WASHINGTON — The administration wants $100 million for an Iraqi witness protection program, $290 million to hire, train and house thousands of firefighters, and $9 million to modernize Iraq’s postal service, including establishment of ZIP codes.
A Bush administration document distributed to members of Congress goes beyond the details officials have publicly provided for how they would spend the $20.3 billion they have requested for Iraqi reconstruction.
The 53 pages of justifications flesh out the size of the task of rebuilding the country, almost literally brick by brick. It also paints a painstaking picture of the damage Iraq has suffered.
"The war and subsequent looting destroyed over 165 firehouses throughout the country. There are no tools or equipment in any firehouse," according to the report, written by the Coalition Provisional Authority, the U.S.-led organization now running Iraq.
The report’s estimated cost of rebuilding Iraq’s fire service, including hiring and training 5,000 firefighters: $290 million.
At another point, the report says the headquarters and three regional offices of the border police "will require complete renovation." Two thousand new recruits must be trained because the agency previously used conscripts, "almost all of whom deserted."
Reviving that and other border protection agencies should cost $150 million, the report said.
The proposal was part of the $87 billion plan that President Bush sent Congress on Sept. 7 for Iraq and Afghanistan. The biggest piece of that package was $66 billion to finance U.S. military operations in both countries and elsewhere.
Congress, just beginning work on Bush’s proposal, is expected to approve it largely intact. But the political soft spot has been the $20.3 billion for reconstruction, because of record federal deficits facing this country and demands by Democrats for increased domestic security spending.
"The administration fought against a $200 million boost for America’s police officers, firefighters and paramedics," Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., said Monday at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing. "But Iraqi first responders would get $290 million through this" Bush proposal.
Byrd made his comments at a hearing where L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Iraq, testified that the plan would help prevent terrorists from establishing a foothold there.
Other projects and their estimated costs listed in the report include:
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