President Bush has requested $87 billion to fund operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, about $20.3 billion of that would go for reconstruction.

There’s a movement in the House and Senate to change the terms for providing the money. A growing number of lawmakers would provide the reconstruction funding, but only if some or all of it is in the form of loans that would have to be repaid. On a gut level, it makes sense, but it’s the wrong way to go.

We have many questions about the president’s funding request. It’s difficult to accept buying garbage trucks for Baghdad, paying millions to restore an environmentally and culturally sensitive marshland or modernizing the postal system in another country when states right here at home are struggling with some of the same issues. It also seems unfair to burden future American generations with debt from rebuilding Iraq without asking that oil-rich country to carry some of the burden.

Iraq already carries a significant amount of foreign debt. Adding to that burden could hamper further the development of a stable government and economy in the country. The longer that takes, the longer we will have to stay and the more it will cost in terms of lives and money.

And right now, and for the foreseeable future, there is no sovereign authority in the country to loan the money to. While there is a Governing Council, it only has the power that U.S. administrator Paul Bremer and his bosses in Washington allow. The Council does not make significant governing decisions.

With our own national deficit projected to top $500 billion this year alone, and with large deficits as far as the eye can see, scrutiny of the president’s request, as well as his tax policies and other government spending, is needed.

The president is seeking $900 million to upgrade hospitals and improve medical care in Iraq; almost $6 billion for the electricity system; and a couple billion more for oil infrastructure. Senators have an obligation to ask exactly how that money will be spent, how contracts will be awarded and to judge whether it is a wise investment.

Estimates suggest it could take as much as $75 billion to rebuild Iraq’s infrastructure, not counting the costs for our military operations. We cannot shift the initial part of that bill onto a country that has been devastated by years of decay under Saddam Hussein and crippled by American bombs and expect for it to ever be paid.

Eventually, as Iraq begins to recover, the country can pay for its own rehabilitation. But at this point, that is not possible.

By invading Iraq, we accepted responsibility for rebuilding the country. Now we need to develop reasonable goals for progress and a plan for finishing the job.


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