Oh, darn...

[lindashaw]

US taxpayer hit by Iraq reconstruction

http://english.aljazeera.net/Articles/News/GlobalNews/UnitedNations.htm

United Nations officials have requested the international donor conference for the rebuilding of Iraq to be delayed.

snip...

Sharing costs

Others have said the meeting is less important than has been publicly claimed by the US government, anxious to show its electorate that it is seeking ways of sharing the astronomical rebuilding costs.

Donor conferences have not historically yielded the kind of sums that will be needed to pay for Iraq’s reconstruction and countries were to dig deep into their pockets, there is little that can be done whilst lawlessness remains so rampant.

“Even if you want to help the US, you can do nothing without security,” Sicherman said.

Republican Jim Kolbe agreed, telling the Washington Post that he has not been expecting much money to come from foreign donors.

He said the administration has “not being very up front about how much is going to be needed,” though predicted “Congress will come through.”