US far behind in Iraq rebuild

[cal04]

THE US has slumped well short of its goals in rebuilding Iraq, with production in the critical oil sector still languishing below pre-war levels, a government audit warned today.

Targets have also been missed in expanding water and electricity production and a third of Pentagon projects are still to be completed, the Government Accountability Office said in a new report.

And as violence rages on, the security situation may push reconstruction goals further out of reach, the audit said.

Defence Department officials were partly to blame for delays, after making "assumptions about funding and timeframes that later proved to be unfounded," the report said.



http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20496423-1702,00.html

[Donnachaidh]

1. kind of a "no shit sherlock" moment?

Do the Aussies still have troops in this mess? Or did they bail too?

[Frazzled Educator]

10. Really. . .I thought is was all sunshine and farts over there!

At least, according to Rummy, Fatass Limbaugh and Faux News!

You're blowing my world view here! Oo, look. . .American Idol is on!

[TheCowsCameHome]

2. Do Bush and Dumbsfeld know of this?

I doubt it.

[BootinUp]

3. Far behind in rebuilding. What a joke.

Far ahead in destroying sounds better.

[The_Casual_Observer]

4. Maybe the torture & wiretapping bills will help this along.

[highnooner]

5. But, but, but, everything is going so well over there

:eyes:

[ConcernedCanuk]

6. HEY! - the Murikkan BASES over there are coming along swimmingly!

.
.
.

What's with all this hoopla over silly stuff like infrastructure, water, hydro, schools and hospitals, etc.?

That was all just "collateral damage" as they spread poisonous Depleted Uranium around killing tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis.

oops - sorry - killing innocent Iraqis is considered just "collateral damage" too . . .

As Franks said

"We don't do body counts"

But the IRAQIS do . . .

So they have a lot of catching up to do to kill as many Americans as the Americans have killed Iraqis,

now don't they?

[leesa]

7. How obvious does it need to be? They don't intend to rebuild...ever.

The contractors are pocketing the 500 billion we have given them

[rrasile]

18. Rebuild my ass

maybe they took notice of the fifty schools that have been destroyed in Afghanistan. Why build the place back up, in another year you'll never find a contractor with big enough balls to take a crew into those two countries.

[struggle4progress]

8. Are we rebuilding? Or are we recruiting terrorists and luring them to Iraq

so we can fight them over there instead of over here? Or are we ...

Sh!t, I can't even keep track of all the different excuses for this war. And wasn't it supposed to pay for itself?

[Chipper Chat]

9. Chimpy can't keep a lid on the Australian media.

Meanwhile, Murka is in the dark.

[Moderator]

11. Kick

[rodeodance]

17. and recommend

[DeepModem Mom]

12. NYT: Congress Is Told of Failures of Rebuilding Work in Iraq

Congress Is Told of Failures of Rebuilding Work in Iraq
By JAMES GLANZ
Published: September 29, 2006

WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 — In a sweeping new assessment of reconstruction failures in Iraq, a federal inspector told Congress on Thursday that 13 of 14 major projects built by the American contractor Parsons that were examined by his agency were substandard, with construction deficiencies and other serious problems.

The final project, a prison near the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriya, was terminated for other reasons, said the inspector, Stuart Bowen, who heads the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. Delays and cost overruns led to its cancellation.

Whether because the political stakes in Iraq have risen with the approach of the November elections, or simply because of the scope of the problems, Mr. Bowen’s testimony set off outrage on both sides of the political aisle on a topic — reconstruction failures — that previously was mostly in the sights of Congressional Democrats....

***

Work by two of the other largest contractors in Iraq — Bechtel and KBR, which was formerly known as Kellogg Brown & Root and is a subsidiary of Halliburton — also came in for severe criticism during the lengthy hearing.

The problems with Iraq reconstruction have become notorious enough that protesters engulfed Cliff Mumm, president of the Bechtel infrastructure division, as he emerged onto the street and tried to hail a taxi after his testimony before the House Government Reform Committee....

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/29/world/middleeast/29contracts.html

[katinmn]

13. Nice oversight job, Congress. Failures.

[grytpype]

14. Why don't they ever report the GOOD NEWS!

[rodeodance]

16. and their response is to give another 70$$

[okoboji]

15. "Freedom is on the March ........

Just as long as there is NO running water, electricity, or sewage systems to interfer with it.....

[fshrink]

19. But not in profit for sure.