US reconstruction 'successes' in Iraq falling apart

The BBC writes that William Lynch, the acting director of the US State Department's Iraq Reconstruction Management Office, responded to the report by saying that several of the issues that it cited were the responsibility of Iraqis, not the US.

"Recommendations such as how much water to use in cleaning floors [...] could be deemed as an intrusion on, or attempt to micro-manage operations of an Iraqi entity that we have no controlling interest over," William Lynch said.

However, Rick Barton of the Washington-based research organization Center for Strategic and International Studies told The New York Times that the Iraqi neglect indicated by the SIGIR report is typical of reconstruction in developing countries when local parties are not involved in the projects' planning.

"What ultimately makes any project sustainable is local ownership from the beginning in designing the project, establishing the priorities," Mr. Barton said. "If you don't have those elements it's an extension of colonialism and generally it's resented."

Mr. Barton, who has closely monitored reconstruction efforts in Iraq and other countries, said the American rebuilding program had too often created that resentment by imposing projects on Iraqis or relying solely on the advice of a local tribal chief or some "self-appointed representative" of local Iraqis.

In March, The Christian Science Monitor reported that a $2-million power generator meant to supply a Baghdad neighborhood is sitting idle because the Ministry of Electricity rejected it, saying it was not built to specifications, according to the US commander overseeing the district. But the Monitor also noted that sectarian divides may also be responsible for reconstruction problems, like those in the mostly Sunni Karkh district in Baghdad.

At the Karkh school board, Maj. Chip Daniels asks the administrator to give him a list of priority projects for the area's 20 schools, some of which were badly damaged in the recent fighting.

She tells him that she has been prohibited by the Ministry of Education, which is headed by a Shiite, from doing just that. She says that he must get it from the ministry himself. Instead, she asks him for money so that she can buy fuel for the in-house generator that powers her office.

"Do something for us, get us fuel. Help us. We spend half the time writing official memos by hand. Make us a gift," says Sajida al-Attar, sitting in the dark in her office with two associates.

Similarly, a contractor hired to work on an offline water-treatment plant in the Karkh neighborhood rarely shows up because his employees, mostly Shiites from Sadr City, are afraid to enter Karkh. Major Daniels, however, did say that he saw encouraging signs during his time in the Haifa Street area in which he is stationed, and that he remains optimistic that reconstruction efforts there will succeed.

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