Lawmaker: Buy American in Iraq

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., has introduced legislation to mandate that the Army use American-based cell phone technology when building out a cellular phone infrastructure for Iraq.

The legislation, H.R. 1441, also calls for any other post-war rebuilding contracts to give preference to American companies.

Issa wants the Army to use the Code Division Multiple Access standard to build a wireless cellular phone network. CDMA is used by most U.S. wireless phone carriers. The Army plans to use the Global System for Mobile Communications, or GSM, standard, according to Issa's office.

However, others question using a CDMA network over a GSM one. Deploying a GSM network would facilitate interoperability with cell phone networks nearby. GSM is used in every other country in the Middle East and in Europe.