Americans Strangely Reluctant to Donate to Iraq Rebuilding Fund

Posted on September 26, 2005

The Observer (UK) reports that President Bush's appeal to the American people to donate to rebuilding Iraq isn't exactly off to a booming start. To date, the administration has raised only $600 from private citizens. Yet, Americans have donated hundreds of millions of dollars to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita.

The public's reluctance to contribute much more than the cost of two iPods to the administration's attempt to offer citizens 'a further stake in building a free and prosperous Iraq' has been seized on by critics as evidence of growing ambivalence over that country.
This coincides with concern over the increasing cost of the war. More than $30 billion has been appropriated for the reconstruction. Initially, America's overseas aid agency, USaid, expected it to cost taxpayers no more than $1.7bn, but it is now asking the public if they want to contribute even more.
It is understood to be the first time that a US government has made an appeal to taxpayers for foreign aid money. Contributors have no way of knowing who will receive their donations or even where they may go, after officials said details had be kept secret for security reasons.

The cost of two iPods, eh? Well, that certainly puts it in perspective. So, let's get this straight. Based on either faulty intelligence or a pack of baldfaced lies, President Bush convinced Congress and the American people to invade Iraq. It turns out that Saddam Hussein had no WMD. The aftermath was botched: many parts of Iraq still don't have electricity and water as they did before we invaded. We haven't gotten any oil from the deal, because the home-grown insurgents keep blowing up the pipeline. Now they see us as occupiers and demand that we leave their country. Oh, yes, and it's about to go from being the only secular Muslim country in the middle east to a Shiite theocracy controlled by Iran. And now they want the American people to donate money to promote a Muslim theocracy where women's rights are non-existent?

When I first heard that President Bush was asking private citizens to donate money to help rebuild Iraq, I thought it was a joke. Apparently, I wasn't far off. But somehow, it's not very funny.