Iraq Rebuilding Projects are Crumbling

In a sign of more tax dollars being wasted in Iraq it is now certain that rebuilding projects called successful are now crumbling.

In a troubling sign for the American-financed rebuilding program in Iraq, inspectors for a federal oversight agency have found that in a sampling of eight projects that the United States had declared successes, seven were no longer operating as designed because of plumbing and electrical failures, lack of proper maintenance, apparent looting and expensive equipment that lay idle.

The United States has previously admitted, sometimes under pressure from federal inspectors, that some of its reconstruction projects have been abandoned, delayed or poorly constructed. But this is the first time inspectors have found that projects officially declared a success — in some cases, as little as six months before the latest inspections — were no longer working properly.

The inspections ranged geographically from northern to southern Iraq and covered projects as varied as a maternity hospital, barracks for an Iraqi special forces unit and a power station for Baghdad International Airport.

At the airport, crucially important for the functioning of the country, inspectors found that while $11.8 million had been spent on new electrical generators, $8.6 million worth were no longer functioning.

How can we hope to stop an insurgency when the Iraqi people can not see any progress? All they see is waste and fraud and a country still crumbling. There is still less clean water and electricity than before the invasion. Everyday life for the normal Iraqi is nearly unlivable. Until real progress is achieved no amount of troops or tax money will solve this problem. When will the American people realize that so much of the two billion dollars we spend a week in Iraq is wasted and when will they say enough is enough?