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Iraq war critics warn on billion dollar aid plan
By Stephen Collinson
AFP
WASHINGTON
Petroleumworld.com 01 26 06Lawmakers critical of President George W. Bush's new plan for Iraq Thursday demanded assurances over a one billion dollar reconstruction aid package amid fears it could fall prey to rampant corruption.
A day after voting through a no confidence resolution slamming Bush's decision to send an extra 21,500 troops to Iraq, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee took aim at the plan's economic and jobs component.
"For me to go back to my home constituents and justify voting again ... for 'reconstruction monies,' I'd better have a much, much tighter understanding and be able to demonstrate with specificity to my constituents why I think this may work," said the committee's Democratic chairman Senator Joseph Biden.
Fellow Democrat Jim Webb asked "to what extent is the United States actually responsible for the full reconstruction of Iraq? ... and to what extent are the Iraqis, themselves, ultimately going to have to be responsible?"
Bush said when he unveiled his new plan this month he would ask Congress to provide an additional 1.2 billion dollars in economic and reconstruction aid for Iraq.
The Iraqi government has pledged to add a further 10 billion dollars of its own funds.
The plan will see a doubling of the number of US-led provincial reconstruction teams (PRT) which operate across the country, in local communities, from 10 to 20.
But many critics of the plan are highly skeptical the economic aid will ever filter down to badly needed projects in Iraq, and fear it could fall prey to rampant corruption in Iraq or not have much impact in the chaotic security environment.
David Satterfield, who works for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as coordinator for Iraq policy said that the onus was on Iraqis to take the lead in rebuilding.
"Iraqis are and must be responsible for the reconstruction of their country," he said.
"They need help from outside, they should get that help, but they're going to have to take the lead on this, this is not a US challenge."
The US official auditor, the Government Accountability Office says the United States has obligated about 29 billion dollars for Iraqi reconstruction and stabilization efforts up until last October.
But it warned this month that botched budgeting had left more than six billion dollars piled up in Iraq which should have been spent on rebuilding.
In one stunning example, Iraq's oil ministry had spent only four million dollars of the 3.6 billion dollars budgeted to repair the crumbling sector, the GAO said.
The White House meanwhile played down the committee's vote on Wednesday on a non-binding resolution terming Bush's plan as "not in the national interest.""The president understands that people have political concerns. What he has said is, let's give this a chance -- this plan a chance to work," Bush spokesman Tony Snow said.
The resolution, which could come up for a full Senate vote next week, is non-binding but it could set the stage for one of the roughest clashes between lawmakers and the unpopular president.
Satterfield meanwhile warmly welcomed a vow by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki earlier on Thursday to hunt down militants.
"This is a very positive step," he said.
"Only through facts on the ground, tangible evidence of action against all those pursuing violence, can the government of Iraq establish the credibility at home, abroad and here in the United States that it needs to chart a successful future," Satterfield said.Maliki earlier told Iraqi lawmakers that "all those who break the law will be hunted down," as Iraqi lawmakers gave their unanimous blessing to the plan drawn up by US and Iraqi security forces.
But the US plan, and the fact that it places the onus on Maliki and his government to tackle sectarian strife and stifle militias, has sparked extreme skepticism among Democrats and even Bush's Republican allies in Congress.
In a sign of the stiff task facing US and Iraqi troops, insurgents earlier unleashed new bombings on busy market areas of Baghdad and in the western Iraqi city of Fallujah that left 10 people dead.
Back in Washington, the Senate Armed Services Committee unanimously approved Lieutenant General David Petraeus's nomination to head US forces in Iraq, with a confirmation vote by the full Senate possible this week.
AFP 252150 GMT 01 07
Copyright© 1999 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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