The recurring theme with Bush and the Republicans is to throw billions out there and hope that something sticks. We've seen it with previous war spending, Katrina relief, the inaction during the subprime lending fiasco and again in Iraq with reconstruction. All too often the administration provides preference to political hires rather than competence so the results across the board are predictable. The old GOP Congress was overseeing Iraq reconstruction until just a few months ago and none of these problems are new. The Iraqis may very well be responsible for a number of problems, but let's not forget who has been dictating terms in Iraq and don't forget to look at this as yet another failed mission by team Bush.
The report, published today, looks at sample projects ranging from a hospital to Baghdad international airport, and finds serious failures and neglect at the heart of the reconstruction plan. Stuart Bowen, the head of the office of special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, says: "These first inspections indicate that the concerns ... about the Iraqis sustaining our investments in these projects are valid."
The inspectors found serious plumbing and electrical failures, looting, and expensive equipment lying idle, either because staff did not know how to use it or those that did were no longer employed.
Of the eight projects which had been declared a success, some only six months before the inspection took place, six were now no longer working properly. The inspectors expressed concern at the speed of deterioration and questioned whether the projects would survive.
