A Chequer-Board of Nights and Days

Proposals to make the Iraqis pay for more of the cost of the American reconstruction effort through the use of oil revenues sound very good and very appealing. But Iraq is facing desperate financial and economic conditions of its own right now and frankly, it needs those oil revenues to defray many an expense of its own. It certainly needs those revenues to provide basic governmental programs for a populace that is still facing the aftereffects of dictatorship and war.

A more responsible policy would be to work out a repayment schedule that would allow the Iraqis some time to get back on their feet as a nation before having to make payments to the United States for the reconstruction effort. But that policy is not currently being pursued by Congress. Instead, Congress appears to be hellbent on forcing the Iraqis to make payments now, or very soon in the future, at a time when financial conditions are already quite tight and perilous for the Iraqi people. In this context, it is easy to see how forcing the Iraqis to pay more of the reconstruction costs is actually meant to get the Iraqis to ask for American troops to leave their country so as not to have to divert revenues towards paying for the reconstruction effort. In other words, the Iraqis are effectively being bribed to have their government ask for American troops to leave.

And this is at a time when the battle against al Qaeda in Iraq, some of the other Sunni insurgents and the Shi'ite militias has not yet been won. It is also at a time when Iraqis continue to face hardships in trying to obtain basic services that are essential to maintaining a somewhat decent quality of life. Because Democrats in Congress have failed to get the Bush Administration to leave Iraq, they now appear to be focusing on the getting the Iraqi government to evict American troops.

Let there be no doubt: If the Iraqi people, through their elected representatives, ask American troops to leave, then American troops should leave. But when Congress is trying to make that happen before the reconstruction effort is complete via what amounts to a shakedown of the Iraqi government, then people ought to be concerned. Moreover, they ought to call out Congress for its actions. I know that replenishing our coffers is important. But it is even more important to see the reconstruction effort in Iraq through so that we do not leave a failed state--one that Osama bin Laden has himself said he wants to use as an al Qaeda base--in our wake. I am all in favor of having our minds on our money and our money on our minds. But no amount of money will cover the costs of surrendering Iraq to those who mean us and our security interests harm.