Bachmann: Iraq Should 'Fear' America, Reimburse War Costs (VIDEO)

WASHINGTON -- Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) condemned President Obama’s handling of the end of the war in Iraq on Sunday, and said the Iraqi government should be more afraid of the United States as American troops prepare to leave the country. Bachmann also insisted that Iraq should reimburse the U.S. for the costs of the war.

“The problem is we've put a lot of deposit into this situation with Iraq,” Bachmann said Sunday on CBS' Face The Nation. “To think that we are so disrespected and they have so little fear of the United States that there would be nothing that we would gain from this -- that's why I called on President Obama to return to the negotiating table."

"The Obama administration has said they got everything they wanted," Bachmann continued. "They got exactly nothing.”

Bachmann also said that Iraq should reimburse the United States for every dollar that has been spent on eight years of war there.

"I believe that Iraq should reimburse the United States fully for the amount of money that we have spent to liberate these people," Bachmann said. "They're not a poor country; they're a wealthy country."

Bachmann's comments come just days after the Obama administration announced it will withdraw all American troops from Iraq by year-end, at the behest of the Iraqi government. Bachmann said Iraq needs more continued U.S. troop involvement to prevent Iran from gaining influence in the region.

Bachmann called the Iraqi government's insistence that American forces be removed from the nation "outrageous," after the eight-year war effort, which destabilized much of the Middle East and resulted in the deaths of thousands of Iraqi civilians.

"That's the thanks we get after 4,400 lives have been expended?" Bachmann said, referring to the number of American troops who have died in the Iraq war.

Bachmann's views on reimbursement surfaced during last week's Republican presidential debate, when she argued that both Libya and Iraq owed the U.S. money for its military efforts.

"We should look to Iraq and Libya to reimburse us for part of what we have done to liberate these nations," Bachmann said during the debate.

Bachmann, who vocally opposed the Libya war, escalated her war compensation rhetoric on Sunday, saying the Iraqi government should "fully" reimburse the U.S. for the Iraq war costs.

"I think that they need to do that, because what we will be leaving behind is a nation that is very fragile and will be subject to dominance by Iran and their influence in the region, and that's not good," Bachmann said.

According to official government accounting, the Iraq war to date has cost about $700 billion. In 2008, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz pegged the total cost at $3 trillion, including a broader set of costs, such as health care expeditures for returning U.S. veterans.

Comments

[BeltwayInsider]

09:31 PM on 11/13/2011

"They're not a poor country; they're a wealthy country."

Isn't that exactly why they should be allowed to keep their money? I mean, all I've been hearing from conservatives lately is how wrong to take money from the wealthy.

[Lassitofi]

11:49 AM on 10/27/2011

1) First, she needs to stop blaming Obama for pulling our troops from Iraq by December, 31 2011, since it was President G. W. Bush who signed the treaty with the Iraqi government, which clearly says that all American troops have to leave the country by that date.

2) Claiming that Iraq owes us anything is outrageous since we invaded it in 2003 without the permission of the UN security council and based on lies about weapons of mass destruction made up by the Bush administration. If anything, WE owe THEM money for killing tens of thousands of people, destroying their infrastructure and economy and making Iraq even more unstable than ever before. True, we deposed a dictator but if that would be our goal we would have a lot of countries to invade all over the world.

3) She points out that "4,400 lives have been expended" since the beginning of the war. Why does she only mention out brave soldiers but completely disregards the death toll on the Iraqi side which estimates between 150.000 and over one million civilians?

4) We did NOT liberate Libya, the people themselves did it with some help from the French and British. So please don't call us liberators when our role in this one was merely that of a spectator. Maybe we should use the UN more often since they don't seem to screw up every liberation effort they attempt like we do (Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam etc.).

[Sammyrose69]

12:37 PM on 10/25/2011

How many Iraquis fought on our side during the invasion?

[Porfirio Wise]

09:42 AM on 10/25/2011

Yes Iraq, if you would just make that check for 3,000,000,000 out to the U.S. Department of the treasury.

[Okiemama]

09:18 AM on 10/25/2011

Bachmann should ask for money from all the Christians in Iraq who have been forced to flee their homes since the war. They had protection under Saddam but now they fear for their safety. Being a Christian herself (and a very vocal one) she should be able to wrangle at least a few million out of them for the favor we did them.

[Marvelousdreams]

08:40 AM on 10/25/2011

A great example of how the sociopath thinks. I lie on you to get my cronies to invade you; kill hundreds of thousands men women and children; wreck your entire country; occupy your inheritence; orchestrate the manhunt and killing of your national leaders; stay in your country 9 years with mercenaries and contractors that take all of your resources. Now I want you to pay me for the financial cost of liberating you.

[gutenmorgen]

08:39 AM on 10/25/2011

Here is to those who criticize president Obama for obeying a US law. This is not the crucial year of the Iraq saga. That was 2007 when the General Assembly of the United Nations told the Bush administration that it would not renew its "approval" of US Armed Forced remaining in Iraq after 2008. Now president Bush had to choose. He could ignore the UN or negotiate an agreement with the government of Iraq which would almost certainly involve the approval by the Parliament of Iraq. I was surprised that he chose the second way because it was obvious to me that the people, hence the tottering government of Iraq would not accept a permanent occupation which Bush insisted on until the last minute. Why did this bully "cave"? Did Condi whisper in his ear "Mr. President this is no longer a slam dunk"? The result was SOFA-Iraq signed in December 2008. If a president "gave the store away" it was Bush#2 and not Obama.

[Tammy Tyler Palmisano]

08:26 AM on 10/25/2011

this woman is a** backwards...they should pay us! they never wanted us in the first place nor do they want us now! I just love how christian's think they have the right to take God's free will away from people!

[gutenmorgen]

07:56 AM on 10/25/2011

"at the behest of the Iraqi government". Carter and Hersh, your knowledge nor else deliberate falsification of what is happening with regards to Iraq is at the same dismal ignorance level as that of Ms. Bachmann. The leaving of Iraq is demanded by a US law named SOFA-Iraq. Although the "leaving clause" was fought for and won by the people of Iraq, the leaving was mutually agreed on in 2008. Short of a new agreement Mr. Obama or any other US president at this time had no choice but to leave. We are kicked out by the people of Iraq and not by its government. We are leaving because a criminal adventure became misbegotten, perhaps my euphemism for grandly lost. Start reading that agreement before you write more nonsense.

[Shane Mulvey]

04:41 AM on 10/25/2011

Don't worry about she says. Bachmann knows full well she has no chance in hell of being elected POTUS, but she also knows that there are a good number of people on the far right in the US that are more than happy to pay Bachmann to say the sort of things

[Okiemama]

09:23 AM on 10/25/2011

Don't be so sure. She is one of the most delusional politicians this country has ever seen. She probably really believes in her mind that a woman did come up to her after the debate and tell Bachmann that her daughter was left impaired from the HPV vaccine. The sane people of the nation know that Bachmann was lying but I doubt she does. She is the all time leader in "pants on fire" lies at PolitiFact. com. I am sure she thinks God will pull a miracle and make her President.

[BrutusHonestus]

02:24 AM on 10/25/2011

"Bachmann also said that Iraq should reimburse the United States for every dollar that has been spent on eight years of war there."

Is she still drinking Constant Cheney tea? And why did she not make this happen in 2007 or 2008, when GWBush was playing the Wartime Commander-in -Chief?

[TooLooze]

08:03 AM on 10/25/2011

She was busy doing her nails.

[stmonica]

01:10 AM on 10/25/2011

Her interview on Face The Nation was pitiful! She actually looked surprised at the facts that were mentioned to her ie. Bush's agreement with Iraq, the refusal of Iraq to give immunity to our troops, ... It was uncomfortable for me to watch her! Then, to top it off, she actually suggested that we "deserved to be paid" for invading their country! After all the denials that we had any ulterior motive, this woman was demanding reparations! I am surprised she didn't out and out say-we want oil!! It is really a scarey thought that the GOP would actually support this woman to run for their presidential candidate.

[FL TallMan]

01:01 AM on 10/25/2011

Bachmann forgets this was Bush's war of choice. No one in Iraq asked the U.S. to come in a bomb their country to pieces and kill off hundreds-of-thousands of its citizens. Perhaps she should be asking Bush to pay back the country for the costs of the war. Perhaps we should demand that Bush reimburse the country for the costs.

[bigmaddy]

09:15 AM on 10/25/2011

Bachmann's idea on Iraq is like a school yard bully taking money from the kid he just beat up while telling that kid he owes him for beating him up.(there put in bagger terms so they can understand) fan n fav

[I think I think]

11:30 PM on 10/24/2011

Reparations, it worked so well with Germany in 1918.

[Donns]

07:39 AM on 10/25/2011

Absolutely and it set the stage for WWII. This is something that the Military/Industrial complex needs, planned wars well into the future. The ghost of president Eisenhower is probably up there screaming, "I told you so."

[bigmaddy]

09:16 AM on 10/25/2011

To bad Bachmann and most other republicans don't have a sense of history.....fan n fav

[PickOneTwoThree]

11:01 PM on 10/24/2011

What a diseased mind his woman has.

She wants Iraq to reimburse us for invading THEIR country - does she expect people whose home is robbed to reimburse the robber for any legal fees as well.

[kennbrandt]

01:21 AM on 10/25/2011

They should reimburse us for saving them from a brutal dictator. Your analogy of us breaking into a home to rob someone is wrong. The correct analogy is you save someone from a criminal breaking into thier home and you suffer a loss. Should you reimburse the person who saved your home? I think you have a moral obligation to do so. The current Iraqi government wouldn't be in power if it weren't for the United States.

[north of the boarder]

04:56 AM on 10/25/2011

The US invaded because they claimed Sadam Hussien had WMD,s that would eventually be used in an unsavory manner. I don't recall "liberating" the Iraqi people used as any basis to invade the country until there were no WMD's found. Some people have short memories or would like to rewrite history.

[Donns]

07:42 AM on 10/25/2011

So why didn't we invade Bush's pals in Saudi, they can be said to have a brutal dictator and it was their people who brought us 9/11 not the Iraqis. Some would say that Bush and his mafia were brutal dictators, why didn't somebody invade us to liberate us?