Bush under fire over Iraq

By David Bamford BBC correspondent in Washington

President George W Bush is coming under increasing pressure from his own Republican Party to disclose how much financing will be required to cover the costs of occupying and reconstructing Iraq.

Mr Bush's own party is expressing doubts about costs

The pressure follows the acknowledgement last week by the head of the American-led administration in Iraq, Paul Bremer, that the country needed tens of billions of dollars to build its shattered infrastructure.

Mr Bremer's statement last week that it was almost impossible to exaggerate Iraq's economic needs has set off alarm bells in Washington in the Republican camp.

Senator John McCain, writing in the Washington Post, said America's mission in Iraq was too important to fail.

But President Bush should level with the American people about the real cost of its success, he wrote.

Senator Richard Lugar, speaking on American TV, said he believed $30bn at least will be required, but it's not the Americans who should pay:

Now where does the other half come from? That requires our going to the international community in a big way Richard Lugar, US Senator

"That's about what the budget was, as I understand, during the Saddam days, just to run the country, with about half of it coming from oil - and that's important, because this myth that oil does it [all] is only halfway true," Senator Lugar said.

"Now where [does] the other half come from? That requires our going to the international community in a big way."

The Bush administration, which is already spending $4bn a month of US taxpayers' money on the military costs in Iraq alone, looks to be gearing up for a big international appeal for contributions towards the cost of rebuilding Iraq.

But with that comes a political price of having to cede some authority to the international community - presumably in the form of the United Nations - that will have the task of coordinating and deciding on reconstruction priorities.