Eighty-Seven Billion Dollar Breakdown

1. Four-week business course for 2,000 Iraqis, $20 million ($10,000 per pupil)
2. Forty new garbage trucks, $2 million ($50,000 per truck).
3. Imported petroleum, including kerosene and diesel, $900 million.
4. Funding to bring in 100 prison-building experts for six months, $10 million ($100,000 per expert).
5. Seven planned communities to include 3,258 houses, roads, an elementary school, two high schools, a clinic, and a place of worship and market for each community, $100 million.
6. Witness protection program for 100 families averaging five persons per family, $100 million ($200,000 per person).
7. New curriculum to train the Iraqi army, $164 million.
8. Two 4,000-bed prisons, $400 million ($50,000 per bed).
9. Funding for 500 experts to investigate crimes against humanity, $100 million ($200,000 per expert).
10. Protection for 400 judges and prosecutors, $20 million ($50,000 per person).
11. Begin work on a $500 million to $700 million children's hospital, $150 million.
12. Overhaul business practices of Iraq's postal service, including start of ZIP code system, $9 million.
13. Computer study of the Iraqi postal service, $54 million.

Which proves "Operation Iraqi Freedom" was all about getting oil for Halliburton.

Of course the members of the "loyal opposition" are not the least bit happy.

"Many of us on this committee have tried to better protect the American people from future terrorist attack, but time after time the administration has actively opposed efforts to boost homeland security," says Sen. Robert Byrd (D) of West Virginia, ranking member on the Senate appropriations committee. "Eyes have been trained solely on Iraq, while we remain vulnerable here at home."

Name one terrorist attack on U.S. soil since September 11th, Senator Byrd. And name one thing you on the "committee" have done to make us all safer. I'll be over here, not holding my breath.

Another risk for Bush and his GOP allies in Congress is that many of the items for Iraq look bloated. For example, why would new Iraqi prisons cost $50,000 a bed? "They're spending more on prisons [in Iraq] that we do in the US," says Sen. Patrick Leahy (D) of Vermont.

Perhaps they cost $50,000 a bed because Iraq has no prisons at all, Senator Leahy. Only Saddam's torture chambers could even remotely be called "prisons", and just think of the outcry you would make if we put Iraq's criminals in there. Iraq needs to be completely rebuilt, from the top down and the bottom up. The country has never known the rule of law nor has it ever known freedom. Garbage collection did not exist, and electricity on demand? That was only for those loyal to Saddam. In short, Senator Leahy, Iraq has no infrastructure, period. The United States does, that is why it costs $50,000/bed to build prisons and jails in Iraq.

But here's the money quote.

"How do I explain to my constituents that those who helped to prop up Saddam's regime - the French, the Russians and others - could potentially be repaid, but those who financed the war to liberate the Iraqi people will not be repaid?" asks Sen. Evan Bayh (D) of Indiana.

Simple. The United States is better than them.

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