This is another rare political post  from me, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to speak out about something.

While I think the Iraqi war was mishandled in many ways, and the post-war plan was ineffective, I agree with the decision to invade Iraq. It wasn’t about one president’s desire to complete what his father started. It wasn’t about making some excuse to invade Iraq. It was dealing with the facts at hand: Iraq acted like it had weapons of mass destruction, and they sure seemed like they would use them, and had even pledged to aid terrorists who would.

Of all the leftist  insinuations as to the secret motive behind America’s (I mean Bush’s) actions, perhaps the lowest  was the  claim that we invaded Iraq to get a share in its oil. I never bought that for a minute, but it sure sounds bad. It makes us look bad. But the argument is false. How many billions have we spent on the war and the restoration of the country?

Anyway, here is some fresh proof to counteract that charge.

The soaring price of oil will leave the Iraqi government with a cumulative budget surplus of as much as $79 billion by year’s end, according to an analysis by the U.S. Government Accountability Office released Thursday. The unspent windfall… appears likely to put an uncomfortable new focus on the approximately $48 billion in U.S. taxpayer money devoted to rebuilding Iraq since the American-led invasion. (source — Minneapolis Star Tribune 8/6/08, “Iraq amasses billions in oil profits while U.S. pays for rebuilding” by James Glanz of the New York Times)

Yep, that’s Iraqi money, not US money. And yep, we are forking out the money to help the citizens of Iraq. It’s not easy, but its right. We have to finish the job.