The Surge: Still Working

[assoholic]

..now, now, no need to bring truth into this discussion.

 

[TOVisitor]

General Betrayus Redux??

First there was this:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/09/20070914.html

While it is too soon to tell by how much budget execution will improve by the end of 2007, there is no doubt that the Government of Iraq is overcoming many of the problems it faced in 2006. [...]

In 2006, the Government of Iraq spent roughly 22 percent of its $6.2 billion non-provincial capital budget. Lack of technical capacity, security issues, and, in many cases, fear of prosecution for corruption effectively paralyzed much of the Government of Iraq's spending. In 2007, an intense focus and training on budget execution at the highest levels of the Government of Iraq bolstered technical capacity and encouraged action, though capacity constraints persist. As a result, according to Ministry of Finance (MOF) data through mid-July 2007, total Government of Iraq ministries have already spent approximately 24 percent of their 2007 capital budgets.

Assessment: The Government of Iraq is making satisfactory progress in allocating funds to ministries and provinces.

Today we find out this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/16/world/middleeast/16reconstruction.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Highly promising figures that the administration cited to demonstrate economic progress in Iraq last fall, when Congress was considering whether to continue financing the war, cannot be substantiated by official Iraqi budget records, the Government Accountability Office reported Tuesday.

As Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top American commander in Iraq, and Ryan C. Crocker, the American ambassador to Iraq, prepared in September to report to Congress on the state of the war, the economic figures were a rare sign of progress within Iraq’s often dysfunctional government.

But in its report on Tuesday, the accountability office said official Iraqi Finance Ministry records showed that Iraq had spent only 4.4 percent of the reconstruction budget by August 2007. It also said that the rate of spending had substantially slowed from the previous year.

...the administration, with the help of the Finance Ministry in Baghdad, appears to have relied on a combination of indicators, including real expenditures, ministries’ suggestions of projects they intended to carry out, and contracts that were still under negotiation.

Once again, can you believe ANYTHING whatsoever that the Shrub admin says?

This is outrageous.

 

[TOVisitor]

I think there are two reasons; one - that there are no reliable figures, two - that this is a result of Iraq on Iraq violence that was happening (although sponsored by the government) before the invasion.

OTB

Oh please.

How much Iraq on Iraq violence do you think Saddam was allowing, other than what he himself did?

There is nowhere near the level of violence then as compared to now.

 

[onthebottom]

Oh please.

How much Iraq on Iraq violence do you think Saddam was allowing, other than what he himself did?

There is nowhere near the level of violence then as compared to now.

All the violence in Iraq while Saddam was in power was Iraq on Iraq (by him) and now it's AQ and Suni insurgent on Iraqi......

OTB

 

[lookingforitallthetime]

I think there are two reasons; one - that there are no reliable figures, two - that this is a result of Iraq on Iraq violence that was happening (although sponsored by the government) before the invasion.

OTB

Please. A bit of a stretch don't you think?

Oppresion may have existed under Saddam but not chaos. At least not at the level it is now.