U.S. Gen. Odierno presses case for $2B in funding to rebuild Iraq

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U.S. Gen. Odierno presses case for $2B in funding to rebuild Iraq
By Roxana Tiron - 07/21/10 01:12 PM ET

The United States will need to provide financial assistance to Iraq for at least three more years to help build up the country’s military, according to Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. general in Iraq.

“It’s very important that we continue at some level (…) to provide some support,” Odierno said Wednesday at a breakfast with defense reporters.

Odierno’s case for more U.S. funding in Iraq comes as some leading lawmakers are planning to significantly cut the Obama administration's request of $2 billion for the Iraqi security forces in fiscal year 2011.

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has already decided to slash $1 billion from the request, arguing it is time for Iraq to put its own money into the military.

“Some of us feel pretty strongly about this issue: That it’s time — given the amount of money that Iraq is taking in oil revenue and the fact they cut their own defense budget in half in the parliament — it’s kind of hard to justify putting billions of dollars in for the Iraq army, OK?” Levin said during a press briefing in June when he announced his panel’s work on the 2011 defense authorization bill.