|
Iraq's basic services are worse now than before war began
By James Glanz
The New York Times
02/09/06 "New
York Times" -- -- WASHINGTON Virtually every
measure of the performance of Iraq's oil, electricity, water and
sewerage sectors has fallen below pre-invasion values, even
though $16 billion of U.S. taxpayer money has already been
disbursed in the Iraq reconstruction program, several government
witnesses have told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Of seven different measures of infrastructure performance
presented Wednesday at the committee hearing by the inspector
general's office, only one was above pre-invasion values.
Those that had slumped below those values were electrical
generation capacity, hours of power available in a day in
Baghdad, oil and heating oil production and the numbers of
Iraqis with drinkable water and sewage service.
In addition, two of the witnesses said they believed that an
earlier estimate by the World Bank that $56 billion would be
needed for rebuilding over the next several years was too low.
At the same time, as Iraq's oil exports are plummeting and the
country remains saddled with tens of billions of dollars of
debt, it is unclear where that money will come from, said one of
the witnesses, Joseph Christoff, director of international
affairs and trade at the Government Accountability Office.
And those may not be the most serious problems facing the
physical infrastructure, said Stuart Bowen Jr., the special
inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, an independent
office.
In one sense, focusing on the plummeting performance numbers
"misses the point," Bowen said. The real question, he said, is
whether the Iraqi security forces will ever be able to protect
the infrastructure from insurgent attack.
"What's happened is that an incessant, an insidious insurgency
has repeatedly attacked the key infrastructure targets, reducing
outputs," Bowen said. He added that some of the performance
numbers had fluctuated above prewar values in the past, only to
fall again under the pressure of insurgent attacks and other
factors.
The chairman of the foreign relations committee, Senator Richard
Lugar, an Indiana Republican, began by billing the session as a
way of deciphering how much of America's original ambitions in
the rebuilding program were likely to be fulfilled with the
amount of money that Iraq, the U.S. Congress and international
donors were still prepared to spend.
This downsizing of expectations was striking given that $30
billion of U.S. taxpayer money has already been dedicated to the
task, according to an analysis by Christoff of the GAO.
Bowen's office has pointed out that another $40 billion in Iraqi
oil money and seized assets of Saddam Hussein's regime had also
been made available for reconstruction at one time or another.
Last week, Robert J. Stein Jr., one of four former U.S.
government officials in Iraq who have been arrested in a bribery
and kickback scheme involving that money, pleaded guilty to
federal charges.
WASHINGTON Virtually every measure of the performance of Iraq's
oil, electricity, water and sewerage sectors has fallen below
pre-invasion values, even though $16 billion of U.S. taxpayer
money has already been disbursed in the Iraq reconstruction
program, several government witnesses have told the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee.
Of seven different measures of infrastructure performance
presented Wednesday at the committee hearing by the inspector
general's office, only one was above pre-invasion values.
Those that had slumped below those values were electrical
generation capacity, hours of power available in a day in
Baghdad, oil and heating oil production and the numbers of
Iraqis with drinkable water and sewage service.
In addition, two of the witnesses said they believed that an
earlier estimate by the World Bank that $56 billion would be
needed for rebuilding over the next several years was too low.
At the same time, as Iraq's oil exports are plummeting and the
country remains saddled with tens of billions of dollars of
debt, it is unclear where that money will come from, said one of
the witnesses, Joseph Christoff, director of international
affairs and trade at the Government Accountability Office.
And those may not be the most serious problems facing the
physical infrastructure, said Stuart Bowen Jr., the special
inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, an independent
office.
In one sense, focusing on the plummeting performance numbers
"misses the point," Bowen said. The real question, he said, is
whether the Iraqi security forces will ever be able to protect
the infrastructure from insurgent attack.
"What's happened is that an incessant, an insidious insurgency
has repeatedly attacked the key infrastructure targets, reducing
outputs," Bowen said. He added that some of the performance
numbers had fluctuated above prewar values in the past, only to
fall again under the pressure of insurgent attacks and other
factors.
The chairman of the foreign relations committee, Senator Richard
Lugar, an Indiana Republican, began by billing the session as a
way of deciphering how much of America's original ambitions in
the rebuilding program were likely to be fulfilled with the
amount of money that Iraq, the U.S. Congress and international
donors were still prepared to spend.
This downsizing of expectations was striking given that $30
billion of U.S. taxpayer money has already been dedicated to the
task, according to an analysis by Christoff of the GAO.
Bowen's office has pointed out that another $40 billion in Iraqi
oil money and seized assets of Saddam Hussein's regime had also
been made available for reconstruction at one time or another.
Last week, Robert J. Stein Jr., one of four former U.S.
government officials in Iraq who have been arrested in a bribery
and kickback scheme involving that money, pleaded guilty to
federal charges.
Copyright © 2006 the International Herald Tribune All rights
reserved
Translate
this page
(In accordance with Title 17
U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to
those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the
included information for research and educational purposes.
Information Clearing House has no affiliation whatsoever with the
originator of this article nor is Information Clearing House
endorsed or sponsored by the originator.) |
