10 December 2003
White House Defends Its Reconstruction Policy in Iraq
White House Report, Dec. 10: Iraq reconstruction contracts
The White House December 10 defended a U.S. government decision to limit competition for "prime contracts" for reconstruction projects in Iraq to companies from the United States, Iraq, Coalition partners and nations contributing forces to help maintain Iraqi security.
Companies from these nations will be permitted to bid on $18.6 billion in U.S. reconstruction contracts.
White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan told reporters December 10 that the policy, announced in a December 5 directive from Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, is "perfectly appropriate and reasonable."
The policy directive says restricting contract bids "is necessary for the protection of the essential security interests of the United States."
McClellan said "[w]e are talking about U.S. taxpayer dollars here, and I think it is appropriate and reasonable to expect that the Iraqi people and those countries who have been working with the United States and contributing forces to the efforts in Iraq would be the ones that would be eligible for the prime contracts."
He said "we want to continue to build upon the coalition that has been in Iraq and the countries that have been contributing forces. We want to continue to build upon that because this is about the Iraqi people in the end, and building a better future for the Iraqi people."
Asked about the reported angry response from Germany, Canada and some other U.S. allies that had opposed the U.S.-led war in Iraq, McClellan said "we would welcome the opportunity to talk to them and explain to them about why this decision was made."
The decision, he pointed out, was made "through an interagency process," and is fully supported by the White House.
"[C]oalition forces such as British forces and Polish forces have been on the ground from the beginning; they have been making sacrifices to help make the world a better and safer place. And I think that the American people certainly understand the importance of U.S. taxpayer dollars being used in this way," McClellan said.
"[I]f countries want to participate in the coalition efforts in Iraq, then circumstances can change. We can discuss that with them if that is the case."
In his directive, McClellan pointed out, Wolfowitz said "Every effort must be made to expand international cooperation in Iraq. ... Limiting competition for prime contracts will encourage the expansion of international cooperation in Iraq and in future efforts."
McClellan said "we welcome the opportunity to talk to them about this further if they have questions about it. We welcome the opportunity to visit with those countries about this decision and about how we continue to move forward on our shared goal of helping the Iraqi people build a better and brighter future, and helping bring about a peaceful and free Iraq that will help bring peace and stability to a very volatile region, a region that has not had the hope and opportunity for the people that they deserve and a region that has been a breeding ground for terrorism."
McClellan also said that firms in the some 60 countries allowed to bid for contracts are fully welcome to go to firms in other countries and involve them in subcontracts.
He said the administration believes the policy "is fully consistent" with its obligations to the World Trade Organization.
The Wolfowitz directive covers contracts to manage the entire rebuilding effort, train and equip the Iraqi National Army and rebuild infrastructure including roads, sewers, power plants and oil fields.
The top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware, has issued a statement calling the new policy a "totally gratuitous slap" that "does nothing to protect" the security interests of the United States, "and everything to alienate countries we need with us in Iraq."
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
This page printed from: http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2003&m=December&x=20031210182945ssor0.8199884&t=usinfo/wf-latest.html
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