1) I have no idea - BUT I am almost 100% sure that neither Sec. Gates, General Petraus, nor any of their fine subordinates have any desire in making American Taxpayers pay for something that they think Iraqis can pay for themselves. Collins should not be setting artificial criteria and playing games instead of allowing these men to do what they think is best to secure Iraq.

2) There is NO threshold - America’s security is paramount above all other issues … securing Iraq is key to ensuring America’s well-being … and I imagine “training and equipping [Iraq’s] security forces” is key to securing Iraq.

3) If America fails to ensure its security, then nothing else matters (including our debt). As you probably know yourself, the best way for America “to pay off the $9 trillion debt” is to cut taxes (too spurn the Economy) and cut spending - Not to withold $2 million from Iraqis. If this was actually Collins’s concern, then she shouldn’t be one of the biggest Republcian Porkers or have opposed the Bush tax cuts.

4) I did not say that it makes you socialist, I said complaining about “needs” in that way sounds like a Socialist talking point.

5) And I am not sure what your point is about Ron Paul supporters- I am sure nearly all of them hate everyone else and would oppose sending any money to foreign nations. Fortunatley, no one cares what they think, and America rightly funds many worthy initiatives that are in America’s best interest (and yes sometimes because it is the Morally! right thing to do) -and the majority of legislatures in both parties support this.

And if not wanting the money I work for to be sent to foreign nations makes me a Socialist then I can only conclude that puts you out there on the extreme fringe of the Republican party with the same type of people you berrated in the Ron Paul thread.

Maybe Collins (RINO-ME) thinks we should play games with “training and equipping [Iraq’s] security forces” after all the progress we have made with the surge, but I personally don’t want history to repeat itself.

Oh, and, “has plenty of its own needs” seems straight out of Socialist Party of America talking points.