OT: $10 Billion in Iraq

The so called "Sunni awakening" is mostly about a tactic of paying the folks to be good guys. The actual amount paid varies some get down around $300 others get up to $1000. It depends on how much influence on others they are believed to have. It is the reason that the violence went down in Anbar. The truth won't fit on a bumper sticker so it will never be part of the political argument.

When the US pulls out, they will likely go for each others throats again. The "government" of Iraq is seen by many as a puppet of a foreign power and thus not legitimate. They are also Shiite theocrats so they will not be very happy about letting others alone.

mpm wrote in news:6a592063-9559-4298-94ec-fda6d5c4cc85 @v56g2000hsf.googlegroups.com:

I've heard the $10Bil/mo part from both cndidates, but don't recall any breakdown. I doubt it's all going to pay militias to not fight - we still have to pay soldiers, replace materiel, maintain things, buy bullets, and so on.

Maybe Obama has this in hte background - McCain seems to have shot his wad and is just harping on his "terrorist" and "acorn" bits, but I know there are mroe things Obaam could add to his arsenal that have gone unmentioned - so far.

Today we had McCain trying to make it sound like anyoen who reaches age 72 MUST 8completely* divest their 401Ks of all stocks and claiming that only he can save them by proposing that his be "changed".

(Wrong, as usual - you only have ot start making regular withdrawls by age 72

- since it's common wisdom that, at that age, no more than 30% or MAX 40% of your 401K shoudl be in stock, that leaves teh rest as bonds and cash vehicles

- so those regular withrawals can come purely from the cash/bond parts.)

I also don't knwo how much of that $10bil goest o things lik rebuilding, infrastructure, humanitarian aid, and so on.

It's prob too complx for most people anyway. Easier to just cite the

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I guess I have to agree with that, unfortuntely. And I agree with MooseFET's bumper-sticker comment, at least as it concerns the low-info voter. And those voters probably are the ones likely to decide the election (unless the leads have opened up far enough given the recent DOW and now TrooperGate.)?

Still, I have to believe the $500 surge rebuttal argument is a winner! It completely calls into question the surge efficacy. It re-focuses voters on the economy - we can ill afford to be paying off our ememies* right now. And it calls into question McCain's truthfulness and character to perpetutate such bullshit on the very Americans who are footing the bill.

Maybe the surge is working. I don't know.(?) Do you? I'll bet if you paid poor people in this country $500/mo you could claim success in reducing the crime rate. [or insert social woe of your choice].

I'll bet you could put 100,000 new policemen on the street and claim the 1990's crime rate is down as a result, when maybe it's down as a temporary blip in the numbers. (i.e, because all the would-be criminals were aborted as a result of the Roe V. Wade 18 years prior?)

I especially liked Rudy Guilani's taking credit for crime reduction in NYC. It was down everywhere in the '90s, -- yet he was not mayor of everywhere!!

All I'm saying is you have to take this crap with a grain of salt. I for one think the electorate is intelligent enough to grasp the $500/ mo rebuttal even if if won't fit on a bumper sticker. And even if the claim (or its outcomes) are questionable or fuzzy, it would STILL force McCain to stop his rhetoric and try to address a very damaging come-back. Something his campaign can not afford to do. So, I guess I just don't get why the Obama camp doesn't go that route. (Again, assuming the payoff is legit and not just urban legend.)

-mpm

• I do use the term "ememies" here a little loosely, admittedly. I am including the 0 recipients in a large pool of folks who don't share our national interest, and therefore, surge objectives. I'm sure a percentage are non-violent (past or present), and just looking out for #1. But likely not all. And if McCain has to explain this, well.... damage done.

Reasons why the surge appeared to work. a) Sunnis bought off b) Baath Pary members allowing "back in" c) Ethnic cleansing has pretty much run its course. d) Shias get to run everything worth having.