Violence Trumps Rebuilding in Iraq

[leftchick]

http://ktla.trb.com/news/nationworld/world/ktla-fg-cuts21feb21-lat,0,5116764.story?coll=ktla-news-1

BAGHDAD -- Skyrocketing security costs have forced American officials here to slash about $1 billion from projects intended to rebuild Iraq's shattered infrastructure, dealing another blow to U.S. plans to pacify Iraq by improving basic services.

William Taylor, a U.S. diplomat who oversees Iraqi reconstruction efforts, said the country's violent insurgency had created a "security premium," gobbling up money that otherwise would have been spent to provide clean water, electricity and sanitation for Iraqis.

"The security premium is causing existing projects to cost more and take longer. We need to be able to pay for that," said Taylor, in an interview in his office in the capital's fortified Green Zone, which houses the U.S. Embassy and the interim Iraqi government. "We'll cut some projects, and we won't start projects that we were otherwise going to start."

The slow pace in rebuilding Iraq has raised protests from Iraqis, who continue to suffer from a lack of services. Many Iraqi homes and businesses have electricity only a few hours a day. Raw sewage still streams straight into the Tigris River, just as it did under former dictator Saddam Hussein.

<snip>

"I'm amazed at how a program meant for reconstruction that could have provided more services and could have effected stabilization could be cut so drastically," said interim Iraqi Public Works Minister Nasreen Mustapha Berwari.

[durablend]

1. So I guess * will be asking for more money...

Probably the same amount to keep either SS or Medicare afloat, so one or the other will be abolished and the money sent to Halliburton.

[Roland99]

2. So, Afghanistan is a mess (worst education in the world now) and Iraq is

heading in that direction.


Wow...freedom sure is on the march!