Why does Iraq need a new currency?
AMBASSADOR CHAMBERLIN: On the first question, let me just address our own bilateral program because that is what we manage at AID. The Congress, in its generosity, appropriated $2.4 billion of taxpayer contributions, U.S. money, for the purpose of bridging the gap in between the time there was a regime change and there was the time where there was a new Iraqi government, ministries reconstructed, run by elected officials, with — supported by those revenue sources that are indigenous, in this case oil, and they were up on their own feet and running again. But in that period, there would be a gap, and in that gap we didn’t — we wanted to kickstart the economy, kickstart the various infrastructure projects so that there would be an easy transition. The U.S. taxpayer is stepping into that gap with USAID programs. Now, our regulations that are set by Congress that guide how we spend USAID programs stipulates that our contractors, our prime contractors are American companies. To this we ar
