U.S. Inquiry Cites Missteps in Iraqi Reconstruction

[IChing]

By JAMES GLANZ
Published: October 30, 2005
As the money runs out on the $30 billion American-financed reconstruction of Iraq, the officials in charge cannot say how many planned projects they will complete, and there is no clear source for hundreds of millions of dollars a year needed to operate the projects that have been finished, according to a report to Congress made public today.




The report, by the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, describes some progress but also an array of projects that have gone awry, sometimes astonishingly, like electrical substations that were built at great cost but never connected to the country's electrical grid.

With more than 93 percent of the American money now committed to specific projects, it could become increasingly difficult to solve those problems.

Issues like those "should have been considered before," said Jim Mitchell, a spokesman for the inspector general's office. "It's very critical right now, with so little of the U.S. money left to be committed, that they're going to have to make these determinations very quickly," Mr. Mitchell said.>>>>snip
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/30/international/middleeast/30cnd-reconstruct.html?ex=1288328400&en=929b6ebdacd1235e&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

[xchrom]

1. lol -- that's the bushco way!

i'd love to see a very easy one word moniker that describes the incompetence of the bushco regime for the 08 election cycle.

[damntexdem]

3. Ready, fire, aim! Oops, out of ammo -- back to Congress for more!

;-)

[NanceGreggs]

2. Just a few ideas on where to find the money ...

... to 'stay the course' in rebuilding Iraq.

1. Seize and liquidate the assets of Paul 'This War Will Pay For Itself' Wolfowitz.

2. Confiscate all of the chocolates and flowers our soldiers were greeted with, and sell them on EBay.

3. Downsize the salaries of all elected officials who voted for this war to minimum wage.

4. Demand that Halliburton cough up all of the taxpayer dollars they have allegedly spent in Iraq that are still 'unaccounted for' in their expense reports to the government.

5. Seize and auction off the Crawford Ranch, Cheney's new mansion, Rumsfeld's mansion, and Convolusia Rice's designer shoe collection.

6. And now for the BIG MONEY RAISER:

Put every last lyin' scumbag from this administration into the stocks, set them up on the DC Mall, and allow citizens to throw garbage and rotten vegetables at them for $50 a throw!

[Eugene]

4. Financial Times: US ‘had no policy’ in place to rebuild Iraq

US ‘had no policy’ in place to rebuild Iraq

By Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington
Published: October 30 2005 21:01 | Last updated: October 30 2005 23:47

The US government had “no comprehensive policy or regulatory guidelines”
in place for staffing the management of postwar Iraq, according to the
top government watchdog overseeing the country’s reconstruction.

The lack of planning had plagued reconstruction since the US-led
invasion, and been exacerbated by a “general lack of co-ordination”
between US government agencies charged with the rebuilding of Iraq,
said Stuart Bowen, the special inspector-general for Iraq
reconstruction, in a report released on Sunday.

His 110-page quarterly report, delivered to Congress at the weekend,
has underscored how a “reconstruction gap” is emerging that threatens
to leave many projects planned by the US on the drawing board.

<snip>

More: http://news.ft.com/cms/s/1005fd16-4984-11da-8686-0000779e2340,dwp_uuid=c1a5b968-e1ed-11d7-81c6-0820abe49a01.html

[RedEarth]

5. US ‘had no policy’ in place to rebuild Iraq

US ‘had no policy’ in place to rebuild Iraq
By Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington
Published: October 30 2005 21:01 | Last updated: October 30 2005 23:47



The US government had “no comprehensive policy or regulatory guidelines” in place for staffing the management of postwar Iraq, according to the top government watchdog overseeing the country’s reconstruction.


The lack of planning had plagued reconstruction since the US-led invasion, and been exacerbated by a “general lack of co-ordination” between US government agencies charged with the rebuilding of Iraq, said Stuart Bowen, the special inspector-general for Iraq reconstruction, in a report released on Sunday.


His 110-page quarterly report, delivered to Congress at the weekend, has underscored how a “reconstruction gap” is emerging that threatens to leave many projects planned by the US on the drawing board.


“Nearly two years ago, the US developed a reconstruction plan that specified a target number of projects that would be executed using the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund.


“That number was revised downward . Now it appears that the actual number of projects completed will be even lower,” Mr Bowen says in his report. Increasing security costs were “the most salient” reason behind the shortfall, he concluded.


http://news.ft.com/cms/s/1005fd16-4984-11da-8686-0000779e2340.html

[KeepItReal]

6. Doesn't mention that Colin Powell's State Dept *had* a plan Rummy dissed

The State Department apparently had it sh*t together before the war with a plan. They just lost the battle in the White House to use *their* plan.

"Much has been written and said about the internecine warfare between the State Department and the Pentagon in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. Yet it has only recently become clear just how much those bureaucratic battles over turf and ideology affected the planning for the postwar occupation. In early 2002, the State Department began forming what became known as The Future of Iraq Project, bringing together a diverse group of Iraqi exiles with experts from the department's Middle East bureau to begin a process of planning for a post-Saddam Iraq. But in January 2003, a mere two months before the start of the war, postwar planning was wrested away from the State Department and handed to the Pentagon, which proceeded to discard the State Department-led efforts."

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/truth/fighting/turfwars.html

And Rumsfeld offered to quit how many times??

[goforit]

7. Yes......Chaos was their only plan .

[givemebackmycountry]

8. Don't forget to add

To steal as much money as humanly possible.

[KeepItReal]

11. There's alot of money in "unexpected chaos" lately, huh?

Damn.

[barb162]

9. I thought the plan consisted of the Iraqis welcoming us with

open arms and everything would be fine as democracy spread through the Mideast.

[IChing]

10. The same plan the Bushenfurher has for New Orleans

These guys love chaos, they can reap profits out of chaos and loot the Government of their choice.

"My thoughts are, we're going to get somebody who knows what they're talking about when it comes to rebuilding cities."—On how the rebuilding of New Orleans might commence, Biloxi, Miss., Sept. 2, 2005

[natrat]

12. who needs policy if you just want the money?

[TOhioLiberal]

13. Geez...

...that's one from the 'No Shit, Sherlock!' file...

[grytpype]

14. This is a COMPLETE clusterfuck!

The money is running out, the projects that are unfinished can't be completed, there is no money to operate the completed projects with. What a total, colossal waste of resources. Iraq is a black hole thanks to Duhbya. Someone do an editorial cartoon like that please!

[struggle4progress]

15. US auditor urges anti-corruption drive in Iraq

Sun Oct 30, 2005 4:10 PM ET
By Andrea Shalal-Esa

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Corruption continues to cost Iraq billions of dollars each year, and Washington and Baghdad should be doing far more to stop it, the top U.S. auditor for Iraq's reconstruction said in a report released on Sunday.

Stuart Bowen, special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, said U.S. efforts to help Iraq build strong anti-corruption institutions were urgently needed and called for an American-Iraqi summit to battle a legacy of corruption. <snip>

It was released days after the United Nations concluded that 2,200 companies including DaimlerChrysler, Siemens and Volvo made illicit payments totaling $1.8 billion to Saddam Hussein's government under the U.N. oil-for-food program.

Bowen's office, which has 20 auditors and 10 investigators in Iraq plus staffers in the United States, has made significant progress on cases charging fraud, bribery and kickbacks involving U.S. citizens -- government officials and contractors -- in Iraq, he said. <snip>

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-10-30T211014Z_01_KRA076157_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ-RECONSTRUCTION.xml

[struggle4progress]

16. U.S. Planned Poorly for Rebuilding Iraq, Inspector General Says

Oct. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Plans for rebuilding postwar Iraq were ``insufficient in both scope and implementation,'' lacking ``systematic'' coordination between the State Department, White House and Pentagon, the special inspector general for Iraq said.

Pentagon officials starting in mid-2002, when planning began, ``were either unaware or chose to ignore'' State Department assessments, and drew up a plan on their own that wasn't finished until late January 2003, less than two months before the war began, said U.S. Inspector General Stuart Bowen.

``The lack of cooperation'' in identifying qualified personnel well before the invasion ``significantly hampered the early management of Iraq reconstruction,'' Bowen wrote in his quarterly accounting to Congress of the reconstruction effort.

Bowen's assessment marks the first time a sitting inspector general -- in this case a former White House deputy assistant to President George W. Bush -- has formally criticized the prewar planning process. Most of the authoritative criticism to date has come from retired military or diplomatic officers or academics who worked in the reconstruction effort. <snip>

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=anps9Ih6B6EE&refer=top_world_news

[ninkasi]

17. As far as I can tell...

the neocon plan for Iraq was to give blank checks to Halliburton and other cronies. They have succeeded in raping the American taxpayers out of billions of dollars. In that respect, the reconstruction has been a success.

[daleo]

18. You said it.

The plan was to swindle American taxpayers, the Iraq people, and the world in general out of as much money as possible, and feed it to the neo-con maw. It has worked out admirably for the criminals so far.

[IChing]

19. kick

[Judi Lynn]

20. U.S. funds to rebuild Iraq drying up

Oct. 31, 2005, 1:08AM

U.S. funds to rebuild Iraq drying up
Some projects done, but money for operations may pose a problem
By JAMES GLANZ
New York Times

As the money runs out on the $30 billion American-financed reconstruction of Iraq, the officials in charge cannot say how many planned projects they will complete, and there is no clear source for hundreds of millions of dollars a year needed to operate the projects that have been finished, according to a report to Congress released on Sunday.

The report, by the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, describes some progress but also an array of projects that have gone awry, sometimes astonishingly, like electrical substations that were built at great cost but never connected to the country's electrical grid.

With more than 93 percent of the American money now committed to specific projects, it could become increasingly difficult to solve those problems.

Issues like those "should have been considered before," said Jim Mitchell, a spokesman for the inspector general's office.
(snip/...)

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/headline/world/3426874
(Free registration required)

[tocqueville]

21. when you leave, please turn on the light

[Solly Mack]

22. there's so many layers of hypocrisy surrounding the illegal Iraqi invasion

listing them all would be epic.

[booksenkatz]

23. We bomb it we rebuild it we bomb it we rebuild it we bomb it we

rebuild it we bomb it we rebuild it we bomb it we rebuild it we bomb it we rebuild it we bomb it we rebuild it we bomb it we rebuild it we bomb it we.........

and the Bush cabal makes billions. And most Americans don't seem to find it bothersome. Breathtaking.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

24. The last two paragraphs just begin to touch on the mismanagement.

Five electrical substations examined by the inspector general's office, which is led by Stuart W. Bowen Jr., were built in southern Iraq at a cost of $28.8 million. The system for distributing power from the completed substations was largely nonexistent.

The inspector general found that $7.3 million was mismanaged and $1.3 million entirely wasted through duplicate work and buying overpriced equipment in the construction of a police academy in the city of Babylon. Similarly, $1.8 million was wasted on work that was not performed during the rehabilitation of a library in the city of Karbala, which is holy to Shiites.

Along with 25% of the money being used for security purposes, the US taxpayer takes another knife in the back.

[cassiepriam]

25. Iraq War just one giant boondoggle, a way for many to get rich.

[libodem]

26. Yeah and i thought the reconsrtuction was going to be done

with the money from oil sales....too bad it's lining the pockets of Big Oil. I still keep having flash backs of Cheney selling the war by saying we'd be there for 6 weeks. I like to see a documentery on the day to day lives of most Iraqi citizens...in their new towns, houses, Mosques, car dealerships, with everyone employed as teachers, nurses, electricians, carpenters, lawyers, shopkeepers, firemen, policemen, insurance salesmen, postal workers...etc, Where the hell are all the reports on the reconstuction and how beautiful it is over there now? Oh, yeah, the mainstream media is supressing all that , I forgot, Damn them anyway.:sarcasm: