Earlier this month, we learned that the U.S. effort to reconstruct health centers across [tag]Iraq[/tag] has not only failed; it’s run out of money. After two years and roughly $200 million, we’re on track to finish no more than 20 of the 142 [tag]clinics[/tag] we planned to build. At the same time, we learned that [tag]reconstruction[/tag] efforts in Iraq will also finish only 300 of 425 promised electricity projects and 49 of 136 water and sanitation projects.
Iraqis, however, will no doubt appreciate the fact that one [tag]construction[/tag] project is going beautifully: our [tag]embassy[/tag].
Three years after a U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein, only one major U.S. building project in Iraq is on schedule and within budget: the massive new American embassy compound.
The $592 million facility is being built inside the heavily fortified [tag]Green Zone[/tag] by 900 non-Iraqi foreign workers who are housed nearby and under the supervision of a Kuwaiti contractor, according to a Senate Foreign Relations Committee report. Construction materials have been stockpiled to avoid the dangers and delays on Iraq’s roads.
“We are confident the embassy will be completed according to schedule (by June 2007) and on budget,” said Justin Higgins, a State Department spokesman.
Yes, of all the U.S.-funded construction projects in all of Iraq, only one is on track to meet its schedule and budget — and it’s our own lavish “complex.”
The 104-acre complex — the size of about 80 football fields — will include two office buildings, one of them designed for future use as a school, six apartment buildings, a gym, a pool, a food court and its own power generation and water-treatment plants. The average Baghdad home has [tag]electricity[/tag] only four hours a day, according to Bowen’s office.
This will no doubt go over well with Iraqis, right?
In fact, the papers are filled with embarrassing reconstruction-in-Iraq stories today. The LA Times has a disturbing report on a highly decorated Air Force colonel who stands accused of “profiting from the post-invasion chaos by using her position to benefit a private security firm that she helped operate.” The NY Times adds word of an American businessman who pleaded guilty yesterday to charges of conspiracy, bribery, and money laundering, as part of a “widening” corruption scandal involving millions of dollars of in reconstruction contracts.
On second thought, “embarrassing” is the wrong word. How about “humiliating failure”?