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Iraq profiteers, take aim 

Palm Beach Post Editorial
Thursday, November 13, 2003

President Bush wants Americans to think of the Iraq war as a noble cause. That would be easier to do if the White House and some Republicans stopped exploiting the war in such petty ways.

Take the $87 billion that President Bush demanded for military operations and for rebuilding Iraq and Afghanistan. Those who questioned the spending or suggested that Iraq get part as a loan rather than a grant were accused of failing to support the troops and endangering U.S. success in establishing an Iraqi democracy.

Senators in both parties, though, thought that using the Iraq money for its stated purpose was so important that they added authority to prosecute war profiteers. House Republicans took it out and refused to include any punishment for those who overcharge in Iraq or defraud the government.

Meanwhile, after President Bush falsely claimed in a news conference that his advance team had nothing to do with the "Mission Accomplished" banner under which he posed on his premature victory flight to the USS Abraham Lincoln, Democrats in Congress asked the White House to reveal how much the advance team had spent to make and hang the banner.

The administration's response: Future questions from congressional committees have to come from the committee chairman. Since Republicans control both houses of Congress, all the chairmen are Republicans. As a Democratic staffer complained, "It's saying we're not going to allow the opposition party to ask questions about the way we use tax money." The refusal to entertain questions from members in the minority party defies precedent.

The administration can give contracts to profiteers without question. It can refuse to answer questions ranging from pre-war intelligence to postwar banners. The lack of answers only increases the number of questions.

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