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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

Rebuilding Iraq

Aired April 14, 2003 - 23:23   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk some more about the rebuilding of Iraq, about who and how much of what will surely be a massively complicated and probably massively controversial project as well. It's a subject that "U.S. News & World Report" takes up in- depth in its current issue.
We're joined from Washington tonight by the magazine's investigations editor, Edward Pound.

Mr. Pound, good to have you with us tonight.

Let's try and cover a bunch of things quickly here first. Just to -- is there a sense of the total price tag on the rebuilding of Iraq?

EDWARD POUND, "U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT": Well, I think it's like everything about this reconstruction program right now, it's not totally clear. I think the Council on Foreign Relations estimated that it would cost something like $20 billion over a period of several years.

Again, nobody knows for certain, but one thing that is very clear, it's going to cost a lot of money.

BROWN: And is that, do we believe, all of it, or some of it American tax dollars, or relatively little of it American tax dollars?

POUND: Well, if the Bush administration gets its way, it will be relatively little. Right now, what you have is the Congress is earmarking $2.4 billion for this first year. Along with that, there is about 1.4 billion to 1.7 billion of seized Iraqi assets that the administration would like to use for this rebuilding program.

It would also like to get support from other governments. As I understand it, it does not yet have that support. Furthermore, Aaron, I think that the government would like to use revenue from the oil fields in Iraq. What happens, again, in that case is still not clear.

BROWN: It seems to me that setting the Halliburton -- the specific Halliburton issue aside, there is more broad criticism for almost the streamlined bidding process, if there is in fact a bidding process that is in effect, that the administration wants to move very quickly and is using procedures which are not the most transparent.

POUND: Well, Aaron, what's happened is the administration has waved the competitive requirements under the procurement laws, and they can do that in these emergency situations. And, you know, I -- you know, whether over time, you know, what happens in this case, again, one doesn't know. I mean, you just -- you can't be sure.

BROWN: Are there specific cases so far that seem to be causing raised eyebrows?

POUND: Well, I think, you know, the Halliburton case was a case in which eyebrows were raised. I haven't -- at this stage, there haven't been any others.

I know this: that there is concern with this rush that people will get jobs -- or companies will get jobs who might be a problem. For example, last week, Henry Hyde, who is the chairman of the House International Relations Committee, brought in a senior State Department official to talk about the award of a contract to a company called Dynacore, which does security work. Dynacore had a problem in the past in the Balkans in connection with a sex scandal back in '99- 2000. And Henry Hyde's staff wanted assurances, and got assurances, from the State Department that the State Department would carefully monitor the work that Dynacore does Iraq.

BROWN: Is there a model out there? Is it accurate to say what we're looking at is the Marshall Plan again, or almost?

POUND: Well, I think what we're looking at is something that's going to cost an awful lot and is the biggest reconstruction effort by this country since the Marshall Plan. Obviously, it's not the same thing. You're not talking about Europe. But, you know, it is -- I can't think of anything else that compares to this in the last 50-60 years, that's for sure.

BROWN: But you're talking about every aspect of a very large country, a country of 20-plus million people.

POUND: Twenty-four million people. And again, it's -- you know, it's going to take a lot of effort on the part of this country, and on the part of its allies. I think in the end, Aaron, that even though we -- quote -- "want to go it alone" or with the Brits, certainly the Defense Department seems to be going that direction. I think in the end, we're going to have to have the support of a lot of other countries, plus the money from a lot of other countries, and the support of the U.N. on this effort.

BROWN: Mr. Pound, thanks for your time. It's an interesting -- it's a nice piece in the magazine this week. Edward Pound, the investigations editor of "U.S. News & World Report," good to have you with us.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.







Aired April 14, 2003 - 23:23   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk some more about the rebuilding of Iraq, about who and how much of what will surely be a massively complicated and probably massively controversial project as well. It's a subject that "U.S. News & World Report" takes up in- depth in its current issue.
We're joined from Washington tonight by the magazine's investigations editor, Edward Pound.

Mr. Pound, good to have you with us tonight.

Let's try and cover a bunch of things quickly here first. Just to -- is there a sense of the total price tag on the rebuilding of Iraq?

EDWARD POUND, "U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT": Well, I think it's like everything about this reconstruction program right now, it's not totally clear. I think the Council on Foreign Relations estimated that it would cost something like $20 billion over a period of several years.

Again, nobody knows for certain, but one thing that is very clear, it's going to cost a lot of money.

BROWN: And is that, do we believe, all of it, or some of it American tax dollars, or relatively little of it American tax dollars?

POUND: Well, if the Bush administration gets its way, it will be relatively little. Right now, what you have is the Congress is earmarking $2.4 billion for this first year. Along with that, there is about 1.4 billion to 1.7 billion of seized Iraqi assets that the administration would like to use for this rebuilding program.

It would also like to get support from other governments. As I understand it, it does not yet have that support. Furthermore, Aaron, I think that the government would like to use revenue from the oil fields in Iraq. What happens, again, in that case is still not clear.

BROWN: It seems to me that setting the Halliburton -- the specific Halliburton issue aside, there is more broad criticism for almost the streamlined bidding process, if there is in fact a bidding process that is in effect, that the administration wants to move very quickly and is using procedures which are not the most transparent.

POUND: Well, Aaron, what's happened is the administration has waved the competitive requirements under the procurement laws, and they can do that in these emergency situations. And, you know, I -- you know, whether over time, you know, what happens in this case, again, one doesn't know. I mean, you just -- you can't be sure.

BROWN: Are there specific cases so far that seem to be causing raised eyebrows?

POUND: Well, I think, you know, the Halliburton case was a case in which eyebrows were raised. I haven't -- at this stage, there haven't been any others.

I know this: that there is concern with this rush that people will get jobs -- or companies will get jobs who might be a problem. For example, last week, Henry Hyde, who is the chairman of the House International Relations Committee, brought in a senior State Department official to talk about the award of a contract to a company called Dynacore, which does security work. Dynacore had a problem in the past in the Balkans in connection with a sex scandal back in '99- 2000. And Henry Hyde's staff wanted assurances, and got assurances, from the State Department that the State Department would carefully monitor the work that Dynacore does Iraq.

BROWN: Is there a model out there? Is it accurate to say what we're looking at is the Marshall Plan again, or almost?

POUND: Well, I think what we're looking at is something that's going to cost an awful lot and is the biggest reconstruction effort by this country since the Marshall Plan. Obviously, it's not the same thing. You're not talking about Europe. But, you know, it is -- I can't think of anything else that compares to this in the last 50-60 years, that's for sure.

BROWN: But you're talking about every aspect of a very large country, a country of 20-plus million people.

POUND: Twenty-four million people. And again, it's -- you know, it's going to take a lot of effort on the part of this country, and on the part of its allies. I think in the end, Aaron, that even though we -- quote -- "want to go it alone" or with the Brits, certainly the Defense Department seems to be going that direction. I think in the end, we're going to have to have the support of a lot of other countries, plus the money from a lot of other countries, and the support of the U.N. on this effort.

BROWN: Mr. Pound, thanks for your time. It's an interesting -- it's a nice piece in the magazine this week. Edward Pound, the investigations editor of "U.S. News & World Report," good to have you with us.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.