Several tens of billions of dollars are needed to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure, but the country is not in chaos and the future is optimistic, US occupation coordinator Paul Bremer told The Washington Post.
In an interview published on Wednesday, Bremer said meeting Iraq's electrical demand alone would require US$2 billion and 12 months of work, while providing clean water would cost US$16 billion over four years.
Overall, he estimated reconstruction would cost "several tens of billions of dollars."
Bremer's calculations come on the heels of congressional predictions that the US federal deficit will balloon to a record US$480 billion in fiscal 2004, amid mounting criticism against the US-led occupation, which has now claimed as many US troops' lives as those killed during the Iraq war.
Besides the costs of rebuilding, the US is spending an estimated US$4 billion a month on the military occupation of Iraq.
An unnamed State Department official told the Post the White House planned to seek a "huge" supplemental spending bill from Congress. Other officials said an "emergency infusion" was also being considered to keep Iraq's Coalition Provisional Authority from running out of cash.
To provide one source of funding for reconstruction, Bremer said, a "very intense dialogue" is underway with Iraq's governing council to open Iraq to foreign investment.
"We already have 45 countries which have pledged money to the reconstruction. It's not a small number of countries," he said.
Washington wants foreign contributors to reduce its financial burden in Iraq, but several nations have made it clear their support would depend on a greater UN role in running things in Iraq.
Bremer, like his superiors in the US government, was skeptical.
"What exactly is it that happens on the ground that makes things better if the UN is in charge of reconstruction?" he said. "How does the situation get better?"
Although he admitted that rebuilding Iraq was "a massive undertaking" that would take years and cost countless billions of dollars, Bremer was upbeat about the situation there.
"I keep reading stories about it's a country in chaos. This is simply not true," he said. "It is not a country in chaos, and Baghdad is not a city in chaos."
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of