|
Senate panel sends a ‘loud message to Iraq’ |
|
By Klaus Marre
|
|
Posted: 05/01/08 03:18 PM [ET] |
|
The Senate Armed Services Committee spoke with one voice Thursday and sent “a loud message to Iraq,” according to Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), that the U.S. is no longer willing to pick up the bill when it comes to costly infrastructure projects. As part of the Defense authorization bill, the panel unanimously approved a provision that prohibits the Pentagon from paying for infrastructure projects in Iraq that cost more than $2 million. Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) told reporters: “American taxpayers are paying for too many things here in Iraq that the Iraqis ought to pay for out of their surplus.” He noted that Iraq exports 2 million barrels of oil per day at current market prices of about $120 a barrel. “It is unconscionable, it is inexcusable, it makes no common sense for a country that has that kind of wealth and that kind of surplus in our banks and their banks to be sending us the tab or for us to pay the tab for the infrastructure and some of the training costs that we're now paying for.” The authorization bill that passed the committee also calls on the Bush administration to negotiate with Iraq about sharing the costs of combined missions. Bipartisan support in Congress is growing to send less U.S. funds to Iraq and make better use of the country’s own wealth. |
