US pulls the plug on Iraq reconstruction

January 6th, 2006 at 18:29 Björn Hallberg

You break it, you pay for it? Apparently not by American standards. And yet, they hold others to these very high standards. Even after decades. I’ll keep it in mind. For the US is a store filled with pretty porcelain, waiting to be broken.

Guardian - The Bush administration has scaled back its ambitions to rebuild Iraq from the devastation wrought by war and dictatorship and does not intend to seek new funds for reconstruction, it emerged yesterday.

In a decision that will be seen as a retreat from a promise by President George Bush to give Iraq the best infrastructure in the region, administration officials say they will not seek reconstruction funds when the budget request is presented to Congress next month, the Washington Post reported yesterday.

The $18.4bn (£10.6bn) allocation is scheduled to run out in June 2007. The move will be seen by critics as further evidence of the administration’s failure to plan for the aftermath of the war.

Well, perhaps it is blessing for the Iraqis if the US did quit trying to reconstruct things. Regardless of the earmarked billions, little has happened. And worse, much of the reconstruction, even what is payed for by Iraq, is channeled to big US corporations, that in the end do little work and leave a big tab. So, perhaps in this case, less is really more, as stingy as it seems. Never trust US aid is my recommendation. There are always strings attached and entanglement will cost you, no matter how good the numbers seem.

Note also the backtracking by US officials on exactly what sort of reconstruction was promised. Some devaluation have apparently occurred here since broad claims and boasting have amounted to very little. No shock and awe there. Perhaps it would be better to send real contractors next time, not the murderous rapist soldier of fortune sort but actual construction workers.

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