[A-List] US imperialism: it's pay up time!

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

US to press EU for money to rebuild Iraq
By Edward Alden in Washington
Financial Times: June 5 2003

The US on Wednesday said it would press for substantial contributions for
the reconstruction of Iraq from Europe, Japan and other countries at a
donors' conference in September.

US officials told a Senate committee they would be looking for
"significantly" increased funds from the European Union, of which several
members opposed the war in Iraq.

"Our objective is to solicit as much as we can overseas," said Dov S.
Zakheim, the undersecretary of defence in charge of the Pentagon's budget,
though he refused to put any figures of how much the US wants pledged.

A working level meeting on June 24 at the United Nations in New York will
kick off negotiations leading up to the pledging conference. It will be
attended by officials of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, who
will bring preliminary estimates of future costs.

The World Bank and the UN have begun a more comprehensive assessment of the
long-term costs of reconstructing Iraq's infrastructure and rebuilding its
economy, which is due to be completed before the September conference.

The administration is facing growing pressure from Congress over the costs
of maintaining troops in Iraq and the bill for reconstruction. Several
senators said additional foreign contributions were critical, because the US
was already spending about $3bn (£1.8bn) a month to maintain its forces and
Iraq's oil exports were unlikely to cover the reconstruction costs.

Chuck Hagel, a Republican senator, said: "I don't know what the mystery is
about the help we need."

Other countries have offered about $2bn for humanitarian relief, including
$107m from the EU, but have not yet pledged funds for reconstruction.

The September conference will be modelled on a January 2002 meeting in Tokyo
at which countries pledged nearly $5bn for the reconstruction of
Afghanistan. But the effort promises to be more difficult because the costs
will be higher and the war in Iraq received less international support than
the invasion of Afghanistan.

The US is also pressing its allies to forgive some of Iraq's foreign debt,
estimated between $60bn and $130bn. While Iraq's creditors have agreed to
suspend repayments until the end of 2004, Alan Larson, under-secretary of
state for economic affairs, said that would not be sufficient. "When the
time comes it's going to be necessary to give substantial debt relief to
Iraq," he said.