Reconstruction Taper By Jay Dixit

Reconstruction Taper By Jay Dixit: "The Bush administration's decision not to seek new funds in its congressional budget request next month signals the winding down of the rebuilding effort in Iraq, says the WP. Less than 20 percent remains of an $18.4 billion rebuilding effort. Half was spent on the insurgency, the criminal-justice system, and the trial of Saddam Hussein. Billions that were initially supposed to go to rebuilding Iraq's decrepit infrastructure went to new security forces and maximum-security prisons and detention centers. Bringing reliable electrical, water, sewage, and sanitation services to Iraq will require tens of billions yet, but, as one brigadier general put it, 'The U.S. never intended to completely rebuild Iraq.' "

No, what we "intended," evidently, was to enrich Halliburton and Bechtel, and screw the Iraqis. It is absolutely shameful, and, failing in the reconstruction is the major reason Bush has lost Iraq.