Iraq budget cut by $171M after oil-profit windfall

[Spencer Collins]

Iraq budget cut by $171M after oil-profit windfall

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Pentagon has agreed to cut from its budget $171 million to build police stations in Iraq after demands from Congress that the Iraqi government spend its recent oil windfall on reconstruction projects.

In a letter to the Senate Armed Services Committee released Tuesday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates wrote that he had heard senators' concerns "loud and clear" during hearings earlier this month. As a result, he wrote, "We will seek full funding from the government of Iraq for this purpose."

The amount is a fraction of the roughly $47 billion Congress has approved to rebuild Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. But Democrats and Republicans have complained that American taxpayers are continuing to pay for reconstruction work in Iraq when crude oil prices, now nearing $120 a barrel, have left the country's U.S.-backed government reaping a budget surplus in the tens of billions of dollars.

"It's not enough, but it's an important step," said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, the Armed Services Committee chairman. Levin said Gates acknowledged that "there's gonna have to be changes made," and called the Pentagon chief's actions an "important first step."

"It's a significant message to the Iraqis that there is a lot of pressure from the American people, from the Congress, to stop spending a lot of money in Iraq for things the Iraqis can pay," said Levin. He raised the issue earlier this month during hearings on the now-widely unpopular war.

Iraq budget cut by $171M after oil-profit windfall - CNN.com

One small step for the Pentagon,one giant leap towards common sense..