mr. chairman , i just want to clarify one point the gentleman from massachusetts made about the $ 8.8 billion , and i just think we members need to understand we are talking about funds that came not from the united states taxpayers , but those $ 8.8 billion are funds from the iraqi fund , which was iraqi dinars that had been collected as a result of oil sales .  it was a chaotic situation at the end of the war , as we all know , and ministries had collapsed .  there was no communication .  there were no accounting systems .  the bureaucrats had not functioned for years .  it was very difficult , at the very best , to know how to handle those in the very best way .  it was really a choice of whether or not we were going to get the projects done as quickly as possible and get the country functioning again .  so i think , to me , the choice was fairly clear .  i just want to make people understand we are not talking about u.s. dollars when we talk about the 8.8 .  