U.S. Fatalities in Iraq Demand More Than "Pipe Dream Alliance"

More than 4000 U.S. service men and women have died in the Iraq War. 33,000 casualties and 29,000 wounded in the same time frame.

Now the Iraq government finds itself with a surplus of $80 billion after the surge in oil profits last quarter. What should be done with this windfall?

To be sure, the Iraqi people have suffered greatly, as has their country's infrastructure, with the inevitabilities of war. Five long years of war have ravaged the people and the systems to meet their physical needs.

So far, $169 billion has been spent to rebuild Iraq, while the conflict drags on. The military "surge" may have worked, but the flow of money needed to rebuild the country is just beginning.

Of the $169 billion spent to this point, U.S. taxpayers have donated $50 billion. I guess that's fair. We caused most of the damage to infrastructure, anyway, right?

I don't have any family or friends, that I am aware of, serving in the conflict. I am happy for that fact. I can't really imagine the stress and worry of dealing with that type of reality every day.

I don't think it's right for $10 billion of Iraqi money (in U.S. banks alone) to be collecting $435 million in interest while U.S. tax dollars are flowing to mend the damage done by the war. I'm sure Iraq will eventually devote a good amount of this windfall from oil profits to rebuilding itself.

I don't understand the Bush administration's perceived payoff for the $50 billion spent on reconstructing Iraq's infrastructure, however. Yesterday, White House Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto stated Iraq becoming a long-term ally of the U.S. is the reward for all the money spent to rebuild.

Sorry, I don't think that's something the Bush administration can assure us of. The U.S. could restore Iraq to all its former glory of antiquity and make the country the envy of Southwest Asia and the Middle East. Even if that unlikelihood did come to pass, however, the probability of Iraq remaining steadfastly allied with the U.S. for the distant future is a pipe dream.

I'm sorry, but even if you take the weapons of mass destruction off the board, the Iraqi people and their government are still going to have to pay the piper. War reparations should be made.

What we, as a country, have accomplished with this war is the suppression of a civil war that will probably never be fully quelled. The alternative, however, would have been far more distressing to the region and the rest of the world. I never advocated war with Iraq, but once we were there, we were obligated to recognize the importance of stability in the region and our responsibility to see such stability maintained through our military presence and diplomatic efforts to achieve parity among the three cultural/political groups involved in the power struggle for Iraq.

I believe that fair and non-punitive war reparations for the Iraqi government would be for them to initially forward any interest on accounts currently held in the U.S. to the U.S. government. Afterward, the Iraqi government would be required to forward 1 percent of all net profits from the proceeds of its oil exports.

It is horrible and lamentable for the hundreds of thousands of individuals who have been directly impacted by this war through the loss of a loved one and/or the wounded service men and women who have already returned and will be returning from this war. Life for these people will never be the same. Our country owes all of these people the assurance their sacrifice was not in vain and did not accomplish any real or lasting objective.

Iraq may not always be our ally in this region. I don't really see the Iraqi people rushing to lay down their lives for U.S. interests in the region. No president can foresee, let alone guarantee the future. What our government can do, however, is make sure the Iraqi government and people demonstrate their thanks in the form of repaying the monetary donation the U.S. has made to secure the reconstruction of Iraq.