Years on, Iraq Rebuilding Still Failing
Sunday, July 6, 2008
By Afif Sarhan, IOL Correspondent
BAGHDAD — More than five years after the US-led invasion and despite billions of dollars dedicated to rebuild the country's war-torn infrastructure; Iraq reconstruction remains an unfinished job.
"Most of the infrastructure of Iraq today need urgent repair," Ali Azawi, a senior official at Iraq's Ministry of Reconstruction, told IslamOnline.net.
Years after the US invaded oil-rich Iraq in 2003, promising to turn it into a prosperous country with an improved standard of living, rebuilding remains largely a mirage.
According to US audits and international groups, there is little to show for the tens of billions of dollars spent over reconstruction in the past five years.
The US office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) said earlier this year that the Iraqi government was failing to take responsibility for rebuilding projects.
A recent report by Oxfam, a group of non-governmental organizations, and Iraqi NGOs concluded that at least eight million people in Iraq do not have access to basic essentials such as water, food, sanitation and shelter. Read On
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