AP IMPACT: US wasted billions in rebuilding Iraq

Article

KHAN BANI SAAD, Iraq – A $40 million prison sits in the desert north of Baghdad, empty. A $165 million children's hospital goes unused in the south. A $100 million waste water treatment system in Fallujah has cost three times more than projected, yet sewage still runs through the streets

As the U.S. draws down in Iraq, it is leaving behind hundreds of abandoned or incomplete projects. More than $5 billion in American taxpayer funds has been wasted — more than 10 percent of the some $50 billion the U.S. has spent on reconstruction in Iraq, according to audits from a U.S. watchdog agency.

That amount is likely an underestimate, based on an analysis of more than 300 reports by auditors with the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction. And it does not take into account security costs, which have run almost 17 percent for some projects.

There are success stories. Hundreds of police stations, border forts and government buildings have been built, Iraqi security forces have improved after years of training, and a deep water port at the southern oil hub of Umm Qasr has been restored.

I dont really have much to say about this, just thought I would put this out there as some more info.

All I really gotta say is, well, theres a bunch more money from the taxpayers gone.

reply to post by buni11687


The article is a good find . The Iraq's and not US corporations needed to get the country back on its feet because employed people don't tend to take up arms . Also the feeling that the US was an occupier amongst the local population would have been reduced . Not surprisingly the improvement in Iraqi security forces seems to have come after Rumsfeld was no longer Sec of Defence .

Cheers xpert11 .