Senators want report on Iraqi oil revenues

WASHINGTON, March 8 (UPI) -- The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee has asked the Government Accountability Office to determine how Iraq has been spending its oil income.

In a letter Friday to the head of the GAO, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the committee chairman, and Sen. John Warner, R-Va., a former chairman, said they believe most reconstruction spending has come from the United States, The New York Times reported. They suggested that billions of dollars in oil revenue is now sitting in banks outside the country.

In January, the GAO reported that in 2007 $10 billion was earmarked for reconstruction. By August, only 4.4 percent had been spent.

By contrast, Ambassador Ryan Crocker said last fall the Iraqi government had spent 24 percent of the money by July 2007.

Iraqi officials say there are many non-financial obstacles to reconstruction. They include the exodus of educated Iraqis and those with technical skills fleeing sectarian violence, and contractors' unwillingness to take on projects in much of the country.