February 13, 2018

KUWAIT CITY -- Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday declared Iraq open for business and urged governments and investors to help rebuild the country or risk seeing a return of the Islamic State.

Tillerson said the U.S. Export-Import Bank would sign a memo that would facilitate financing for $3 billion in American goods and services. He listed several large U.S. corporations that already have deals with Iraq totaling $2 billion, and he lauded the investment opportunities.

That is far less than the $88 billion Iraq needs to restore basic water and power and rebuild schools destroyed during the Islamic State’s reign over vast swaths of Iraq and Syria. And it is unlikely that the conference will net Iraq anywhere near that sum.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/tillerson-says-the-fight-against-the-islamic-state-is-far-from-over/2018/02/13/63876bfe-ea12-4cf9-83e2-ccde2dee07a4_story.html?utm_term=.0f30fb1cc352