By Richard Cowan -
Thu Apr 17, 4:23 PM ET
WA****NGTON (Reuters) - Iraq should start paying the costs of its own
rebuilding, fuel costs for U.S. military vehicles conducting security
operations there and other expenses now being borne by American
taxpayers, a group of Democratic and Republican senators said on
Thursday.
Sen. Ben Nelson, a Democrat from Nebraska, said he and other lawmakers
will try to attach legislation requiring Baghdad to begin shouldering
these costs to a war-funding bill that will move through Congress in
coming weeks.
Noting that Iraq is running a higher-than-expected budget surplus
because of the rising price of its oil ex****ts, Nelson said, "It's
time now for Iraq to assume responsibility for its future with its own
investment."
Nelson, who serves on a committee that oversees the U.S. military and
another that dispenses money for the Iraq war, added, "The American
public is growing weary of financing every aspect of Iraq's future."
At the outset of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March, 2003, some Bush
administration officials said Iraq might be able to finance its own
reconstruction using oil revenues. But the administration it later
opposed legislation requiring that.
FUEL COSTS
Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine complained that the Pentagon is
paying about $153 million a month to fuel its vehicles Iraq, while
Iraqis "heavily subsidize oil for their own citizens but do not so for
our troops in defending Iraq."
As a result, said Sen. Evan Bayh, an Indiana Democrat, the U.S.
military is paying about $3.23 per gallon for gasoline, while Iraqis
pay about $1.30.
The senators said they might include other costs, which Iraq would pay
directly or through loans. These might include the cost of some
weapons as well as the cost of training Iraqi forces and salaries of
security forces known as Sons of Iraq.
The Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of
Congress, already is looking at Iraqi oil revenues to determine how
much money Baghdad is contributing to its own security and
reconstruction efforts. The probe was requested by Senate Armed
Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin of Michigan and Sen. John
Warner of Virginia.
Levin has complained that Iraq is earning interest on funds from its
budget surplus that are deposited in foreign banks while U.S. spending
in Iraq contributes to mounting budget deficits and debt at home.
Nelson said the United States has spent about $45 billion on Iraqi
reconstruction projects and Collins noted that Iraq might enjoy a $60
billion budget surplus this year.
The Bush administration's budget director, Jim Nussle, said the White
House might be open to considering ways for Iraq to take more
responsibility for its own expenses.
But the senators told re****ters the administration would probably
embrace fewer ****fts in costs than they wanted.
Legislation providing more than $100 billion in new war funds for Iraq
and Afghanistan is likely to be debated in Congress later this month
and in May.
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