breaking it down

$87 Billion Dollars, where’s it going to?

Several articles have provided details of how the White House is hoping to allocate and distribute the funds. The Washington Post yesterday outlined the cost of just rebuilding Iraq in “four dominant development thrusts involving national security, electric power, water resources and oil infrastructure” in U.S. Tells How Billions of Dollars Would Rebuild Iraq

The $20.3 billion request for reconstructing Iraq, part of the administration's $87 billion supplemental request for the coming fiscal year to support the war on terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan, is dominated by spending proposals in four broad areas: $5.7 billion to rehabilitate and upgrade Iraq's electric power infrastructure; $4.2 billion to fund and equip the new Iraqi police, military and constabulary forces; $3.7 billion to upgrade water and sewer systems; and $2.1 billion to upgrade Iraq's oil industry

A September 17 th press briefing at the Department of Defense Briefing on the status of the New Iraqi Army and Police Force clarifies some of the details regarding training of Iraqi security personnel although not the actual expenditures.

Bpost keeps hoping someone will leak a copy of the 59 page budget report on line.

Oil Industry: $2.1 billion
To upgrade Iraq's oil industry
$55 million for a rapid pipeline repair team

Power: $5.7 billion
To rehabilitate and upgrade Iraq's electric power infrastructure
$2.9 billion upgrading power generation

Let’s talk about power for a minute. Another recent article in the Washington Post, Crossed Wires Deprived Iraqis of Electric Power goes into detail on Iraq’s infrastructure and power needs. Due to the strain of 12 years of sanctions, increased demand, and several wars, the once state of the art industry is in shambles.

Estimates from Iraqi exiles participating in a State Department planning program for a post-Hussein government suggested that power-sector repairs would cost as much as $18 billion. Yet the Bush administration's initial reconstruction plan called for devoting just $230 million of a $680 million Bechtel contract to electricity system repairs. "The telltale signs were there," said the American electrical engineer. "But either because of sheer carelessness or because the [U.S.] government didn't want to reveal how expensive it would be, there was massive under-planning."

Did you catch the number? $18 billion dollars. The latest request from the White House is $5.7 billion, a number already short by $12.3 billion.

Security: $4.2 billion
To fund and equip the new Iraqi police, military and constabulary forces
$2 billion for a new 40,000-member Iraqi Army
$800 million a corps of 1,500 international police trainers
$400 million construction of (2) 4,000-bed maximum security prisons
$200 million to secure judges and courthouses from terrorist attacks
$150 million for a nationwide 911 system
$137.2 million for helicopter and medium airlift plans
$100 million for a witness protection program.
$50 million outlays for traffic police
$8 million for the personal security of the Iraqi oil minister and his director generals
$6 million to send promising Iraqi officers to overseas academies
$348 million unaccounted for

Water: $11.7 billion
To upgrade water and sewer systems
$8 billion to provide new infrastructure for safe drinking water
$50 million irrigation culverts on the Euphrates River

Transportation: $718 million
$303 million to restart Iraq's railroads
$240 million to fix roads and bridges
$165 million to upgrade airports
$10 million training for air traffic controllers

Other: $562 million
$393 million to refurbish 200 of Iraq's remaining 240 hospitals
$150 million state-of-the-art children's hospital
$15 million to fund an Iraqi human rights office
$4 million Nationwide zip code system

There will undoubtedly be more to come.