BAGHDAD’S BILL

Despite tough questions and grim assessments, it remains unclear if Congress can muster support for a change in direction for continued U.S. involvement in Iraq. Requiring Iraq to pay for more of this work ends the era of blank U.S. checks and puts needed pressure on Baghdad to play a larger role in securing and building the country’s future.

In hours of testimony before the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, warned that progress there was “fragile and reversible.” For this reason, he recommends that after the current draw-down of troops ends in July, no further decisions about troop levels be made for at least 45 days. This will leave about 140,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. President Bush is scheduled to make a speech about the war today.

The current situation was perhaps best summed up by Sen. Joseph Biden, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. “We’ve gone from drowning to treading water,” the Delaware Democrat said, adding that “we can’t keep treading water without exhausting ourselves.”

After more than five years of U.S. military involvement in Iraq, U.S. lawmakers must ask if treading water is good enough. If it is not, putting additional pressure on Iraqi leaders to take more responsibility for the political and military fate of their country – something long talked about in Congress – must be a priority.

The U.S. has set benchmarks for Iraqi security and political progress which have largely been missed. There have been few consequences for that failure.

Lacking the votes for timetables for U.S. troop withdrawals, requiring the Iraqi government to take more financial responsibility for rebuilding the country offers an alternative, if modest, first step.

“Isn’t it time for the Iraqis to start bearing more of those expenses, particularly in light of the windfall in revenues due to the high price of oil?” Sen. Susan Collins asked Ryan Crocker, U.S. ambassador to Iraq during Tuesday’s Armed Services Committee hearing.

Such discussions are already occurring between U.S. and Iraqi leaders, but the process is complex and it will take time, Ambassador Crocker said.

According to the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, Iraqi oil revenue is expected to increase to over $60 billion in 2008, which would allow the country to add $5 billion to its 2008 budget of $48 billion. The country has about $30 billion in surplus funds in U.S. banks, according to Sen. Carl Levin, chair of the Armed Services Committee.

Meanwhile, the United States has invested more than $45 billion for reconstruction and is spending more than $150 million a month for fuel in Iraq.

In 2003, Sen. Collins was among a group of senators advocating that the Iraqis repay some of the U.S. money spent on reconstruction and other aid. Despite assurances from Vice President Cheney that the Iraq war could be paid for with the country’s oil revenues, President Bush strongly opposed such a measure.

With the U.S. economy faltering, the Iraqis slow to accept more responsibility and additional oil revenue flowing to the Iraqi government, it is past time to ask Baghdad to shoulder more of the financial burden.