That's Gratitude for Ya

The Washington Post reported recently that Iraq has ordered $100 million worth of military equipment for its police forces from China. The Iraqis claim the U.S. is too slow in delivering arms shipments. Here's the funny part: in light of this complaint/explanation for its behavior, Iraq's security forces already cannot account for the location of 190,000 weapons shipped to Iraq by the U.S. Would Iraq find speedy weapons shipments so necessary, if it actually could keep track of the weapons once they entered its territory?

I think this situation provides us a clear insight into the minds of Iraqi government officials, revealing just how appreciative they are of American efforts on their behalf. Agree with the Iraq war or not, our country has built schools, hospitals, and power plants for these people--at American taxpayer expense, for the most part. Our men in uniform died fighting the revolution Iraq's citizens had neither the courage nor the wherewithal to fight. Our soldiers continue dying in misguided efforts at keeping the Iraqi people "liberated" and "stable" in their government and nation. Iraq repays us by accepting all of this largesse, and doing business with China.

We're spending $12 billion a month in Iraq. The Bush Administration has requested $189 billion for Iraq in the next fiscal year.

It's time the well dried up. Let them dig their own.