembly.org/archives/2008/02/federal_reserve_1.html
http://www.btcnews.com/btcnews/1255
those were the results in the first page of google search...you can find more yourselves.
but remember this post is not about whether US steals the Iraqi oil or not!
Dr Mohammad, blessings to you and your family. Why no mention of the Gaza genocide of your fellow muslims? Peace.
As for the question why you are not getting electricity, I think the answer lies in the list system that was used for electing MPs. I believe this was proposed by the UN. In a working democracy, each area has a local member of parliament, and you can complain to him (or her) about local matters. He can then ask questions in Parliament, or pressure the Ministry. You need a constitution more like those of the US or the UK. Otherwise, the bureaucrats will suffocate the country.
Dr M, this is the first sentence in one of your links:
Remember, the neocons told us the invasion of Iraq and the subsequent murder of over a million Iraqis...
This is obviously somebody with an agenda. If this is the type of person that Iraqis listen to, that's pretty discouraging.
Oh jeez... I just checked on that PROUT organization, and they are anarchists. Just what Iraq needs. More anarchy.
Anon,
because I'm not a witness of what happens there and I don't know much about the roots of the problem...All I can say is that may god help them and protect them...I wouldn't say more than what we hear in the news.
Don Cox,
Bureaucrats are really and literally suffocating the country if you want to do the simplest things you will need a dozen of signed papers and at least a week of go there and come here, damn.
in the health ministry we have a pyramidal sequence..I should go to the manager of my clinic then my manager goes to his manager and his manager will go to the manager who is responsible for the district and then district manager will go to the manager of districts in the Baghdad's health department who will go to the head manager of the department who will go to the vice minister and then to the minister....that's if it doesn't need further signatures from other departments in the ministry or Baghdad's health department....as for the simpler things it could end with the head manager of baghdad's health department.
Programmer Craig,
why do you always criticize? I told you I haven't wrote this and I said I made a google search and pasted two links from the first page, I didn't even read all of it I just made a quick scan...if you want you can make a search yourself and decide if that is true or not.
why do you always criticize?
Somebody has to. Or not. I don't really care if you want to believe the US is stealing Iraq's oil or not. The US isn't even going to be there, in a year's time. And I've been arguing with Iraqis about whether or not the US was stealing Iraq's oil since before you even started blogging. I'm kinda tired of it, myself. So, I'll go away now :)
Hi, Dr M,
I think Iraq has already paid for "Liberation" in Blood. Of course, Oil should be free.
I believe the US will always be in Iraq, one way or another. Apart from VIETNAM, every invasion over the last 100 years, has seen them leave their Military Bases behind. Just in case a native pops his/her head up, and says boo.
I feel sorry for you, fancy! A dentist without a drill! You sound like my sort of dentist. :)
PS: US should be listed in Guinness Book of World Records as the Country with the Most Foreign Interventions.
Dr. Mohammed, I have to agree with the majority of your commentors that the US isn't stealing the oil money. Enough on that topic. Would you consider asking a US soldier if maybe they can help you get a generator? They won't bite you and the worse that would happen is that they would say no, but I'll bet that they would make it happen. The US is trying to "win the hearts and minds" of Iraqis and I'm sure that a free generator for a dental clinic would trump a facelift for a private shop. I'm not saying that they would take away a shop from their list, they wouldn't, but I bet you'd get a generator!
You have a very good outlook on these grants and being willing to take the help being offered. Ask your friend who feels differently if he has ever heard the expression "bite off your nose to spite your face". It kind of means to punish yourself for no good reason or just to make a point.
I hate government bureaucracy and it sounds like yours is even worse than ours. I didn't think that was possible. Good luck with that, I have no suggestions to combat it.
May God bless you and your family
Joe
“I think they have all the right to think like that because they wouldn't find a reason better than that to justify why the US is here” No they don’t have the right to make claims like that without specifying exactly what they mean and providing evidence. To do otherwise is slander and unbecoming of a people as cultured, well mannered, and values oriented as the Iraqi people.
“Iraq will pay the US what they spent here, Iraq will pay the cost of liberation sooner or later and this is common sense.” No Mohammed it is not. I have heard of no bill by the Iraqi Parliament to reimburse American taxpayers for anything. Any reimbursement has to be passed by the Iraqi Parliament, or it cannot happen. I don’t think the Iraqi Parliament should reimburse the US government for expenditures in Iraq.
“another thing is the fake deals about rebuilding Iraq and the imaginary projects which responsibility's lies on Americans and Iraqi dishonest contractors or the corrupted members of the government (most of them),” Good point. The US military and US government aggressively investigates any US government employee who is suspected of graft. Any Iraqis who care about Iraq and care about America should investigate corrupt US government employees and provide any evidence they find to the US inspector general. Any such Iraqi would do a great service to Iraq, America and the Iraq/American relationship.
“any Iraqi kid knows that every thing that is done (projects) costs doubles of the real cost for example for changing a pipe in the street they would take about 10,000$ while its real cost is not more than 1,000$ the rest is divided between the Iraqi private contractor and the US army officer who is responsible for spending the Iraqi money”
Good point. Many American soldiers (and former secretary Rumsfeld) have said that corruption is one of the two biggest obstacle to Iraqi success (the other being sectarian/partisan tension.) Since Iraq’s sectarian/partisan tension and security have improved in recent years, corruption is Iraq’s biggest single challenge today. Dr. Mohammed, you should urge all your friends to vote for the least corrupt candidates for public office. Only Iraqi voters can tackle the immense corruption in the different parts of the GoI (Gov of Iraq.)
“as for me it would be great if 90% of the Iraqi oil went not to the Iraqis because 10% will really change the condition of many Iraqis...Iraq is literally floating on oil....in the area I work in, if you dig a little deep you will have a fountain of oil...many farmers found oil and no one is giving them any attention...Iraqis are getting almost nothing from their oil.” Forgive me for disagreeing with you:
1) Iraq’s oil is stuck deep under the ground. Iraq has to extract the oil from the ground and then sell it before Iraq can generate revenue from Iraq’s oil. The Iraqi parliament has refused to vote to allow increased oil production. Until it does so, Iraq will not have access to its oil revenue.
2) Oil prices have fallen from $149/barrel to $41/barrel. This has significantly reduced the revenues of the Iraqi government (almost all of the GoI’s revenues come from oil), and forced deep cuts in Iraqi government spending . . . including on capital spending/reconstruction. For example the Iraqi government is increasing electricity production much more slowly than it planned to last July.
3) Sharp increases in spending on the Iraqi Army (and to a much lesser degree the Iraqi Police) are drying up government spending on all other items. Unfortunately, Dr. Mohammed, we Americans are insisting that the GoI increase spending on the IA because we want to draw down US troops in Iraq to 5 brigades (from 21 brigades at the peak) soon so that we can redeploy to Afghanistan/Pakistan and deal with other global security threats (Al Qaeda linked networks in Somalia, Sudan, Thailand, Bangladesh; as well as humanitarian missions in Africa.) To do this, The IA will need to build many very expensive combat enablers. I could discuss the specifics in another comment if you would like. Just two example for now:
a) You Iraqis will need to spend $100 billion on your air force over the next decade. That is very expensive.
b) Here is a description of how difficult building Iraqi Army engineers will be:
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/01/iraqi_engineering_fo.php
The engineers will probably cost over $1 billion a year.
Angel, do you mind if I ask why you canceled your blog? Hope you are doing well.
Dr. Mohammed:
In the case of the "prout" article, one piece of circumstantial evidence is said to indicated that a portion of Iraq's oil revenues is being stolen. Specifically, it talks about a few billion dollars of unspent money which may have been invested in US bonds. And I quote:
"Meanwhile, some $6 billion to $7 billion from last year’s budget is "being rolled over" and invested in U.S. treasuries, said Yahia Said, director of Iraq Revenue Watch, part of the private watchdog group Revenue Watch Institute."
This may be true, or maybe not. Either way, $6-7 billion is a miniscule figure compared with total US expenditures in Iraq, which according to this source, exceeds $8 billion each month.
The "btc news" article is from 2006, when there was a drop in Iraqi oil exports. "Where is the oil going?", the article petulantly asks. Well, it was Iraq in 2006, the whole country was on fire, where the heck do you think the oil was going? It was either getting blown up in the pipelines or smuggled to Jordan and Iran to fund various militant organizations. Mystery solved.
I can understand why Iraqis think that the US is stealing their oil, or that they will steal it eventually. But the truth is, they are wrong. Maybe that was the plan at some point, but the plan has failed. US companies aren't even getting contracts to develop oil fields, but the Chinese are.
Does this make sense? From an imperial standpoint, no. But the most powerful influence over American decisions in Iraq is internal US politics. Other than this, the main US concerns relate to the balance of power in the Middle East. Previous occupiers of Iraq had an imperial mindset, the US does not.
That doesn't mean the US is necessarily right or good, but I can guarantee you-- we're not stealing your oil, and we're not going to steal your oil. No matter how crazy that seems.
Craig,
you have all the right to discuss anything, that's why the comments are here! let me tell you and the rest of the commenters something to clear few things...I'm not convinced that the US is stealing oil, and I'm not convinced they are not! I know it seems crazy, but if I'm convinced they are then I wouldn't say "if they are" I would say "They are stealing"...English is not my mother language so that might gave a false conclusion...do you know why I'm not convinced because there isn't enough convincing evidents otherwise I wouldn't refer you to website links! when a man says I'm not sure or I don't know then it's much much better than he saying things he is not sure about...I gave you the links and it's up to you, for me I'm not convinced as I told you in both of the possibilities.
Angel,
I believe they will stay...the troops will not be in the streets like now sooner or later but some bases will stay, that's for sure.
Average American,
about the oil; read what I said to Craig...loool, I'm sure they will not bite me, most of the US soldiers I talked to where very nice and very helpful and I also think there is a high probability that they will help with something but you know where the problem is? it's in my co-workers....If I asked them about it and whether they did or not I will become "the dentist who works with the Americans, the spy...etc" majority of the people I work with are so anti-Americans whether in the army or civilians...one time we had a man who works in the village council also who talked with the US troops because he had to due to his work and I can't tell you how he is treated now and what a war they begun against him!! I know this is a really bad thing but I don't want to put my self in troubles specially in my working place!
Anad,
the oil maybe stuck deep underground, but i swear to God it is really shallow in my working place, in fact there is a fully constructed well and one is working in it! it doesn't need spending, just take the oil....and BTW, if Iraq needs such massive amounts of money (and I'm sure it does) why there are such massive amounts of money spent on the salaries of the hot-shots? let alone the disgusting corruption! as I said if something costs 1000$ it will be done for 10000$ this needs to be stopped...as for the oil thing read what I said to Craig.
Matt,
I agree with you about the decrease in oil in 2006...In fact I wrote about in a segment of one of my older posts.
"I can understand why Iraqis think that the US is stealing their oil, or that they will..." This might be true.
it doesn't seem crazy to me...read what I said to Craig but many Iraqis tend to think what you say is crazy! as you said it "Imperialism", most Iraqis think US is the same as Britain regarding occupying countries.
Anand, I didn't cancel it. I got annoyed with Haloscan, who managed to nick my comments for the last 2 years. I stopped the commentsing section. It's now open on selected posts.
Oh good grief, what does it cost to repair the generator?
Try as you may, you'll never convince him. They have been brutalized by years of corruption which over the years will break the best of men. From colonization to the years of tyranny, it's all they have ever know. You cant ask them to just up one day and see the world through different eyes. If the situation were reversed, they would steal our wealth, like they did the day they crossed the boarder of Kuwait.
There is only one cure, "if" Iraq continues along a path toward democracy, the "next" generation will see the world through different eyes.
Remember most of these people have lived in Iraq all their live and it only now that they have discovered that there is not enough electricity, or that their health system is so bad, or that Iraq suffers from chronic lack of infrastructure for water and sewage....
LJM,
I don't know exactly but it will cost a lot because it's a big generator and it's Turkish not Chinese, I think in thousands of dollars I'm not sure how much exactly but sure it's more than a 1000$ and less than 2000$...if it was a small generator like the ones in homes it would be really cheap maximum damage will be fixed between 50-70$ and that would be so easy to pay.
Madtom,
congrats. mate...you have chosen the perfect nickname for yourself and it really suites you....I'll say nothing more!
Thank you Dr. Mohammed.
I'll just add that I'm Cuban as my credential. Our people are suffering in the same way and would say the exact same things as you, would quote similar publications as evidence. To me you sound more like my cousin back on the island than a complete stranger from a different culture 1,000's of mile away.
This piece was cited in the following article:
A Dentist's View of Baghdad
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