Misleader Home A Daily Chronicle of Bush Administration Distortion
Photo: Collage of President Bush and White House
Navigation: Who We Are Navigation: Special Reports Navigation: Ask the Experts Navigation: Feedback Navigation: Donate Navigation: Tell a Friend Navigation: Contact Us

Receive the Daily Mislead
Get a look past the rhetoric, every day, delivered to your inbox.

your email:

Member of the press?


             Privacy policy


In the Spotlight
Bush Campaign Ads . . . Brought to You by Special Interests
As President Bush's $10.5 million campaign ad blitz begins, Public Citizen released a report outlining who helped pay for the campaign ads and what favors they have received during his presidency.

Special Reports
No Child Left Behind? The Funding Gap in ESEA and Other Federal Education Programs
The current reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB), raises high expectations for achievement and imposes stringent measures of accountability on students, teachers, and schools.

See the Ad


A Daily Chronicle of Bush Administration Distortion September 23, 2003
Send The Misleader to a Friend | Printer Friendly Version | Want the Mislead on your site?



     

Bush Administration Knew Iraq Could Not Pay for Reconstruction with Oil Revenues



President Bush has had to reverse course and increase his request for reconstruction aid to Iraq more than eight-fold, from an original $2.5 billion to a current level of $20.5 billion1, largely because he earlier disregarded a well-documented report revealing the poor state of Iraq's oil industry.

Instead of using revenues from Iraqi oil to finance reconstruction, as the White House predicted before the war, the Administration now is asking for more than $900 million to import oil, propane, diesel and gasoline to the beleaguered country.2/3

In March, as the war began, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz claimed revenues of $50-$100 billion from Iraqi oil could be expected within two to three years, declaring, "We are dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon."4 At the time, however, the Administration chose to ignore a UN-commissioned report from 2000 that had reported Iraq's outmoded oil-producing facilities were clearly in disrepair. 5

Now the administration concedes Iraqi oil revenues will be zero this year, increasing only to $12.1 billion in 2004.6


Sources:
1. "$87 Billion War Request Details Spending," Washington Post, 9/18/03, p. A04.
"U.S. says oil in Iraq to pay for rebuilding," Houston Chronicle, 3/28/03.
2. "Bush asks for more funds to repair Iraq oil industry," International Herald Tribune, 9/15/03.
3. "$87 Billion War Request Details Spending," Washington Post, 9/18/03, p. A04.
4. "Rebuilding Costs to Be Shared; Rumsfeld tells Congress that taxpayers will get help from oil revenue, international donations," LA Times, 3/28/03, p. 12.
5. "Analysts: Poor Planning Boosted Iraq Costs, "John Ydstie, All Things Considered, National Public Radio, 9/11/03.
6. "The Struggle for Iraq: U.S. Budget; 78% of Bush's Postwar Spending Plan Is for Military," New York Times, 9/9/03, p. A12.




Send the Misleader to a Friend | Print It | Misleader Archive