 |
|
"We've
spent over two billion dollars and the situation is actually worse
than when we arrived," said Waxman.
|
WASHINGTON,
October 18, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The
everyday live of the Iraqi people has not improved much since the
US-led invasion-turned-occupation of the oil-rich Arab country,
according to a new congressional report issued Tuesday, October 18.
"It
is unclear how US efforts are helping the Iraqi people obtain clean
water, reliable electricity or competent health care," said a
report presented by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) to
Congress, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"The
Iraqis need additional training and preparation to operate and
maintain the power plants, water and sewage-treatment facilities and
health-care centers the
United States
has rebuilt or restored," read the report.
The
same assessment was made by Representative Henry Waxman.
"The
efforts to rebuild
Iraq
are failing," the California Democrat told a hearing of the House
Committee on Government Reform.
"We've
spent over two billion dollars and the situation is actually worse
than when we arrived," said Waxman.
He
released a report issued by House Democrats which showed that the
administration has been particularly slow to rebuild
Iraq
's energy and utilities sectors and to provide drinkable water to
Iraqis.
"Today,
Iraq
's oil production and export levels are still well below pre-war
levels."
Oversight
GAO,
the non-partisan investigative arm of Congress, said one of the major
problems was the lack of a monitoring authority for the expenditures
in
Iraq
.
It
lashed out at the administration's failure to establish appropriate
"performance measures" gauging the impact of spending so
far.
"The
United States
must ensure that the billions of dollars it has already invested in
Iraq
's infrastructure are not wasted," the GAO wrote in its report.
Representative
Waxman concurred.
"The
administration has spent literally billions of taxpayer dollars on
reconstruction in
Iraq
, yet progress has been limited or nonexistent and much of the money
has been squandered."
The
Pentagon's inspector general -- the main US Defense Department office
charged with ferreting out wasteful and fraudulent spending in
Iraq
-- pulled out of the country a year ago, leaving huge gaps in the
oversight of some 140 billion dollars in US taxpayer funds sent there.
The
Iraqi government has recently issued arrest warrants for top-ranking
defense ministry officials, including former defense minister Hazem
Al-Shaalan, over the embezzlement of more than one billion dollars
allocated for weapons purchases.
The
former US-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) headed by Paul
Bremer lost track of nearly nine billion dollars it transferred to
Iraqi government ministries.
Moreover,
millions of dollars in cash went missing from the Iraqi Central Bank.
Between
$11m and $26m worth of Iraqi property sequestered by the CPA remain
unaccounted for.
