PAYING FOR IRAQ….Donald Rumsfeld may be sticking to his story that we don’t need more troops in Iraq, but Paul Bremer says we sure do need more money:
Iraq will need “several tens of billions” of dollars from abroad in the next year to rebuild its rickety infrastructure and revive its moribund economy, and American taxpayers and foreign governments will be asked to contribute substantial sums, U.S. occupation coordinator L. Paul Bremer said yesterday.
….A State Department official said the Bush administration is preparing to seek a “huge” supplemental spending bill from Congress. Administration sources also said the U.S.-controlled Coalition Provisional Authority is running so low on funds that the White House is considering seeking an emergency infusion next month to cover the organization’s bills.
I note that there’s no mention of exactly how we’re planning to get foreign governments to chip in for this enterprise. Time to get out the checkbook credit card.
