From The International Herald Tribune, 10/30/05:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/10/30/news/rebuild.php
Iraq reconstruction running low on funds
By James Glanz The New York Times
SUNDAY, 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 released on
Sunday.
The report, by the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction,
describes an array of projects that went 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 working on reconstruction
projects.
At least 412 contractors and other civilian workers have died since
the American-led invasion, 147 of them Americans.
Overall, the report says, there have been 4,208 death and injury
claims filed through the insurance coverage that United States law
requires for contractors of any nationality who work on American bases
abroad.
Although that number includes claims from bases around the world, the
majority are believed to originate from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Those death and injury tolls, which in the chaos of Iraq are probably
underreported to begin with, especially among Iraqi contractors, have
come about even though more than a quarter of the reconstruction money
has actually "been spent on security costs related to the insurgency,"
the report says.
The security costs have "proportionately reduced funds for other
reconstruction projects," the report continues, leading to the
cancellation of many initiatives.
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Where have all the billions gone?
Harry
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