The untold story of Iraq reconstruction

Politics International Politics
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More information regarding ther re-building that is being accomplished in Iraq.

[quote]The untold story of Iraq reconstruction
November 22, 2006

What should be driven home in “lessons learned” concerning the Iraq Campaign is that first and foremost,
the enemy must be utterly defeated before starting any massive humanitarian projects. Yet, in spite of
the skewed views of some of our leadership in this regard, the story of Iraq reconstruction is nothing
short of remarkable taking place as it does in the face of increasing insurgent attacks and a non-existent
Iraqi private contracting sector.

The Army is the executive agent for Iraqi reconstruction, and the effort is led by Dean G. Popps, who is
the principal assistant secretary of the Army for acquisitions, logistics and technology. According to Popps:

[b]“Most Americans don’t understand something equivalent to the Marshall Plan has been accomplished in Iraq.”[/b]

Under the supervision of the Army Corps of Engineers, electric grids, health care centers, schools, water and
sewage treatment facilities, and police stations have been refurbished or built from scratch. This huge program
has been extremely successful, while receiving largely negative press coverage with an emphasis on corruption
and mismanagement. But the latest assessment from Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, notes that the vast majority of projects have “proceeded as required.”

Popps reveals a critical factor not frequently discussed in the media. US intelligence knew Saddam had not adequately
maintained Iraq’s infrastructure, but it turned out that they wildly underestimated the decrepit state of Saddam’s Iraq.
(examples given in article)

Some of the accomplishments so far:

• Six new primary care facilities, with 66 more under construction; 11 hospitals renovated

• More than 800 schools fixed up; more than 300 police stations and facilities and 248 border control 
  forts.

• Added 407,000 cubic meters per day of water treatment; a new sewage-treatment system for Basra; work 
  on Baghdad’s three plants continues.

• [b]Oil production exceeds the 2002 level of 2 million barrels a day by 500,000.[/b] [emphasis mine]

• The Ministry of Electricity now sends power to Baghdad for four to eight hours a day, and 10 to 12 for 
  the rest of the country.

• Iraqis are now free to buy consumer items such as generators, which provide some homes with power 
  around-the-clock.

Keep in mind that all of this was accomplished with great sacrifice including loss of life by Iraqis and all
components of our forces including uniformed military, civil servants, and yes, even those much-maligned contractors.

On this Thanksgiving, we owe all of them and Secretary Popps our deepest gratitude for what ultimately will best
serve our national security; a free and prosperous Iraq.
americanthinker.com/blog/200 … recon.html[/quote]

Progress is being made.
Now…let the hyperbole begin.

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[quote=“TainanCowboy”]
Progress is being made.
Now…let the hyperbole begin.[/quote]

:roflmao: Hate to tell you, TS, but no one can top your hyperbole.

www.iclasses.org/assets/literature/lite … ossary.cfm

As for the truth, how about this for starters:

[quote]Iraq needs around $100 billion over the next four to five years to rebuild its shattered infrastructure, a government spokesman said.

'The situation in Iraq surpasses Iraq’s ability to finance development projects,’ Ali Al Dabbagh told a news conference in Kuwait, during a meeting of officials from donor nations and the UN to discuss Iraqi reconstruction and economic reform.

'The Iraqi economy is a one-crop economy built on oil only and there are no other revenue sources in Iraq, therefore oil exports are being spent on operational expenditure,’ he said.

‘Until the oil sector can rise and assume its full role … we need this sum for the infrastructure and for investment expenditure.’

Iraq’s infrastructure was ravaged by decades of sanctions and war during the rule of deposed President Saddam Hussein, and by the invasion in 2003 and the violence that followed.

Reconstruction has been hampered by insurgent violence which forced many projects to be halted and diverted funds away from rebuilding and into increased security.

The oil industry has been hit by frequent sabotage. . .[/quote]
tradearabia.com/tanews/newsd … 13608.html

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Great to hear the US is pitching in and that progress is being made. However, there’s just no avoiding the other newsflow, which is still very grim indeed!

HG

[quote]Civilian death toll climbs in Iraq
The death toll of Iraqi civilians in October was 3,709, the highest monthly total yet, and torture continued to be rampant in the country, a UN report said today.
In its latest bi-monthly human rights report, the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (Unami) said the number of civilians killed last month exceeded the previous high of 3,590 in July.

The 7,054 deaths over September and October included 351 women and 110 children, the UN said, basing its figures on information from the Iraqi health ministry, hospitals throughout the country and the Medico-Legal Institute in Baghdad.

The report said the influence of armed militias was growing and torture continued to be prevalent, despite the government’s commitment to address human rights abuses.

“Hundreds of bodies continued to appear in different areas of Baghdad handcuffed, blindfolded and bearing signs of torture and execution-style killing,” the report said. “Many witnesses reported that perpetrators wear militia attire and even police or army uniforms.”[/quote]

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And here’s some more on the great progress being made.

[quote]. . . 665 employees of private contractors have died in the war, according to casualty statistics released this week by the Labor Department. . .

Bechtel, the engineering company awarded billions to rebuild Iraq’s infrastructure, announced in October that it will not seek further contracts. The company said 52 of its employees were killed in Iraq.

Military analysts said they would not be surprised if Bechtel’s decision is the beginning of a trend.

"When a company like Bechtel pulls out – a company that is very comfortable with risk – I wouldn’t be surprised if other companies aren’t thinking along the same lines,” said George Friedman, CEO of Strategic Forecasting an intelligence consulting firm based in Austin, Texas.

The same week Bechtel announced its intention to leave Iraq, New York-based security company Kroll said it was withdrawing bodyguard teams from Iraq and Afghanistan after four workers in Iraq were killed.

Michael Cherkasky, president and chief executive of Kroll owner Marsh & McLennan, told The Associated Press that the business in the two countries wasn’t worth risking the lives of employees.

According to Marsh & McLennan’s third-quarter earnings statement, “Results for the security group reflected the orderly exit from high-risk international assignments that had limited profitability and no longer fit Kroll’s business strategy.”

For defense contractors, the Iraq war can be compared in some ways to the Internet bubble of the late 1990s, said Peter Singer, a Brookings Institution fellow who has done extensive research on the outsourcing of war.

“2003 and 2004 were the heady days,” Singer said. “But those superfast, easy-money days are gone. Companies are assessing the current scenario and saying it’s time to look at new opportunities in different business sectors and new geographic places.”[/quote]
signonsandiego.com/news/busi … titan.html

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Mother Theresa -
Perhaps you should start your own thread rather than hijacking this thread with your troll postings?

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[quote=“TainanCowboy”]Mother Theresa -
Perhaps you should start your own thread rather than hijacking this thread with your troll postings?[/quote]

They’re not the least bit trollish and this is exactly where those posts belong. You started yet another ridiculous thread claiming that things are actually looking good in Iraq – this time with regard to the fabulous job that’s being done rebuilding the completely annihilated infrastructure.

I was simply pointing out that your post and your upbeat tone were total nonsense as the country is in ruins, it will take $100 billion to rebuild it, and US contractors are pulling out as they no longer believe it’s worth risking so many employee deaths to make a few bucks rebuilding what the US government helped destroy.

But thanks for the comments. :slight_smile:

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Interestingly, TS, if you search googlenews for iraq infrastructure news, you’ll find that only a few right-wing sources such as FOX news and the Washington Times picked up your phoney PR story. Everyone else is reporting facts such as these:

[quote]WASHINGTON, Nov. 13 (UPI) – The civil reconstruction of Iraq will cost at least $100 billion, U.S. officials in Baghdad told Iraqi contractors who are vying for some of the work.

“United Nations and World Bank estimates approximated Iraq’s infrastructure needs to be about $60 billion (before the 2003 invasion). But this was before we had an opportunity to fully assess the condition of Iraq’s infrastructure. After careful analysis, the infrastructure needs have been estimated well over $100 billion,” said Terry F. Bautista, director of business management of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Gulf Region Division.

Bautista spoke Nov. 4 at the Al Rasheed Hotel in the Green Zone in Baghdad to a group of about 300 Iraqi contractors.

Prior to the war, a top State Department official predicted the cost to the United States of reconstruction would be less than $3 billion. Then-Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said Iraq would largely pay for its own reconstruction.

The U.S. government has put about $22 billion toward civilian reconstruction projects – most security, power and water related – with very mixed results so far.

Power is available over 12 hours a day across most of the country, but in Baghdad, home to more than 6 million people, about a quarter of the Iraq population, it is only available for four hours a day. Countrywide, about 46 percent of Iraqi power needs go unmet by the fragile electrical infrastructure.

Iraq’s oil industry continues to lag. Prior to the invasion it produced about 2.5 million barrels a day. It is up to about 2.2 million bpd now. But Iraq’s lack of refinery capacity and ability to export oil means it lost out on a potential $16 billion in earnings.

Out of a population of 25 million, just 4.6 million Iraqis have potable water, and 5.1 million have sanitary sewage.[/quote]
upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/vi … 4629-4533r

Maybe there’s good reason your rosy story of Iraq’s miraculous rebuilding is largely untold – because it’s simply untrue.

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Progress in Iraq continues to go unreported by the majority of the mainstream/alphabet media.

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God bless you, Tainan Cowboy, for telling the truth about Iraq. Things are really a lot better off there than the anti-US news media and reprobates like Mother Theresa would have us believe. Another six months – a year tops – and Iraq is going to be a major tourist destination and investment opportunity in the Middle East.

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:roflmao:
Let the hyberbole begin? How about the Super-mega-fantastic-Bowl?

We could have marching bands, cheerleaders, a Cheerleader-in-Chief… When’s the half-time show? What’s the score, US 42 - AlQ/Ir/WoT 0? Yee-ha!

Yep, it’s a damn good show. The Cheerleader-in-Chief’s dowdy old man and all his old buddies doesn’t know what they’re talking about. What do they mean, “The kid dropped the ball?” Are they watching the same game? Saaaayyy… where’d you get them rose-coloured glasses? They look real nice. Where can I get some? No, tell me later, the game’s coming on again. Pass me a beer.

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I think nobody denies that some progress is being made and that negative news overshadow reporting of the same, but below are a few facts to give some perspective to the progress reported in the article posted by TC. - Things are progressing but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are getting better:

Electricity Levels In Baghdad At Lowest Level Since U.S. Invasion

And there is more:

[quote]IRAQ

Electricity, clean water now luxuries

Doug Lorimer
19 October 2006

On October 16, the UN Office of Humanitarian Assistance’s IRIN news service reported that electricity and clean water are now “luxuries for most Iraqis”. For example, Baghdad, a city with 6 million residents, gets no more than four to six hours of electricity a day.

“Electricity in Iraq is going from bad to worse, and every month we have fewer hours of power”, Baghdad resident Salahdinne Alawi told IRIN. In addition, before 2003 the water “was clean and healthy”, Alawi explained, “but today it is not recommended for drinking, making the lives of ordinary Iraqis more difficult instead of improving them”.

IRIN also reported that close to 60% of Iraqis are unemployed and “30% inflation over the past year makes it increasingly difficult for families to afford food”. “At least” 70% of Iraqis depend on food rations — almost double the figure during Saddam Hussein’s rule — according to government officials and NGOs, IRIN reported.

[…][/quote]
Source: greenleft.org.au/2006/688/35711

And what good are schools, hospitals etc. if intellectuals, academics and professionals are leaving - or rather fleeing - Iraq, or are being killed due to the poor security situation, which is a result of the piss-poor post-war planning.

(Yes, I blame twice-lucky Bush and no doubt some people here will call it Anti-American rant but it’s a fact, like it or not.)

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I think TC makes a very valid point. I dunno that I’d go so far as to say the media is biased, but they sure aren’t presenting the whole picture. Somewhere in a thousand little editor minds the daily selection of news progresses - iraq (1) Happy children gleefully accepting presents from US troops? Nope! (2) Soldiers having fun in the sun? Nope! (3) Quagmire. Yes, that’s more like it!

TC you seriously might find much to agree with Chomsky in his Manufacturing consent on how news is selected. Really. I’m not taking the piss. Here’s a primer from wiki:

[quote]Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media is a book by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky, first published in 1988.

Presenting an analysis its authors call the “propaganda model”, the book argues that since mass media news outlets are now run by large corporations, they are under the same competitive pressures as other corporations. According to the book, the pressure to create a stable, profitable business invariably distorts the kinds of news items reported, as well as the manner and emphasis in which they are reported. This occurs not as a result of conscious design but simply as a consequence of market selection: those businesses who happen to favor profits over news quality survive, while those that present a more accurate picture of the world tend to become marginalized.[/quote]

HG

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HGC -
Actually I am very familiar with the book. Read it several times when it came out. The responses to the OP illustrate the effective job of brain-washing done on the followers of the media line as Chomsky hypothesizes.
Program the sheep to attack what is different ad they will…and do.

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Some things in life are bad
They can really make you mad
Other things just make you swear and curse.
When you’re chewing on life’s gristle
Don’t grumble, give a whistle
And this’ll help things turn out for the best…

And…always look on the bright side of life…
Always look on the light side of life…

:whistle:

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[quote=“Rascal”]I think nobody denies that some progress is being made and that negative news overshadow reporting of the same, but below are a few facts to give some perspective to the progress reported in the article posted by TC. - Things are progressing but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are getting better:
Electricity Levels In Baghdad At Lowest Level Since U.S. Invasion

And there is more:

[quote]IRAQ

Electricity, clean water now luxuries
Doug Lorimer19 October 2006
On October 16, the UN Office of Humanitarian Assistance’s IRIN news service reported that electricity and clean water are now “luxuries for most Iraqis”. For example, Baghdad, a city with 6 million residents, gets no more than four to six hours of electricity a day.
“Electricity in Iraq is going from bad to worse, and every month we have fewer hours of power”, Baghdad resident Salahdinne Alawi told IRIN. In addition, before 2003 the water “was clean and healthy”, Alawi explained, “but today it is not recommended for drinking, making the lives of ordinary Iraqis more difficult instead of improving them”.
IRIN also reported that close to 60% of Iraqis are unemployed and “30% inflation over the past year makes it increasingly difficult for families to afford food”. “At least” 70% of Iraqis depend on food rations — almost double the figure during Saddam Hussein’s rule — according to government officials and NGOs, IRIN reported. […][/quote]
Source: greenleft.org.au/2006/688/35711
And what good are schools, hospitals etc. if intellectuals, academics and professionals are leaving - or rather fleeing - Iraq, or are being killed due to the poor security situation, which is a result of the piss-poor post-war planning.

(Yes, I blame twice-lucky Bush and no doubt some people here will call it Anti-American rant but it’s a fact, like it or not.)
[/quote]Rascal -
See page 31 of the PDf of the Brookings Institute study referred to. It quite clearly shows that progress has been made in this item. Also, it shows that the time line of the study is June 2003 to Nov 2006 - which has not ended as of yet.
You might also, or not, look at the table of Oil Revenues posted on page 30.
But again, this study covers the 2003 - 2006 time period.
No such restrictions were referred to in the OT.

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Too bad about the hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqi’s and broken Iraqi families that won’t be there to enjoy your pipe dream…

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[quote=“Toe Tag”]Too bad about the hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqi’s and broken Iraqi families that won’t be there to enjoy your pipe dream…[/quote]I don’t smoke a pipe…or anything else.
What in the article do you disagree with?
Can you be specific?

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Great! We destroy a country’s infrastructure through mindless embargoes, daily bombings and a brutal invasion, then pat ourselves on the back when we get things not even half as good as they were under its deposed leader. :unamused:

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[quote=“TainanCowboy”]More information regarding ther re-building that is being accomplished in Iraq.

[quote]The untold story of Iraq reconstruction
…
“Most Americans don’t understand something equivalent to the Marshall Plan has been accomplished in Iraq.”
…
[/quote]

Progress is being made.[/quote]

Congratulations TC. :bravo:

Managed to pull a “Marshall Plan” over Iraq … and get an insurgency (to avoid the ugly civil war word here) and about 3,000 U.S. service people killed for it.

What a great deal you are cheerleading here! Nothing short of fantastulastic!

:doh:

P.S.: Is “Iraq is Marshall Plan” the latest fad in pointless comparisons? “Iraq is Nazi Germany”, “Iraq is Osama”, “Bush & Rummy are Churchill” and “Insurgents are Werewolfs” are out of vogue these days?

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[quote] 6.4: Average number of hours per day that Baghdad homes have electricity, September 2006.
11.0: Average number of hours per day that Iraqi homes have electricity, September 2006.
16-24: Average number of hours per day that Baghdad homes have electricity, 2002.
2,000: The number of physicians in Iraq murdered since 2003 invasion.
12,000: The number of physicians who have left Iraq since 2003 invasion.
34,000: The number of physicians in Iraq prior to the 2003 invasion.[/quote]

If the rebuilding work were carried out by Iraqi companies and Iraqi contractors, instead of US companies, there’d probably be a lot more rebuilt by now, and it would have cost a lot less.