US congressman wants Iraq to repay US for war cost

[Infiltrator]

Obama is a democrat.
Mccain and Bush were republicans.

American conservatives (the majority of the country) tend to vote Republican while American liberals (the minority) vote democrat. Obama was only voted in because Bush was a huge disaster.

Please don't post inaccurate information. Democrats aren't a minority. The actual number of Americans who consider themselves Democrats or Republicans fluctuates. Thus, there are slightly more Americans who consider themselves Democrats or Republicans depending on when the statistics are taken and how the country is doing in terms of economics, foreign conflicts, etc.

See here:

Partisan Trends - Rasmussen Reports™

Current trends:

"Partisan Trends: 35.6% Are Republicans, 34.0% Democrats, 30.4% Unaffiliated"

 

[secularbuster]

BAGHDAD – A U.S. congressman visiting Baghdad Friday suggested that Iraq pay back the United States for the money it has spent in the eight years since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher spoke during a one-day visit by a group of six U.S. congressman. The California Republican said he raised the suggestion during a meeting with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that some day when Iraq is a "prosperous" nation it pay back the U.S. for everything that it has done here.

"We would hope that some consideration be given to repaying the United States some of the megadollars we have spent here in the last eight years," Rohrabacher told reporters at the U.S. Embassy after the meeting.

He did not say what reaction, if any, the prime minister had to the suggestion.

The idea of repaying the United States for a war that the vast majority of Iraqis had no role in bringing about would likely gain little traction with an Iraqi public that harbors mixed emotions about the U.S. invasion. While many Iraqis are glad to be rid of Saddam Hussein, they blame the United States for the chaos and sectarian violence that followed.

The Baghdad city government earlier this year demanded the U.S. pay $1 billion for damage caused to the city by blast walls erected during the war.

The congressman said the United States can no longer afford to send troops all over the world because the U.S. is in an economic crisis.

"We could certainly use some people to care about our situation as we have cared about theirs," he said.

Rohrabacher said the issue of cost could be a factor in any decision about whether to keep troops here past a Dec. 31 pullout deadline.

There are currently about 47,000 American forces in Iraq. Discussion is intensifying about whether Iraq will ask American troops to stay past that date.

Leon Panetta, who has been nominated to take over the Pentagon, said earlier this week during a confirmation hearing that Iraq would likely ask the U.S. to keep some American troop presence past 2011.

US congressman wants Iraq to repay US for war cost - Yahoo! News

wow

These bastards invaded Iraq on the basis of some lies and now they want Iraq to pay for their crime, I suppose it's the height of evil.

 

[Infiltrator]

Correct me if I'm wrong but this guy is a congressman, who normally has to be voted in right?[/B] I don't understand why you think just because he's a republican, he's not representative. Your people have been voting them(republicans) in power with amazing consistency. Although most Americans won't admit this view openly, a good portion of the Americans share similar views.

I will correct you.

He represents the view of the people who voted him in. Not all Americans, the majority of Americans or Republicans, etc. In this case, the U.S. district that voted him in. He is only representative of those who voted for him. No one else in our country. There are plenty of Americans who are apathetic or against his views.

Also, I'd like to add that the elections prior to Obama's administration including Bush vs. Gore and Bush vs. Kerry were highly contested. Furthermore, Bush vs. Gore was surrounded in controversy.

We may have voted in Republicans as a country but one election is considered illegitimate by many and the other was extremely close.

Finally, what evidence do you have to support your claim " a good portion of Americans share similar views." That's simply a unfounded claim. Perhaps some Americans share this view but you have no way of proving a good portion do.

As I stated in a post above, I love how this forum takes one American politician and claims his representative of all our views.

 

[Skyline]

Most funny and tricky thing is, USA starts wars, then tell other countries to carry on. (NATO) These days they are destroying the Libyan capital, I just wondering the feeling about people of that city who created it.

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

I'm sure there are Native Americans and even Mexicans with similar sentiments.

 

[Infiltrator]

Most funny and tricky thing is, USA starts wars, then tell other countries to carry on. (NATO) These days they are destroying the Libyan capital, I just wondering the feeling about people of that city who created it.

We didn't start anything in Libya if your implying we did. It was a civil war started by the uprising of the Libyan people against the corrupt regime of Gaddafi.

 

[Abii]

Please don't post inaccurate information. Democrats aren't a minority. The actual number of Americans who consider themselves Democrats or Republicans fluctuates. Thus, there are slightly more Americans who consider themselves Democrats or Republicans depending on when the statistics are taken and how the country is doing in terms of economics, foreign conflicts, etc.

See here:

Partisan Trends - Rasmussen Reports™

Current trends:

"Partisan Trends: 35.6% Are Republicans, 34.0% Democrats, 30.4% Unaffiliated"

Isn't that what I said Einstein?

 

[secularbuster]

We didn't start anything in Libya if your implying we did. It was a civil war started by the uprising of the Libyan people against the corrupt regime of Gaddafi.

And who started the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan?

 

[Akasa]

Then perhaps Poland should repay Germany for the German casualties in 1939.

 

[Akasa]

I don't mind if it came from a guy like Dana Rohrabacher. From his previous statements, it's clear that he's an idiot that would say anything to gain political leverage and needs to do some researching on today's political affairs.

 

[Juice]

Most funny and tricky thing is, USA starts wars, then tell other countries to carry on. (NATO) These days they are destroying the Libyan capital, I just wondering the feeling about people of that city who created it.

Libya is a French and British show. We help a little, but I think we let them do it to proove they can't fart without our help.

 

[secularbuster]

Then perhaps Poland should repay Germany for the German casualties in 1939.

Yes, the american argument is like that.

 

[Solomon2]

The congressman's plea isn't as far out as people may think. Both Saudi Arabia and Kuwait partially reimbursed the U.S. for war expenses after U.S. forces kicked Saddam out of Kuwait. The amount was in the tens of billions of dollars.

Iraq's war, however, was not just a mere counter-attack, but a liberation. It should be up to the Iraqis to decide what that is worth and what price their consciences should bear. But it isn't something that should be settled yet.

On the other hand, perhaps the American security assistance demanded by Iraqi officials since they took the reigns of their country back in 2008 should be reimbursed in full.

 

[mhb56]

Hmmm!! I doubt it.

 

[Skyline]

We didn't start anything in Libya if your implying we did. It was a civil war started by the uprising of the Libyan people against the corrupt regime of Gaddafi.

I'm talking about the war which started after implementing "no-fly zone", what has happened after it? Anti-Gaddafi or Pro-Gaddafi, all those are Libyans!