Audit: Iraq reconstruction faces uncertain 2009

[unhappycamper]

Audit: Iraq reconstruction faces uncertain 2009
By Pauline Jelinek - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Jan 30, 2009 7:32:37 EST

WASHINGTON — The often chaotic and wasteful $125 billion Iraq rebuilding effort will face new trouble and uncertainty this year despite the decline in violence there, a new audit report says.

A separate report on Afghanistan said there is no coherent strategy for that country’s $32 billion reconstruction campaign.

In Iraq, the nation’s shifting power base and finances will force fundamental changes in the now nearly six-year-old rebuilding effort, as will questions about security when the U.S. draws combat forces out of Iraqi cities this summer, said the report being released Friday by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen.

A new agreement governing American presence in Iraq means U.S. contractors will no longer have immunity from Iraqi laws. And some could decide to quit the country when the government finishes writing new rules on contractor licensing, taxes, registration of their firearms and so on, the report said.

Also, the big drop in global oil prices over the past six months has forced Iraqis to trim their budget and could have “severe consequences for Iraq reconstruction, fundamentally altering government of Iraq plans to fund large-scale capital improvement projects” themselves, the report said.


Rest of article at: http://airforcetimes.com/news/2009/01/ap_war_rebuilding_013009/%2e