[Mb-civic] NYTimes.com Article: The Iraq Reconstruction Fiasco

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The Iraq Reconstruction Fiasco

August 9, 2004
 


 

Things have gone so obviously wrong with America's approach
to rebuilding Iraq that even the Bush administration is now
willing to listen to some informed advice. Before the
invasion, the White House and Pentagon contemptuously
ignored post-invasion planning memos drafted by State
Department experts knowledgeable about Iraq, the Arab world
and the broader problems of nation-building. Now some of
those same State Department experts are quietly being
called back to try to repair the damage. Their re-emergence
is welcome, but late in the game. Winning back the good
will and trust of ordinary Iraqis will be, at best, an
uphill fight. 

Almost a year after Congress approved an American
contribution of more than $18 billion to rebuild Iraq, very
little of this money has been spent. Very little has
actually been built in Iraq, and most of what has been done
has been paid for out of Iraq's own revenues. This is more
than an embarrassing case of dysfunctional aid management
and shifty accounting. It helps explain why so many Iraqis
have come to resent the American occupation even though it
removed a hated dictator and ended 13 years of punishing
economic sanctions. Even people who initially welcomed the
invasion have had a hard time understanding or accepting
why, 16 months after American troops took Baghdad,
electricity and clean water are only intermittently
available and nearly half of employable Iraqis are without
work. 

Of the $18.4 billion Congress approved last fall, only
about $600 million has actually been paid out. Billions
more have been designated for giant projects still in the
planning stage. Part of the blame rests with the Pentagon's
planning failures and the occupation authority's reluctance
to consult qualified Iraqis. Instead, the administration
brought in American defense contractors who had little clue
about what was most urgently needed or how to handle the
unfamiliar and highly insecure climate. 

Occupation officials also felt free to tap into Iraqi
revenues, which are subject to far less oversight and
looser controls than Congressionally appropriated funds.
Late last year, for example, the Halliburton subsidiary
Kellogg, Brown & Root was awarded a no-bid contract out of
Iraqi revenues. At the time, Congress might have balked at
further dealings with a company facing questions about the
inflated prices it charged for importing gasoline into Iraq
and about a no-bid contract awarded by the Army Corps of
Engineers just before the invasion. Last week, The
Washington Post reported that almost $2 billion in Iraqi
revenues had been awarded to American companies. 

State Department experts now suggest a switch to
smaller-scale projects that can produce visible results
more quickly. They are also talking about deeper Iraqi
involvement in the planning and carrying out of
American-financed reconstruction projects. Greater Iraqi
involvement would spread public awareness of these
projects, provide new jobs for Iraqis and drastically
reduce costs. Iraqi construction labor costs about
one-tenth of what is typically paid to foreign contractors.
Closer consultation with the Baghdad ministries and local
councils would also add some plausibility to Washington's
claims that Iraqis now exercise sovereignty in their own
country. Despite all it has gone through, Iraq remains one
of the Arab world's most advanced societies, with
considerable professional expertise that should be put to
better use. 

All of this should have been done a year ago. It still
needs to be done now. Iraq's reconstruction needs have only
become more urgent and most of that huge appropriation is
still unspent. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/09/opinion/09mon1.html?ex=1093080389&ei=1&en=98d8e69d599c2ddc


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