The Bush Barn® Rule.

We break it, you buy it.

When the last of the $18.4 billion is spent, U.S. officials in Baghdad have made clear, other foreign donors and the fledgling Iraqi government will have to take up what authorities say is tens of billions of dollars of work yet to be done merely to bring reliable electricity, water and other services to Iraq's 26 million people.

If the findings of the WaPo article that's sweeping the blogosphere today surprise you, you just haven't been paying attention. The truth is out there, but it seems you have to ask a soldier...

"The U.S. never intended to completely rebuild Iraq," Brig. Gen. William McCoy, the Army Corps of Engineers commander overseeing the work, told reporters at a recent news conference.

And it's a good thing we didn't, I suppose, because we don't seem to be very good at it...

"For every three steps forward, we take one step back. Those are the conditions we face," said Col. Bjarne Iverson, commander of the reconstruction operations center.

So, if we're not going to rebuild the country and their elections were so damn successful, what are we doing that's worth one more American life?