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Around 3 years ago the decision was made to reassign funds earmarked for construction and rebuilding to military operations on the theory that there was no point in building things just to have them blown up. Is Iraqi infrastructure and commerce more secure now against terrorist attacks than it was then? I hope so, but think not. I'd like to be convinced otherwise but with facts, not conjecture.

There would not be over 1,000 IEDs going off a month if the Iraqi citizenry was cooperating in preventing them. I don't believe the Iraqis are stepping up to the plate - that Sunnis are reporting Sunni terrorists or Shiites informing on their own - not enough to make a difference, and if they don't start doing so, then there is no point reconstructing anything but jails.