{"id":7178,"date":"2006-04-19T12:51:00","date_gmt":"2006-04-19T16:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/?p=7178"},"modified":"2006-04-19T12:51:00","modified_gmt":"2006-04-19T16:51:00","slug":"at-least-one-construction-project-is-going-well-in-iraq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/at-least-one-construction-project-is-going-well-in-iraq\/","title":{"rendered":"At least one construction project is going well in Iraq"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

Iraqis, however, will no doubt appreciate the fact that one [tag]construction[\/tag] project is going beautifully: our [tag]embassy[\/tag]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

“We are confident the embassy will be completed according to schedule (by June 2007) and on budget,” said Justin Higgins, a State Department spokesman.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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.”<\/p>\n

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.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This will no doubt go over well with Iraqis, right?
\n
\nIn fact, the papers are filled with embarrassing reconstruction-in-Iraq stories today. The LA Times has a disturbing report<\/a> 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<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

On second thought, “embarrassing” is the wrong word. How about “humiliating failure”?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7178\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}