Ouch- what a pricetag:
Bremer Puts Iraq rebuilding At "Tens Of Billions"
Bremer said meeting Iraq's electrical demand alone would require 13 billion dollars
WASHINGTON, August 27 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - As congressional budget experts predicted that the U.S. federal deficit would surge to a record number in fiscal year 2004 and could be pushed even higher by Iraq reconstruction costs, U.S. overseer in Iraq Paul Bremer admitted rebuilding Iraq was "a massive undertaking" that would take years and cost "several tens of billions of dollars."
In an interview published by The Washington Post on Wednesday, August 27, Bremer said that meeting Iraq's electrical demand alone would require 13 billion dollars over five years, while providing clean water would cost 16 billion dollars over a four-year time span.
He added that U.S. taxpayers and foreign governments would be asked to contribute substantial sums.
As for the much-hoped oil production, Bremer said Iraq produced 1.7 million barrels on Monday, August 25, down from a prewar range of 2.5 million to 3 million barrels a day.
The occupation coordinator further said that a "very intense dialogue" is ongoing with the U.S.-handpicked interim Iraqi Governing Council to open the country to foreign investment.
On the U.N. role in rebuilding the war-ravaged country, Bremer put it bluntly as it would make no difference.
"What exactly is it that happens on the ground that makes things better if the U.N. is in charge of reconstruction? How does the situation on the ground get better?" Bremer told the Post.
For his part, Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.), chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that funds foreign aid, said the U.S. administration appears to be "essentially out of funds."
"They erode their support when they don't have their act together or don't level with us," he told the American daily in a telephone interview.
On July 10, the U.S. Senate unanimously approved an amendment to a foreign aid bill containing an appeal to the White House to "formally and expeditiously" consider requesting a NATO peacekeeping force for Iraq.
Record Deficit
"The president is taking us into a deep, dark hole of deficits and debt," said Conrad
Bremer's calculations come on the heels of congressional budget report predicting that the U.S. federal deficit will balloon to a record 480 billion dollars in fiscal 2004, amid mounting criticism against the U.S.-led occupation, which has now claimed as many U.S. troops' lives as those killed during the Iraq war.
The figure was slightly higher than the 475 billion dollars gap predicted by the White House for the fiscal year starting October 1, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
But the U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said the deficit could top 500 billion dollars with a supplemental budget requested expected for reconstruction in Iraq.
That deficit would be the largest ever in dollar terms but smaller than the deficits of the 1980s as a percentage of gross domestic product. The figure represents 3.7 percent of U.S. economic output.
The report said government finances "have deteriorated sharply because of declining revenues -- for the third year in a row -- combined with double-digit growth in discretionary spending."
Over the next decade, the CBO expects shortfalls to begin declining after 2004, posting a cumulative deficit of 1.397 trillion dollars between 2004 and 2013.
The forecast, however, assumes that recent tax cuts scheduled to expire in coming years won't be extended.
"In the absence of further legislative changes, the recent surge in deficits will peak in 2004," the CBO report said.
"After that, annual deficits will decline steadily before giving way to surpluses early in the next decade."
The CBO report sees the government in the red until fiscal 2012, when a surplus of 161 billion if seen.
Awkward Policy
The latest figures sparked fresh debate over the awkward economic policies of U.S. President George W. Bush, reported the AFP.
Democrats have argued that a series of tax cuts enacted since Bush took office in 2001 are the key culprits in the worsening budget outlook.
"The president is taking us into a deep, dark hole of deficits and debt that will take the nation many generations to recover from," Senator Kent Conrad said.
He added the real deficit would be even greater than the figures show because the numbers include a surplus in the social security retirement trust fund, and assume tax cuts would expire in the coming years.
Including these factors, the Democratic lawmaker said, "then the deficit over this period, 2003 to 2013, is over $6.6 trillion."
On July 16, the White House forecast the federal budget deficit would explode to a record $455 billion in 2003.
The Bush administration said the deficit -- 50 percent bigger than that projected just five months ago -- had been exacerbated by a weak economy, the Iraq war and tax cuts.
'No Retreat'
" There will be no retreat," Bush pledged
But Bush remained adamant on his Iraq policies, vowing "no retreat" from Iraq or the Middle East peace process despite mounting criticism at home and a deadly upswing in violence in the region.
"Iraq is now a point of testing in the war on terror. Remnants of Saddam's regime are still dangerous, and terrorists are gathering in Iraq to undermine the advance of freedom," he told the American Legion veterans' group in Saint Louis, Missouri.
The address came after U.S. lawmakers called for sending reinforcements to help the roughly 140,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq.
"Retreat in the face of terror would only invite further and bolder attacks. There will be no retreat," Bush pledged, in what aides had billed as a sweeping defense of his administration's policies in Iraq.
According to the Pentagon's latest official tally, 277 U.S. troops have now been killed in "Operation Iraqi Freedom " -- 139 since Bush's triumphant May 1 speech on board the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.
The U.S. leader did not explicitly rule out sending more U.S. troops to Iraq, saying only that he will work with lawmakers to put the war-ravaged nation on course for democracy and prosperity.
"Building a free and peaceful Iraq will require a substantial commitment of time and resources," he said. "I'll work with the Congress to make sure we provide the resources to do the work of freedom and security," Bush said. |
