The stabilization and rebuilding of Iraq will be well worth the large sums the Bush administration wants to spend for those purposes, said National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice to foreign reporters in Washington on September 9, 2003
President Bush on September 7th announced that he will ask Congress for $87 billion in the coming year to pay for military and rebuilding costs in Iraq and Afghanistan. This would include $51 billion for military operations in Iraq, and $20 billion for Iraqi reconstruction and political advancement.
"We need to remember what is at stake here," Rice said at the State Department's Foreign Press Center. "Yes, the price tag may be very high," she said, but "freedom is priceless" and "security is priceless."
In the near term, the Bush administration is planning to contribute $20 billion to meet the most urgent tasks of restoring electricity, water, and health services in Iraq, she said. The remainder of the country's needs, she said, should be met through some combination of Iraqi resources and contributions from individual donors and international financial institutions.
The new US-proposed U.N. Security Council resolution on Iraq "speaks to this," she said. "It's going to be extremely important. There will be a donor conference on the 23rd, 24th of October."
There are almost 30 countries now working with the United States in Iraq, she said. "But we believe that a new United Nations resolution could provide an opportunity for more countries to be involved, for the international financial institutions to be involved.” — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
