US Senate approves billions of funding for Iraq

Tuesday, 4 November 2003 12:00 AM

The United States Senate has approved $87.5 billion in emergency funding for Iraq and Afghanistan.

The controversial package of funds, put together by President Bush, includes $51 billion for the US military operation in Iraq, $10 billion for the military in Afghanistan and $18.6 billion for the reconstruction of Iraq.

It is the most expensive package of foreign funds since the Marshall Plan to reconstruct Europe after the Second World War and there has been considerable nervousness about such a huge amount of money at a time when unemployment in the US itself is high and poverty is increasing.

Several Republicans and Democrats called for some of the money to be issued as loans to Iraq, however the White House argued that this would further destabilise the country and prolong the US involvement there.

In a speech yesterday President Bush restated his commitment to the reconstruction of Iraq: 'The enemy in Iraq believes America will run. That's why they're willing to kill innocent civilians, relief workers, coalition troops. America will never run.'

The approval of the funds came on the same day that 15 American soldiers died and 21 were wounded when a helicopter was shot down in Iraq. As more Americans are killed public support for US involvement in the country is rapidly declining.

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