Questioning the Numbers
Posted by Michael Link on January 16, 2008 at 10:10 AM
The Government Accountability Office questions the numbers used by the Bush administration in their report that graded whether or not Iraq had met certain "benchmarks."
And it's not that the report itself painted a beautiful picture of Iraq, either. As even Fox News described the September benchmark report when it came out, "Iraqi leaders gained little new ground on key military and political goals..."
From the GAO report, which focused specifically on the extent of how much progress Iraq was making on implementing its budget (PDF):
The administration reported that Iraq’s central government ministries had spent 24 percent of their 2007 capital projects budget, as of July 15, 2007. However, this report is not consistent with Iraq’s official expenditure reports, which show that the central ministries had spent only 4.4 percent of their investment budget as of August 2007."
Why the delays? "Violence and sectarian strife" and an "exodus of skilled labor from Iraq" are cited, among other reasons.
Comments (2) «
Just imagine how much they have been fudging on our economic numbers.
We probably never pulled out of the first Bush recession. At the very least, the Republicans squandered any chance of taking us back to solvency by borrowing and spending like drunken sailors.
The only reason we haven't gone bankrupt is because the the rest of the world's banks don't want to be drawn into a world-wide panic and another Great Depression.
The Republicans' answer to their mismanagement was to sell off what little is left of our national economic assets. Following the grand-scale purging of our equity through globalization, there isn't much left.
We better take steps now to hold on to it...and more importantly, create some new equity here at home.
Developing alternative fuels and investing in new scientific/technological research could to that. Providing free post-high school educational and technical training programs in these fields to all citizens is key.
The Republicans are incompetence and corrupt. They have not invested in our people or their future and seem to be proud of it.
But that doesn't keep them from lying about it when the truth begins to dawn on the voters.
The Bush administration keeps proving old adages.
This one is "Figures don't lie, but liars can figure."
Anyone who lies to start a war will certainly NOT stop at keeping two sets of books.
We must get that impeachment bill out of committee, these sociopaths are running out of time and will quite possibly do something stupid, destructive and desperate in this upcoming year.
IMPEACH BUSH/CHENEY NOW!!!!
STOP THEM BEFORE THEY IRREVOCABLY DESTROY OUR COUNTRY!!!!!!
« Hide Comments
Comments are now closed for this entry.
