Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 28, 1991 TAG: 9102280528
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A/1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: JAMES RISEN LOS ANGELES TIMES
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
With the war ending after just a few days of ground fighting, anger and frustration are rapidly mounting in Congress over the failure of many of the allies to ante up the cash they pledged.
Now, policy-makers say they fear that the allies, both major powers such as Japan and Germany and rich gulf states such as the United Arab Emirates, will not follow through on their pledges.
The issue is escalating rapidly on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers, flush over the U.S. victory and embarrassed over their earlier reluctance to support the war, are looking for a way to "do something" to claim America's due.
"We have this the-check-is-in-the-mail syndrome going on, with countries like Japan that have the Engineers look to job boom in the Persian Gulf. B9 most to gain from secure oil supplies doing absolutely nothing," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.
Congressmen are especially upset at Japan, which refused to send troops to the gulf.
"I have never seen such condescension on the part of the Japanese, who wouldn't even send a medical team to the gulf," Leahy said.
And feelings about Germany are intensifying. German companies played a key role in helping Iraq develop its military and terrorist facilities, and the Germans have been vocally opposed to the U.S. effort, with some German physicians even refusing to treat American wounded.
"It is going to be very hard to get the money after the crisis is over," said Sen. Dale Bumpers, D-Ark. "And frankly, I don't think we're going to get it."
Although the Bush administration has been promised approximately $53 billion in cash from Germany, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the exiled government of Kuwait and others backing the allied effort, only about $14 billion actually has arrived in cash transfers and in-kind payments.
Japan, the world's second-largest economy after the United States, has still not approved any assistance for 1991. Parliament has yet to come through with a vote of support for approximately $9 billion in promised financial aid.
In addition, the gulf war has bloated the U.S. budget deficit. Although the White House insists that the United States should only have to ante up $15 billion in added spending to complement the foreign pledges, private analysts are dubious at best.
They say that the federal budget deficit could rise to between $320 billion and $330 billion in fiscal 1992 if the allied money does not come through.
Although Japan has pledged $10.7 billion in cash or equipment and supplies for 1990 and 1991, only $1.3 billion actually has come in, all of that during 1990. The remaining funds require approval by the Japanese Diet.
Germany, meanwhile, has sent the Pentagon $2.1 billion of its pledged $5.5 billion for 1991, in addition to some in-kind aid for 1990 that ironically included more than $500 million in shoddy surplus East German military equipment.
Even the Persian Gulf states of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, along with the United Arab Emirates, are the targets of mounting criticism.
Although Saudi Arabia has provided billions of dollars of in-kind assistance for U.S. troops, in the form of water, food and fuel, the Saudis have still paid only about $6 billion out of a total of $16 billion in cash assistance they have pledged for 1991.
At the same time, oil industry analysts note that the Saudis have received at least $10 billion in additional oil revenues as a result of the crisis and the initial surge in oil prices.
Normally secretive Saudi officials have sought to underscore their commitment to the coalition by publicly disclosing that the government has borrowed $3 billion from Western banks to help pay for the war. But congressional critics say the Saudis could do more.
"If we hadn't moved, Saudi Arabia would be the 20th province of Iraq right now," said Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, R-N.Y. "Their $16 billion pales in comparison with what they should be doing."
And despite the huge U.S. liberation effort, the exiled government of Kuwait has not sent in all of its pledged funds either. It has provided $3.5 billion, more than $12 billion short of the $16 billion it promised.
by CNB