Less that 2% has been spent of the $18.4 billion earmarked last October for the reconstruction of Iraq. Fewer than 140 of the 2,300 projects that were funded with the U.S. aid package are underway. Only about 15,000 of the promised 250,000 jobs have been created. Thus far more money has been spent on administration than all projects related to education, human rights, democracy and governance.
Why? According a report released by the White House budget office the blame goes to security concerns and bureaucratic infighting between the Pentagon, the State Department and the White House.
Meanwhile several Western corporations that won contracts have summarily withdrawn their employees from Iraq in the face of kidnappings and other insurgents' attacks aimed at foreign workers.
Now maybe that's not technically a retreat by the U.S., but these prolonged delays in delivering on the promised reconstruction only strengthen the insurgents' appeal to the average Iraqi who has been waiting more than a year now for the benefits of a Free Iraq.
Washington Post: U.S. Funds for Iraq Are Largely Unspent
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