a) Impose a “US protection fee” for every barrel of oil that comes out of Iraq. Say 25%.
b) Make the fee retroactive to the first day oil resumed pumping after the invasion. That will get us closer to settling the difference.
c) When it looks as though we’re leaving, increase the fee to 50% to cover the balance.
d) Demand that Iraq set aside a certain number of barrels to be sold at a discount to the US for the next 10 years.
e) Keep the $10 billion they have in a New York bank, which the US has to pay $435 million on in interest. (Hello, can somebody check to see if someone left the back door to the US Treasury open?)
If the world balks, call it a loan. Like the rest of the world, we’ll pay it back when we get around to it. Who knows, maybe the CIA is already squirreling away a few barrels here and there. And maybe this will prompt the Iraqis to stop blowing each other up.
You can do something on the grassroots level. If spending your hard-earned tax dollars in Iraq while they fill their bank account makes you mad, then the next step is to ask your congressman or senator this question:
“What are you doing to make the Iraqis pay to rebuild their own country and pay the US back for what we spent there?”
If they don’t have an answer, promise to ask their opponent in November.
Am I the only one who is mad about this? Let me know your thoughts on this issue and we’ll send it to both the Obama and McCain headquarters … and the White House.
