“Iraq Reconstruction History Details Waste, Failures”
By Russ Kick at 10 February, 2009, 3:56 pm
The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction has issued a major new report, “Hard Lessons: The Iraq Reconstruction Experience” (available here).
CNN reports:
The report says the U.S. government “had neither the established structure nor the necessary resources to carry out the reconstruction mission it took on in mid-2003.”
It weaves interviews, facts and vignettes detailing the use of a “sea of taxpayer dollars” from mid-2002 through autumn 2008.
“Hard Lessons” also looks to the future. It stresses the importance of developing “an agreed-upon doctrine and structure” for reconstruction “so that the United States is ready when it next must intervene in a failed or failing state.”
“The overuse of cost-plus contracts, high contractor overhead expenses, excessive contractor award fees, and unacceptable program and project delays all contributed to a significant waste of taxpayers’ dollars,” the report said.
