NYT: Funds Fade ($30B), Deaths Rise, Iraq Rebuilding Spotty (new report)

[DeepModem Mom]

Funds Fade, Deaths Rise and Iraq Rebuilding Is Spotty
By JAMES GLANZ
Published: October 31, 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 released yesterday.

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."

New statistics compiled in the report also reveal a jump in deaths and injuries of contract workers in Iraq, many of whom worked on reconstruction projects. At least 412 contractors and other civilian workers have died since the American-led invasion, 147 of them Americans. In June those numbers, based on insurance claims, were 330 and 113, respectively....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/31/international/middleeast/31reconstruct.html

[DemInDistress]

1. Dan Senor said Iraq's reconstruction is GONE

its all gone with limited projects completed.Senor went on to say some
Iraq officials were corrupt,lol...Then he claimed much of the money was also doled out to security firms,lol..The American people can't
see what goes on behind the scenes,Senor also said,"paperwork was non
existant"he crowed about how we here in America have good accountability because we have machines and CPA's,lol...The Bush Crime
Family and Dan Senor is part and parcel of that family who ripped off the US.taxpayers.I wish hardship and misery on them all.

[Lindsay]

2. But all of this is just fine

with the Repugs in Congress. They find no reason to look into any of this.

Criminal business as usual.

[Daphne08]

3. They want an exact accounting of money spent on Katrina

in Their OWN country, but they can throw money to the winds IN IRAQ.

Can anyone say-- Hypocrites?

[Erika]

4. Yep, those Katrina victims need to have accountability

but we'll write a blank check to Iraq. Strange how the GOP mind works.