Iraq's Industry minister opens door to reimbursing US

By BARRY SCHWEID AP Diplomatic Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Iraq's industry minister opened the door Wednesday to reimbursing the United States for at least some of the billions of dollars spent for reconstructing the country.

Industry minister Fawzi Hariri also spoke hopefully of more than doubling Iraqi oil production within two to three years.

Hariri said current production is 2 million to 2.4 million barrels a day, and it should reach 3 million by the end of the year and 5 million barrels in another two to three years - depending on the extent of foreign technology from abroad.

Iraqis themselves "don't have the know-how" to expand production that much, he said at a joint news conference with Paul Brinkley, the undersecretary of Defense for Business Transformation in Iraq.

With Iraq expected to reap some $70 billion in oil revenue this year because of worldwide record-high fuel prices, some House Democrats have proposed a ban on providing U.S. aid to rebuild towns or equip security forces unless Iraq matches every dollar spent by the United States.

Bush administration-backed legislation calls for devoting about $3 billion to reconstruction and relief programs, half of which would go toward training and equipping Iraqi security.

Asked what he thought of the Democratic proposal, Hariri said Iraq has been able to control its own finances only since 2006 and "the government of Iraq is doing as much as it can to support industry and housing reconstruction."

"We are hoping for help from our friends. We are not looking for handouts," he said, adding, "Iraq can pay the money back."

What the United States spends is for security and completely a U.S. decision, he said.

"The Iraqi government is not involved in any way," the minister said. But "money can be returnable," he said. "We can get to an arrangement to deal with that."