The United States is to spend more than $6 billion in Iraq in 2012 even though its forces are to withdraw from the country by the end of this year, US ambassador James Jeffrey said on Sunday. US President Barack Obama announced on October 21 that the last troops would leave by year's end, but Baghdad will still host the largest American embassy in the world, with a full US mission to Iraq to include up to 16,000 people.
"We are standing up an embassy to carry out a $6.5 billion programme, when you throw in the refugee programmes as well as the actual State Department budget for 2012, of assistance in support for Iraq on a very broad variety of security and non-security issues," Jeffrey told reporters at a roundtable.
"The direct budget, operating and assistance (to Iraq), was $6.2 billion," Jeffrey said.
He said there is also "a little less than $300 million that goes to refugee and displaced person programmes." "It doesn't come directly onto the Iraq account ... but we get a very significant part of that here, and it's used by other agencies and activities for example in Jordan and Syria," home of sizeable Iraqi refugee communities. Jeffrey also discussed US military sales to Iraq.
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