Randall Parker offers some interesting facts about the finances of Iraqi reconstruction. Here is one good bit:
“Even though involvement in Iraq is costing US taxpayers a lot of money at this point very little of the reconstruction money from the US government has been spent.
Efforts to repair war damage and kick-start the economy, which have fallen behind. Only $2 billion of the $18 billion aid and reconstruction package Congress approved last fall has been committed to contracts.
A increasing portion of the construction money is going to pay rising security costs.
For some companies, security costs now amount to 20% of the total contract price, double the standard 10% estimate that industry groups and government contracting officials quoted six months ago. As much as $4 billion may wind up going to security, Bowen said.”
Read the whole post. Parker is a skeptic about the possibility of democracy in Iraq. He also argues for the partition of Iraq, under the belief that at least the Kurds will like the U.S.. I am not sure how we would handle Turkish opposition to this idea, or the possibility of civil war in Turkey, if Turkish Kurds try to secede. Nonetheless the argument is an intriguing one. It doesn’t have to be so perfect to be the best option on the table.
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