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Video and Transcript: USAID Administrator Andrew S. NatsiosInterview on CNNfn
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HOST: Humanitarian aid for Iraq was addressed by President Bush today, speaking after talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair at Camp David. Mr. Bush called on the UN to help in the process.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Today the Prime Minister and I also urged the United Nations to immediately resume the Oil-For-Food program. More than half the Iraqi people depend on this program as their sole source of food. This urgent humanitarian issue must not be politicized, and the Security Council should give Secretary-General Annan the authority to start getting food supplies to those most in need of assistance.
HOST: Mr. Bush says the U.S. is committed to helping build a post-war Iraq. Joining us now from Washington to discuss this effort is Andrew Natsios, the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, also known as USAID.
HOST: Andrew, thank you for joining us - it's a pleasure to have you here.
ADMINISTRATOR NATSIOS: Good morning.
HOST: Let's talk a little about what it is USAID is doing right now in Iraq. I understand - it's been in the news this week - that USAID has awarded a contract to - I believe it's Stevedoring Services of America for the port of Umm Qasr, but what is the role of USAID in Iraq?
ASN: There are two roles - one is to do the humanitarian relief operation. That will be for immediate needs like food, emergency medical care, shelter for the displaced people and refugees, emergency medical care, water and sanitation. Then there's the long-term reconstruction of the country, and we've put contracts in place - that will be signed before the end of this month - that will reconstruct parts of the country that have been devastated over 15 years of either abuse by the regime, or failure to maintain facilities. For example, the water and sanitation system of the country is in terrible condition. They have child mortality rates - in other words, that's the number of kids that die before they're five - from preventable illnesses that are much higher than India's rate, for example. And Iraq is a potentially wealthy country - this oil has not been used for the people of Iraq, it's been used to buy weapons systems and weapons of mass destruction. What we want to do with the reconstruction program is improve the very poor public services that are available to the average Iraqi citizen.
HOST: There's been considerable discussion in relation to this program about whether it should be confined to U.S. companies or whether it will be broadened to international companies. Is it going to be broadened to international companies, or will it remain - as it has so far - a U.S.-focused initiative?
ASN: Well, the first thing is - many other countries are going to contribute to the reconstruction effort. They will provide contracts to companies from their countries. What we have done - what we are required to by Federal law - is to provide our contracts to American companies. We bid them through a process of bidding that involved a prime contractor. There will be subcontracts that will be through any country that's not on the terrorist list - Cuban companies and Libyan companies and North Korean companies won't be bidding - but every other country can bid on the subcontract. And the subcontracts are as much, in some cases, as 50% of the amount of money we're going to be spending, cause the prime contractors - which are American companies - can't do all of this work over a short period of time. They'll need help from these subs.
HOST: Tell me how it breaks down between the money that comes out of your budget versus money that may come out of Iraq from oil revenues, things like that - who pays for this?
ASN: This is only for money that is appropriated from U.S. tax dollars. We don't have money from Iraqi oil or from Iraqi reparations or anything like that. This money comes out of the U.S. Treasury - it's $2.4 billion. About $750 million is for humanitarian relief, and the rest of it is for reconstruction. So about $1.7 billion is for reconstruction. The reconstruction will involve the sewer and water system, hospitals, bridges, roads, the electrical system, the transmission lines. It'll involve telecommunications systems, and it'll involve reforming the educational curriculum - which is filled with hate - and it's a horrendous curriculum, filled with Baathist party propaganda, and it's got a cult of personality around Saddam Hussein in it. So those are the kind of things we'll be dealing with.
HOST: I want to ask you one final question about the tender process. There have been some questions raised - not on the contracts you've awarded - but certainly on the other ones with respect to fighting the oil fires, abou the propriety of that process. How do you guarantee that this is a fair and open tender process?
ASN: Well, we're not in charge of the oil fires, that's -
HOST: That's right - I didn't mean to associate you with that - I'm sorry.
ASN: The way in which we've done it for our part of this is that I've given instructions to the head of the procurement office, who is a career foreign service officer, and a man of high integrity. I said, "if anybody tries to influence you, other than our technical staff of career people, you call me up and I'll put a stop to it." Noone's called me personally, noone's tried to influence me from anywhere in the Federal government or outside the government on how we should award these contracts. I will not tolerate it - the President's said he wants this process run according to the highest standards of ethics, and that's what we're doing.
HOST: Thank you for that answer, Andrew. Thank you for being with us - it's a pleasure talking with you.
ASN: Thank you.
HOST: Andrew Natsios is the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID - talking to us from Washington.
Last updated: Wednesday, 28-Mar-2007 11:22:54 EDT
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