Cynical moves by Democrats

October 19th, 2003 | by aobaoill |

The New York Times has an Op-Ed yesterday (Saturday) on the Democratic Party’s response to Bush’s $87bn request for funds. While I don’t like much of the tone, he draws attention, indirectly, to an important point.

Prior to the US attack on Iraq one of the warnings sounded by many anti-war activists was that the US would devastate Iraqi infrastructure and not make the sort of investment in rebuilding the country that would be necessary. A guiding principle was the welfare of the Iraqi people.
Now however, groups have been urging the amendment or rejection of Bush’s request for $87bn. Not bad in itself, but they have concentrated on the $21bn for reconstruction, rather than on the military funding. The result? That portion of the plan is now being given as loans, while the military funding is untouched.
The fact that, as groups such as MoveOn argue, “Iraq contracts are rife with waste and crony capitalism” is in no way addressed by providing loan- rather than grant-aid. Rather, Iraqis must now bear the burden of corrupt/inept decisions by US administrators.
Ultimately, this plays into the hands of those Republicans who wanted war, but didn’t want to provide any reparative aid. Democrats cannot attack the administration for not providing sufficiant help to Iraq. Instead, they can be seen as culprits who have abandoned the people of Iraq. By appealing to the selfishness and isolationist tendancies of voters they are engaged in a cynical exercise.

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