Iraq planning minister urges swift aid injection (donor aid delayed)

[Barrett808]

INTERVIEW-Iraq planning minister urges swift aid injection
Reuters, 02.02.04, 5:48 AM ET
By Khaled Yacoub Oweis

BAGHDAD, Feb 2 (Reuters) - International aid pledged to rebuild Iraq three months ago must be injected immediately without waiting for security to improve, planning minister Mehdi al-Hafedh said on Monday.

Hafedh told Reuters a meeting called by Baghdad will convene in the United Arab Emirates at the end of this month to activate two funds run by the World Bank and the United Nations to manage around $15 billion of non-U.S. aid pledged to Iraq.

"It is vital for these commitments to be realised as soon as possible. The need is urgent. Iraq is in a state of destruction," the minister said in an interview.]

"We called the Abu Dhabi meeting to implement the Madrid pledges. We are expecting progress and preparing a host of projects to present and speed up he process," he said.

(more)

http://www.forbes.com/markets/newswire/2004/02/02/rtr1238039.html

[sallyseven]

1. Will we ever get an accounting of how

the money we send to Iraq was spent. Or will we have to add that to the trillions that the pentagon can't account for?