Bremer Says Some Iraq Rebuilding Will Wait

[cthrumatrix]

Bremer Says Some Iraq Rebuilding Will Wait

By Dana Milbank
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 27, 2003; Page A18


The U.S. administrator in Iraq said yesterday that some reconstruction efforts will be postponed as the Bush administration continues to press for funding from Congress and foreign donors.

Help for Iraq stabilization and rebuilding was on the agenda as President Bush welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin at Camp David for two days of talks. The White House defended the $87 billion spending request Bush has made of Congress, including $20 billion for reconstruction, as necessary for U.S. national security. And L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Iraq, said some reconstruction projects for Iraq will be delayed.

In a Pentagon briefing, Bremer said, "the general assessment is that the Iraqis need something like $60 to $70 billion over the next four or five years to put their infrastructure and their economy right." But, Bremer added: "Some of those things will undoubtedly be postponed. What we're focused on in the $20 billion is the urgent and essential things. There are things that are probably nice to have in the $60 billion to $70 billion, and that's something the Iraqi government will have to figure out how to do."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7396-2003Sep26.html

translation....people are watching us to closely and we can't plunder as much as we want to....but we will continue to try.

[Barrett808]

1. These estimates seem absurdly low

From what I've been reading...

[realFedUp]

2. Considering Republicans call themselves for the free market

and smaller government, they sure are depending less
on corporations buying and building on their own
and more on the taxpayer's pocket.

Maybe Mexico would like to bid on some of these
construction contracts....