Hey guys,
I just got this email from the Libertarians.
U.S. plan to pay government workers in Iraq
is affront to taxpayers, Libertarians say
WASHINGTON, DC -- A plan to put one out of every 10 Iraqis on the U.S.
government's payroll is a case of nation-building gone haywire,
Libertarians say.
"Hold onto your wallets, because the U.S. government is going on a
hiring binge -- in Iraq," said Geoffrey Neale, chairman of the
Libertarian Party. "If George Bush has his way, Iraqis will soon be
free from Saddam Hussein but hopelessly dependent on Uncle Sam."
Part of the U.S. government's blueprint for occupying and rebuilding
Iraq, unveiled at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing this
week, is paying the salaries of at least 2 million government workers,
including soldiers, teachers, police officers, hospital workers and
bureaucrats. The hope is that making the Iraqis accountable to the
U.S. would help deliver "a measure of normalcy and stability" after
the fall of dictator Saddam Hussein.
In a nation of 23 million people, that means roughly one out of every
10 Iraqis would be getting a paycheck from the U.S. taxpayer, Neale
observed.
But even Americans who support the war probably had no intention of
creating a massive warfare-to-work program overseas, Libertarians note.
"People who accused Bill Clinton of nation-building for handing out
food in Somalia should be appalled that Bush is handing out 2 million
jobs in Iraq," he said. "It's bad enough when politicians put
Americans on the dole with make-work programs, but creating massive
workfare programs halfway around the world is nation-building gone
haywire."
One question Americans should ask is where such programs will end,
Neale said.
"If providing jobs for Iraqis is America's responsibility, why not
provide them unemployment benefits, Social Security checks, health
insurance, paid vacations, and 401-k retirement plans?" he asked.
"And if Bush goes to war against other 'axis of evil' states, could
Americans soon be paying the salaries of millions of Iranians and North
Koreans?
"Those questions are no more absurd than the notion of a U.S.
president hanging up 'help wanted' signs in Iraq and forcing Americans
to sign their paychecks."
Americans should also consider the possibility that the Iraqi jobs
initiative will be just another welfare program in disguise, Neale
said.
"When the U.S. government briefly shut down during a Congressional
budget dispute in 1995, 98 percent of the employees in some agencies
were deemed 'non-essential' and told not to bother coming to work," he
noted.
"If that percentage holds true in Iraq, 1,960,000 of the 2 million
Iraqis will be non-essential government workers. It's hard to think of
anything more outrageous than forcing hard-working Americans to pay
1,960,000 Iraqis not to work."
If Bush wants to promote stability in Iraq, Libertarians have a better
solution, Neale said: Don't destabilize it with a bombing campaign in
the first place.
