Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who whitewashed the invasion of Iraq for the Bush Administration, did get one thing right. He famously warned President Bush in the run-up to the invasion that the U.S. would “own” Iraq after a military victory. Powell invoked the Pottery Barn rule, “You break it, you own it.” A General Accountability Office report shows Powell was right on target.

The GAO finds the Iraqi Government is spending next to nothing for the reconstruction of the country. The Iraqis apparently believe that the U.S. broke the country and now must pay to fix it up. Iraq will enjoy a $79B budget surplus by the end of the year due to high energy prices. A big chunk of that money ($10B) sits in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. That tidy sum earned interest to the tune of $435M through the end of the year.

Iraq, meanwhile, spent only 28 percent of its `07 reconstruction budget. U.S. taxpayers (stooges) are spending billions each month in Iraq for security and reconstruction. That has got to stop.

America was duped into the war and is now being suckered by the Iraqis. Sens. John Warner (R-Va) and Carl Levin (D-Mich) say it is “inexcusable for U.S. taxpayers to continue to foot the bill for projects the Iraqis are fully capable of funding themselves.”

The Senators are right. It’s time to cut our losses. We’ve “owned” Iraq long enough.

The battered U.S. economy can no longer afford the place. Hope is on the way with the election of Barack Obama. In the interim, the Iraqis should commit themselves to an aggressive funding program of highways, bridges, schools, water systems and power plants. That would be a nice going-away present for the U.S.

(Photo: MSNBC)