Norm Coleman wants Iraq oversight 5 years too late

Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) wants oversight of Iraq reconstruction spending. Unfortunately, Norm is five years too late. Oversight would have been helpful in 2003, but Norm was too busy cheerleading. Norm has always opposed real oversight of Bush Administration policies.

U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman wants Iraq to pick up the tab for its own security and reconstruction.

The Minnesota Republican, facing what could be a tough reelection battle this year, joined a bipartisan group of senators Tuesday who are drafting a "sense of the Senate" resolution that would restrict future reconstruction dollars to loans instead of grants.

"I do think it's important with the changing circumstances in Iraq," he said. "This is something that needs to be done."
(Star Tribune)

I have no idea how Republican keep their heads from exploding when they talk about fiscal accountability after lying us into a war we didn't need to fight, bungling winning the hearts and souls of Iraqis and flushing billions of dollars down the Iraqi reconstruction black hole for 5 years now.

Even if this bill were to become something more than a non-binding resolution, it's still merely a drop in the bucket. We're spending $10,000,000,000 per month and Norm is concerned 5 years after the invasion about the efficient use of our tax dollars? Let's do a little math ... thats 60 months times $10b = $600,000,000,000! BTW, I'm ignoring the billions wasted on reconstruction in my calculations.

Also, is this an indication of what Norm can get done in the Senate? Sheesh. And what about these changing circumstances, Norm? Have we finally turned the corner? Is victory assured?

The move reflects a growing consensus in Congress in reaction to the recent reports by U.S. Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker about the fragile military and political gains of the past year's U.S. troop "surge."

Members of Congress in both parties, eyeing Iraq's rising oil income five years after the U.S.-led invasion, are now seeking to minimize U.S. war reconstruction costs, which have totaled $47.5 billion since 2003.

The Baghdad government has budgeted more than $50.6 billion over the same period. But a January report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office noted that Iraq has actually spent little of its budgeted reconstruction funds.
[emphasis mine]
(Star Tribune)

Moqta Al Sadr's Mahdi Army is being targeted by US and Iraqi forces. Their self-imposed cease-fire is the sole reason troop casualties are not sky-rocketing. When Petreaus and Crocker talk about "fragile military and political gains", they are being euphemistic. What they are really saying is that if the Mahdi Army decides to open fire, US troop casualty numbers will skyrocket.

As for political gains, there have been none. They aren't being euphemistic, they're just lying.

The resolution's authors say it would make good on the promise of former Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, who said early in the war, "We're dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon."
(Star Tribune)

Norm and his fellow co-sponsors can rescue Paul Wolfowitz's legacy. All conservatives know in their hearts that he is a misunderstood genius and not the incompetent architect of the worst foreign policy disaster in the history of the United States. It's not just their own political careers Norm and his fellow co-authors are attempting to rescue, it's ol' Wolfie's legacy, too! There is nothing like a noble cause for Republican to rally around.

Sensitivities about Iraq's growing oil wealth are particularly high in Congress now as consumers are paying record gasoline prices of $3.30 a gallon or more.

Coleman indicated that the resolution could be included in an upcoming defense policy bill to cover war spending through September. But Democratic leaders who control the Senate have yet to weigh in on the initiative, which in its current form would not be binding.

The plan does not address U.S. military costs in Iraq, estimated at $10 billion a month.

War critics, including Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., rallied on Capitol Hill and in St. Paul Tuesday to mark the April 15 tax filing deadline by reminding voters of mounting U.S. war costs that have now exceeded $600 billion.

Jeremy Funk, a spokesman for Americans United for Change, a group that has targeted Coleman, said the effort to curb U.S. reconstruction costs is not enough. "This is an election-year posturing effort by a politician who has supported all of Bush's failed economic and war policies who is now running scared and trying to hold onto his job," he said.
(Star Tribune)

As per usual, towards the end of the article a little perspective appears about the possibilities of this bill's passage. It's highly unlikely. It's just posturing by Norm to make it appear that he's all for oversight. Here are the limited circumstances when Norm believes in oversight:

• When it is someone or some institution that conservatives hate. Norm relentlessly pursued corruption in the United Nations Iraq Oil for Food program.
• The second circumstance is when conservatives have thrown one of their own under the bus to avoid answering bigger questions. Heckuva Job Brownie is the perfect example.
• The third circumstance is oversight where conservatives will not be targeted or in any way harmed. For example, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction's (SIGIR) oversight of U.S. efforts in Iraq.

Here's everything I'm aware that he's investigated:

• United Nation's Iraq Oil for Food program
• FEMA Chief Michael Brown
• Doctors owing back taxes but still collecting medicare and medicaid payments.
• Civil servants who travel business or first class instead of coach
• Safe importation of prescription drugs (protecting the pharmaceutical industry)
• Human Rights Council of the UN
• Music industry's battle with computer downloading
• U.S. companies setting up sham offshore tax shelters

Here's the list of items he could have investigated when he was Chair of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations:

• Intel reports on WMD's
• Dispersal of the Iraqi Army
• NSA's secret wiretapping program
• Cronyism in appointments in Provisional Govt
• Torture at Abu Ghraib
• No bid contracts
• Billions of dollars of State Department cash disappearing in Iraq
• Corruption among contracting companies in Iraq
• Poorly constructed facilities built by contractors
• Contaminated water drunk and used by troops
• Abuses committed by contracting companies in Iraq
• Production problems for MRAP vehicles
• Wrong or not enough armor for troops and their vehicles
• Death of Pat Tillman
• Lies surrounding abduction and rescue of Jessica Lynch
• Overcharges among contracting companies in Iraq
• Guantanamo