Guest petr,

1) Why would Wolfowitz say the war would pay for itself thanks to Iraqi oil revenues.

At the time it seemed a reasonable assumption I suppose, best ask the man yourself. But the following was the case immediately after the war - CPA in charge, NOT an Iraqi Government - Iraqi Government elected in December 2005 and formed in 2006. That Government now decides and directs what happens to Iraqi Oil & Gas - The USA has got nothing whatsoever to do with that process - If any of the people who up to now have sworn blind that they have, then please explain how. Please note hastily cobbled together US think-tanks with absolutely no authority do not count. I want to know how the US is stealing Iraqi Oil, when they do not operate or control a single field or pipeline in Iraq. OK Guest petr, you now have the floor, TIA for all his/her implied oilfield experience has been ducking that particular question now for days.

2) Apologies, your link did not work so I am unable to comment

3) What the CPA did or did not do is irrelevant to the point TIA was making about US control of Iraqi Oil.

4) "As Deputy Secretary of Defense, Wolfowitz somehow managed to ignore the Pentagon's failure to follow competitive bidding requirements for the reconstruction of Iraq -- an omission that made Halliburton the king of American war profiteers."

Unfortunately for Senator Waxman and his buddy, the Pentagon played it completely by the book. Waxman tried like hell to make something out of this about three years ago and failed. Halliburton won a competitively bid five year Frame Agreement Contract in 1998. That covered various types of works and services in support of the US armed forces world-wide. That was the perfectly valid contract called up in 2003 (1998 + 5 = 2003). Matter of record check up on it.

5) "The Pentagon's failure to protect American taxpayers has led to an ongoing epidemic of waste and fraud".

That really made me laugh petr. Go and look at the defence ministries and defence procurement contracts in ANY country in the world and you could say exactly the same. During the "Cold War" the Pentagon's counterparts in the USSR bankrupted the country at least five times, just to try and counter the US Strike Carrier Fleet. An Example in the UK HMS "Ferrous Oxide" the Royal Navy's Diving Vessel, they designed and built a second generation DSV when the offshore industry were already moving on to 4th generation for a cost of around £30 million a piece. The UK Audit Office, PSA and Royal Navy had to be coaxed into admitting that the ship, which was never commissioned by the way, cost £160 million. By the time those agencies stopped counting it had actually cost the UK taxpayer a staggering £345 million - for something that was never used. So I have no doubt in my mind at all that the Pentagon squanders the US taxpayers money, that is not news, that is not confined to this administration, it has been going on for ages.

PS TIA, please indicate where in any of your posts to this thread that you have answered a single question. Now if you actually believe the bullshit you write, that should not be all that difficult - simple cut-n-paste job right?