Well, it's pretty obvious that you weren't listening, now isn't it?
You've been reading the NYTimes and believing it, I guess.
Well, most -- 60-something billion -- of the 87 billion supplemental will be going toward providing for the needs of our troops. Out of the development end, 5-point-something billion will be going toward training, equiping and deploying Iraqi security forces (military, police, border guards, etc).
Already, just a few month after the end of major military operations, there are Iraqi police forces operating in every major city, and over 55,000 Iraqis in uniform and under arms, helping to defend their own country. Even with the intitial costs of recruitment, training, infrastructure creation and equipment, we can field 30 Iraqi policemen for the cost of one U.S. soilder.
We are headed in the right direction, spending the American taxpayer's money well, and moving along, even under very difficult circumstances, with almost unbelievable speed. Rumsfeld, in today's National Press Club speech, made a number of comparisons to reconstruction after World War II, which were just stunning. For instance it took two years to establish a central bank and new currency in Germany. In Iraq that was done in 2 months. It took 4 years to establish a German cabinet, which has new been done in Iraq in four months.
who owns those companies!
Whoever wins the bids. Yes, there were no-bid contracts awarded for work that had to be done immediately, and the background, nature or scheduling of which had to be classified. (There was the war, after all.) But from this point forward, all contracts will be awarded by open bid. Adminstration officials have been very clear on this (all along, actually, though certain people like to obscure the fact in the interest of politically motivated and agenda driven arguments that can't withstand objective scrutiny).