- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israel
is expected to secure $8 billion in loan guarantees as part of a massive
war budget that President Bush will send to Congress soon after any military
action is taken against Iraq, U.S. and Israeli sources said on Wednesday.
-
- But despite fierce lobbying by Israeli defense officials,
Israel is only likely to get between $1 billion and $2 billion in military
aid, a steep cut from the country's $4 billion emergency request, according
to the sources.
-
- The aid will be part of an emergency spending package,
which one U.S. official familiar with the plan said could total less than
$75 billion including $62.5 billion for defense, to pay for a U.S.-led
war on Iraq and to fund other administration priorities, subject to congressional
approval.
-
- Earlier Pentagon estimates put the military costs at
closer to $95 billion.
-
- The package is also expected to ask for more than $1
billion for Jordan, an undetermined amount for Turkey, as well as money
to bolster anti-terrorism efforts in New York.
-
- After a White House meeting with Bush and Homeland Security
Secretary Tom Ridge, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he did not ask
for a specific amount.
-
- Instead he said he appealed to the president to make
funding available based on the city's needs. "Clearly New York City
was ground zero before. It's the target," Bloomberg said.
-
- Ridge said Bush's budget request would include homeland
security funding, but said, "No figures, no final determinations have
been made."
-
- White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Bush supported
greater flexibility in how homeland security money was spent.
-
- Administration officials and congressional aides said
the war package was not expected to include massive amounts of funding
for the occupation of Iraq or for reconstruction. That could add tens of
billions of dollars to the price tag.
-
- Alaska Republican Sen. Ted Stevens, who chairs the Senate
Appropriations Committee that oversees spending programs, said he expected
the request to be submitted early next week.
-
- AID TO TURKEY
-
- But he said there were a number of uncertainties, among
them aid to Turkey.
-
- Fleischer said an initial economic package for Turkey,
which included $6 billion in direct aid and up to $24 billion in loans,
was no longer viable because the Turkish parliament refused to allow 62,000
U.S. troops into the country.
-
- But some assistance could still be given to Turkey because
the Turkish parliament might allow U.S. overflights to Iraq.
-
- Israel is the top recipient of U.S. foreign aid, receiving
close to $3 billion in mostly military assistance each year.
-
- Israel appealed for an extra $4 billion in military assistance
for anti-terrorism efforts and missile defense, as well as $8 billion in
loan guarantees. "Our ideas were put on the table a couple of weeks
ago and we understand they are being favorably considered by the administration,"
an Israeli official said.
-
- Israel's request has support from congressional leaders,
including House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois
Republican, who told Bush in a letter that "additional loan guarantees
-- which cost the American taxpayer nothing -- can help jumpstart Israel's
economy, especially if accompanied by further economic restructuring."
-
- U.S. officials deny that the military and economic assistance
would be tied to Israeli cooperation in a U.S.-led war with Iraq. The United
States wants Israel to stay out of any U.S. campaign, as it did when Baghdad
fired Scud missiles at Israel in the 1991 Gulf War.
-
- Under the U.S. aid proposal, the United States would
deduct from the face value of the loan guarantees any Israeli expenditures
on settlement activities in Palestinian areas.
|
