US$100 Billion to Reconstruct Iraq

Stating he had no idea what the total cost would be, Bremer guessed it to be ’50 billion, 60 billion or maybe 100 billion dollars’. Bremer said he hoped that Iraq would eventually meet this on its own by crude oil income, but admitted this would not be possible for several years.

The US Senate criticized the Bush administration last week for failing to explain how the reconstruction of Iraq will be financed. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and White House Budget Director Joshua Bolten replied that the situation in Iraq was very volatile, and thus they could not make an accurate prediction. Bolten also said that the cost of American troops in Iraq would be 4 billion dollars per month for a few months.