Awash in oil money, it's time for Iraq to pay its own way

0 Comments | USA TODAY, August, 2008

If the U.S. government's budget were in the same shape as Iraq's, American taxpayers would be wondering what to do with a budget surplus of about $1.4 trillion.

Wouldn't that be nice.

Instead, thanks in part to the $10 billion it spends every month in Iraq, the U.S. government is projecting a deficit of almost $400 billion this year. Meanwhile, Iraq is in budget heaven, awash with oil money. Until it passed a new spending plan last week, Iraq's government was on track to run up a surplus of as much as $50 billion this year, or roughly half its revenue, according to a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

The GAO report details how a nation that desperately needs electricity, water, housing and other infrastructure is sitting on money...