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CNN Live Saturday
Price Tag For Rebuilding Iraq Gets Bigger
Aired September 13, 2003 - 18:41 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.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: The price tag for stabilizing Iraq is getting bigger, too. President Bush is now requesting $87 billion to pay for combat and reconstruction in that country and Afghanistan. How different is that from previous estimates, and what does that figure exactly include?
Let's ask Michael Weisskopf, a senior correspondent for "TIME" magazine. He joins us from Washington. Good evening, Michael.
MICHAEL WEISSKOPF, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Hi, Carol.
LIN: Let's take a look at the perspective here. I mean, initially, it wasn't just $87 billion. $79 billion has already been appropriated. We first heard $50 billion in the beginning, now another $87 billion. How much is going to be asked of the U.S. taxpayers?
WEISSKOPF: Well, U.S. senators heard last week, Carol, that in addition to the $87 billion will be another $55 billion that will go to the economic reconstruction of this country.
LIN: You're kidding? Well, where is the money going to come from? I mean, there are resources there on the ground in Iraq. What about oil sales? Can that contribute to the process?
WEISSKOPF: Interestingly, when secretaries Powell and Rumsfeld were briefing senators, they were asked precisely that question. And there was a pregnant pause. Roughly $12 to $15 billion a year could come from oil revenues of the Iraqis, and that is quite a bit lower than the Iraqis were gaining, oh, 15 years ago, prior to the Persian Gulf War One.
Lots of the money that we will be contributing will be going to renovating that very antiquated oil delivery system. And also, in fairness to recovering from various acts of sabotage to the pipelines that we've seen in recent weeks. Large portions of this money will be going to pay for the electrical grid and for clean water, not to mention about $5 billion next year just to train security forces of Iraqis.
LIN: And if they cannot get the security on the ground stabilized, then what happens to the rebuilding effort?
WEISSKOPF: It's slowed down quite a bit. And there have been acts of sabotage not only to the oil delivery system, but also to the electric grid, which was hobbled in the first place by 10 years of U.N. sanctions, typical of the entire Iraqi society. And this is why U.S. planners really underestimate what it will take. Nobody realized just how those sanctions ravaged this society, how little was done. Imagine your own house really laying in disrepair for 10 years without a single nail being driven.
LIN: How -- give us an anecdote of what is really happening on the ground. I mean, you hear about damage to the electrical systems, you hear about lack of infrastructure. But in reality, what are the Iraqis actually living through on a day-to-day basis?
WEISSKOPF: Well, a great deal has improved since I was there in early summer. But to give you an idea, back in the time I was there, one could go days if not weeks without running water for a shower. There is very spotty electricity in central Iraq, where the majority of the population lives, so that cooling systems are impossible. And heat degrees rose to as high to 120 in the summer.
The lack of police creates tremendous traffic jams. Shortages in domestic oil supply created hours and day-long gas lines. All these things ended up really driving the society to a boiling point.
LIN: And so at a boiling point now. How long is it going to take in order for enough rebuilding to go on so that people can at least cool their homes or heat their homes, get water, and just kind of sustain a normal lifestyle?
WEISSKOPF: Well, take clean water, for instance, something all Americans take for granted. The planners are talking about four years at the rate of $2 to $4 billion a year in order to create a running water supply domestic to people's homes.
LIN: So do you think, Michael, it would require then U.S. troops to be on the ground for the duration of that time?
WEISSKOPF: Well, there certainly are plans to keep U.S. troops there at least that amount of time. It will take certainly years for political consolidation, not to mention the security of the country.
LIN: Michael Weisskopf, thank you very much. Senior correspondent for the Washington bureau for that update on the situation on the ground in Iraq.
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 September 13, 2003 - 18:41 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: The price tag for stabilizing Iraq is getting bigger, too. President Bush is now requesting $87 billion to pay for combat and reconstruction in that country and Afghanistan. How different is that from previous estimates, and what does that figure exactly include?
Let's ask Michael Weisskopf, a senior correspondent for "TIME" magazine. He joins us from Washington. Good evening, Michael.
MICHAEL WEISSKOPF, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Hi, Carol.
LIN: Let's take a look at the perspective here. I mean, initially, it wasn't just $87 billion. $79 billion has already been appropriated. We first heard $50 billion in the beginning, now another $87 billion. How much is going to be asked of the U.S. taxpayers?
WEISSKOPF: Well, U.S. senators heard last week, Carol, that in addition to the $87 billion will be another $55 billion that will go to the economic reconstruction of this country.
LIN: You're kidding? Well, where is the money going to come from? I mean, there are resources there on the ground in Iraq. What about oil sales? Can that contribute to the process?
WEISSKOPF: Interestingly, when secretaries Powell and Rumsfeld were briefing senators, they were asked precisely that question. And there was a pregnant pause. Roughly $12 to $15 billion a year could come from oil revenues of the Iraqis, and that is quite a bit lower than the Iraqis were gaining, oh, 15 years ago, prior to the Persian Gulf War One.
Lots of the money that we will be contributing will be going to renovating that very antiquated oil delivery system. And also, in fairness to recovering from various acts of sabotage to the pipelines that we've seen in recent weeks. Large portions of this money will be going to pay for the electrical grid and for clean water, not to mention about $5 billion next year just to train security forces of Iraqis.
LIN: And if they cannot get the security on the ground stabilized, then what happens to the rebuilding effort?
WEISSKOPF: It's slowed down quite a bit. And there have been acts of sabotage not only to the oil delivery system, but also to the electric grid, which was hobbled in the first place by 10 years of U.N. sanctions, typical of the entire Iraqi society. And this is why U.S. planners really underestimate what it will take. Nobody realized just how those sanctions ravaged this society, how little was done. Imagine your own house really laying in disrepair for 10 years without a single nail being driven.
LIN: How -- give us an anecdote of what is really happening on the ground. I mean, you hear about damage to the electrical systems, you hear about lack of infrastructure. But in reality, what are the Iraqis actually living through on a day-to-day basis?
WEISSKOPF: Well, a great deal has improved since I was there in early summer. But to give you an idea, back in the time I was there, one could go days if not weeks without running water for a shower. There is very spotty electricity in central Iraq, where the majority of the population lives, so that cooling systems are impossible. And heat degrees rose to as high to 120 in the summer.
The lack of police creates tremendous traffic jams. Shortages in domestic oil supply created hours and day-long gas lines. All these things ended up really driving the society to a boiling point.
LIN: And so at a boiling point now. How long is it going to take in order for enough rebuilding to go on so that people can at least cool their homes or heat their homes, get water, and just kind of sustain a normal lifestyle?
WEISSKOPF: Well, take clean water, for instance, something all Americans take for granted. The planners are talking about four years at the rate of $2 to $4 billion a year in order to create a running water supply domestic to people's homes.
LIN: So do you think, Michael, it would require then U.S. troops to be on the ground for the duration of that time?
WEISSKOPF: Well, there certainly are plans to keep U.S. troops there at least that amount of time. It will take certainly years for political consolidation, not to mention the security of the country.
LIN: Michael Weisskopf, thank you very much. Senior correspondent for the Washington bureau for that update on the situation on the ground in Iraq.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
