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Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Who should pay for Iraq’s reconstruction?
We ran a story in today’s paper headlined, Iraq’s free budget ride may be nearing end.
The AP story tells of how both Republicans and Democrats are looking at Iraq’s surging oil income and belief that “Baghdad should start picking up the tab, particularly for rebuilding hospitals, roads, power lines and the rest of the shattered country.”
Since 2003, the U.S. has appropriated about $47.5 billion for Iraq’s reconstruction.
Meanwhile, in 2006 and 2007, Iraq spent only $2.9 billion of $16.3 billion designated for its capital budget, used mostly for construction, according to the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.
Tell us what you think about this bipartisan push to use Iraq’s oil revenues to cover more of the rebuilding costs.
