April 24, 2006

Reconstruction money for Iraq spent on security

by Hillary Bain Lindsay

The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca

U.S. construction giant Parsons Inc. has spent its $200 million budget after completing less than a quarter of the health clinics it was contracted to build in Iraq.

Brig. Gen. William McCoy, the Army Corps commander overseeing reconstruction in Iraq, said he still hoped to complete all 142 clinics as promised. McCoy is seeking emergency funds from the U.S. military and foreign donors. "I'm fairly confident," he told the Washington Post.

By the end of 2006, the $18.4 billion that Washington has allocated for Iraq's reconstruction runs out. Much of that money has been spent on security for reconstruction projects (guards and surveillance cameras, for example) and building up Iraq's police and military.

A recent report released by the nonprofit research organization RAND Corp, states that the US has failed to improve basic sanitation and provide safe drinking water in heavily populated areas of Iraq.

According toReuters the report goes on to say that botched efforts to improve public health may be to blame for elevated anti-American sentiment in the country.

Doctors in Baghdad's hospitals still cite dirty water as one of the major killers of infants.