Fun headlines to juxtapose

Headline #1:

Military feels fuel-cost gouge in Iraq

Headline #2:

Iraq looking at oil surplus, big profits

The first article notes that

Military units pay an average of $3.23 a gallon for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, some $88 a day per service member in Iraq, according to an Associated Press review and interviews with defense officials. A penny or two increase in the price of fuel can add millions of dollars to U.S. costs.
...
Baghdad subsidies let Iraqis pay only about $1.36 a gallon.

The U.S. military, through its Defense Energy Support Center, buys fuel on the open market, paying from $1.99 a gallon to as much as $5.30 a gallon under contracts with private and government-owned oil companies.

What's wrong with this picture?

I guess if you've got a Harvard MBA - like our MBA-President - it makes perfect sense. The free market at work, and all that.

The second article notes

Iraq is looking at a potential boon in oil revenue this year, as the U.S. spends some $153 million a month in the country on fuel alone. But U.S. officials say it will take some time before Baghdad builds the capacity to manage the revenue.
...
The senators [Levin, D-MI; Warner, R-VA] estimated that Iraq will realize "at least $100 billion in oil revenues in 2007 and 2008."

But administration and military officials say it's not that easy to distribute the money. They contend that Iraq's lack of spending isn't due to laziness or corruption, but rather Baghdad's inability to determine where its money is needed most and how to allocate it efficiently.

We're in the sixth year of the war. The first 1+ years we were in charge, and focused on establishing Iraqi governmental institutions, particularly the Oil Ministry. [Recall, the Oil Ministry was one of the few buildings protected by U.S. troops against looting during the early chaos!] Iraq still doesn't have the needed capability to spend its own money???

On the other hand, an "inability to determine where [the] money is needed most and how to allocate if efficiently" never stopped the U.S. from wasting OUR tax dollars in Iraq! How much have we given to Parsons, KBR, and all the other contractors to restore Iraq's electrical grid? to build schools & hospitals? to provide basic services - water & sewer?... With no results to show for OUR $$$?
Why do we hold the Iraqis to a higher standard???

Oh, yeah - our MBA-President is in charge. I keep forgetting.

For what it's worth, here's a very simple decision procedure: What are the top ten civilian reconstruction projects now being funded by the U.S.? Let Iraq pay for 'em! If they've got more $$$, go for the next 10. ... and so on!

I note that the only plausible objection to this very simple rule is that our top ten projects shouldn't be funded! I don't deny that this objection might have merit - if it does, I have a follow-up recommendation: The U.S. should stop funding these projects! NOW!

Stop the madness!