For the third time in nine months, the Bush administration has redrafted its project to rebuild Iraq, forcing planners to cancel more of the water, sewage and power plants that were part of the grand American design to transform the shattered country. Many of the halted projects are now described by American officials as "noncritical" and "long term" because they are scheduled to start two years from now. The need for the reallocation of money grew not only from unanticipated security costs but also from what many experts said were flawed assumptions by Pentagon planners and Congress when they set out to pepper Iraq with large infrastructure projects built by American companies. The latest changes mean less money being spent on building new facilities and more on training and maintenance, with less reliance on expensive Western firms and more on smaller local firms. The redirected funds, together with previous shifts, account for $4.8 billion of the $18.4 billion in aid approved by Congress. The administration describes the changes as a natural midstream adjustment. James Dobbins, who has headed reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan and elsewhere, said State Department officials deserved credit for bowing to reality. "They describe this as a response to changing circumstances," said Mr. Dobbins, now with the RAND Corporation in Washington. "But the shifts are in part a response to a faulty initial strategy." [more]
- Pictured above: Bush Spent Thanksgiving Day with the troops in Iraq on 11/28/03 [more] and [more]
- At least 1,569 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. [more]
- They Died for Halliburton [more]
- Bush has not been to One Funeral of any Dead American Soldier [more] and [more] and [more] Yet he has attended literally hundreds of fundraising events [more]