As if on cue, the Bangor Daily News applauds Sen. Collins for sponsoring legislation--to the best of my knowledge, as yet unwritten--which would require the government of Iraq to take on some reconstruction and fuel costs.
Forget the fact that the entire US outlay for Iraq reconstruction represents less than two percent of what we will soon have spent in that country. Forget the fact that we burn through an equivalent amount of money every fifty days at the occupation's current force strength.
Still, the junior senator is spinning this as an important policy change.
Look: There's nothing wrong with having Iraq pay for our fuel. I'm all for it.
But it would be a tiny drop in an enormous bucket; an almost purely symbolic effort that sidesteps the central issue.
To wit: If Sen. Collins was really interested in grappling with the Iraq war's ever-rising financial toll, she would abandon her support for an indefinite occupation; she'd write legislation forcing the President to reduce our commitment there; and at a bare minimum, she'd prod her good friend Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) to hold daily hearings on corruption in Iraq war contracting.
Of course, she's done none of these things.
So, please, let's see this new proposal for what it is: A lawmaker, caught on the wrong side of history and her constituents, scrambling for political cover.
It's that simple.
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