Oil expected to bring Iraq at least $66 billion in 2008

The high price of oil may be hurting Americans, but it has been good news for Iraq.

Oil sales are estimated to bring Iraq between $66 billion and $79 billion this year, more than double the total of recent years, the U.S. Government Accountability Office said today.

And while the Bush administration projects a record budget deficit for this country in the next year, the GAO says Iraq will have a “budget surplus of between $38.2 billion to $50.3 billion.”

The report suggests Iraq could use some of that money to rebuild its own infrastructure rather than relying on U.S. funds.

In the last three years, “the Iraqi government spent only 1% of total expenditures to main Iraq-and U.S.-funded investments such as building, water and electricity installations and weapons,” the GAO said.

Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills) said the report “is going to make a lot of American families very angry.”

“The record gas prices they are paying have turned into an economic windfall for Iraq,” he said.

Iraq has an estimated 115 billion barrels of crude oil reserves, the third largest in the world.

Despite the windfall, Waxman said, “the Iraqi government isn’t spending the money on rebuilding. American taxpayers are paying that bill too. This doesn’t make any sense, and the Bush administration never should have let this happen.”

-- David G. Savage

Photo: Nahil Al-Jurani / Associated Press

Comments

[Scootmandubious]

I will let 2 guest commentators do the talking:

"There is a lot of money to pay for this that doesn't have to be U.S. taxpayer money, and it starts with the assets of the Iraqi people. We are talking about a country that can really finance its own reconstruction and relatively soon."

Paul Wolfowitz 3/23/03

"When it comes to reconstruction, before we turn to the American taxpayer, we will turn first to the resources of the Iraqi government and the international community."

Donald Rumsfeld 3/27/08

How can anybody trust a Republican to lead this country after what we have seen the last 8 years?

As for 'Maverick' McCain do a google search and you can see a recent interview with his mother, who makes it very clear that, over the past 8 years, her son John was Bush's most loyal friend in Congress.