| An interesting article in The New York Times | | | | newly built water purification system was not |
| discusses the American-financed rebuilding | | | | functioning either. These projects were mostly |
| program in Iraq. Which if my memory serves me | | | | completed in 2005. |
| right, were contracts awarded to predominantly | | | | The eight projects had cost roughly $150 million in |
| Bush cronies. Of course I could be buying into a | | | | total and were a fraction of the allocated $30 |
| conspiracy theory here. | | | | billion of the American rebuilding program. In the |
| Inspectors of a federal oversight agency have | | | | larger scheme of things possibly not as dramatic. |
| discovered that when they sampled eight | | | | However, the officials involved in the inspection |
| projects, supposedly 'successful' ones, that seven | | | | raised some serious new concerns about the |
| were no longer operating as designed because of | | | | rebuilding program and how effective it truly is. |
| various failures such as plumbing, electrical, | | | | Many of the projects could in fact not be |
| maintenance neglect, apparent looting and | | | | examined as they were situated in areas too |
| equipment that lay idle. | | | | dangerous for the inspection team to visit. |
| In the past the States had admitted, not that | | | | Most of the problems however seemed to stem |
| willingly, that some of its reconstruction projects | | | | from bad construction rather than sabotage due |
| had been abandoned or had been found to be | | | | to the unstable situation in the country. A further |
| badly constructed. However, this is the first time | | | | concern was that the locals were reluctant to |
| that projects which the US government had | | | | buy-in to the projects as these had been inflicted |
| maintained were successes, were found to be | | | | on them. Without local ownership, projects built by |
| everything but. The projects ranged from a | | | | the occupying forces could be resented by the |
| hospital facility to an airport power station and | | | | people they were supposedly assisting. |
| special forces accommodation. | | | | It is therefore probable that the US, having sent |
| The Bagdad airport had received generators to | | | | in a few people to assess what Iraq might need, |
| the value of $11.8 million of which some to the | | | | and then in its normal slightly superior manor - we |
| value of $8.6 million were already not working | | | | know what's good for you - handed out the |
| anymore at the time of inspection. At the | | | | contracts for completion. The local population had |
| maternity hospital in the northern city of Erbil, the | | | | no say in it. And I'm guessing that it probably |
| expensive incinerator was locked and nobody | | | | wasn't about the projects assisting Iraqis in the |
| could actually find the key. This meant that | | | | first instance. It could have come down to the |
| medical waste such as syringes, used bandages, | | | | fact that Bush was paying back his cronies for |
| etc were clogging the sewage system and | | | | voting him into the White House. |
| probably contaminating the water system. The | | | | |