White House to withdraw funding for rebuilding Iraq

"The US government is not planning to continue funding reconstruction projects in Iraq, in what appears to be a major climbdown from the White House's one-time pledge to build the best infrastructure in the region..."


(I love that -- "CLIMBDOWN." A much more face-saving term than Wm Burroughs' more accurate "So grab your ermines, Mary, because the whole shit-house is going up in chunks.")

"It is a badly kept secret that reconstruction has gone badly. Essential services have been very slow in coming back on line and roughly half the money earmarked for reconstruction has been diverted into the military effort against the insurgency.

"The newspaper quoted Brigadier General William McCoy, the commander overseeing construction projects, saying the US funding was never meant to be more than a "jump-start ... The US never intended to completely rebuild Iraq," he said."

(You ever see two cats start to get into it, and one realizes he's gonna die if he really has to fight it out ... and that one does this sort of moon-walk backwards as if to say "Fight? What fight? I'm not backing off -- there's no fight here. I just have an important appointment. Sorry.")

"If confirmed, the withdrawal of reconstruction funds from America would be a further signal that the Bush administration is looking at ways to lessen the US commitment to Iraq as it faces increasing political pressure to start finding a way out..."

(Or as the Monty Python Knights of the Grail put it so well --- "RUN AWAY!! RUN AWAY!! -- So what ever happened to "You broke it, you bought it?")

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