Posted on 01/30/2008 6:29:32 AM PST by Freeport
Increased Iraqi oil revenues stemming from high prices and improved security are piling up in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York rather than being spent on needed reconstruction projects, a Washington Times study of Iraq's spending and revenue figures has shown.
U.S. officials and outside analysts blame the collapse of the country's political and physical infrastructure for Baghdad's failure to spend the money on projects considered vital to restoring stability in the country.
Out of $10 billion budgeted for capital projects in 2007, only 4.4 percent had been spent by August, according to official Iraqi figures reported this month by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). The report cited unofficial figures saying about 24 percent had been spent.
Meanwhile, some $6 billion to $7 billion from last year's budget is "being rolled over" and invested in U.S. treasuries, said Yahia Said, director of Iraq Revenue Watch, part of the private watchdog group Revenue Watch Institute.
"The government is broken," said Mr. Said, speaking by telephone from Baghdad. "The country's midlevel bureaucracy has either fled the country or been purged in de-Ba'athification, [and] a lot of ministers are politically appointed and not professional."
The result is that orders go out from the ministers in Baghdad, but there is no structure or staff at the middle level to carry out the instructions.
"It's like they lost the manual for driving the government," said Mr. Said, who is working to put that blueprint back together. "They lost the landing instructions for landing the airplane."
A quarterly report to be released today by Stuart W. Bowen Jr., the U.S. special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, says rising production and high prices could produce a revenue windfall for Iraq this year, according to the Associated Press.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Sounds like it might not be all that bad if the money is staying safely invested for now rather than thrown down a sewer.
South Koreans had problems managing their country when they were freed from the Japanese in 1945. Japanese managers had run things, at high and low levels, during their decades of occupation.
The US tried to keep Japanese managers in place, until the South Koreans could learn the ropes.
Understandably, the S Koreans did not want their former oppressors to play a role in running their free country, even if they were more proficient.
They could always use it to pay back the US Taxpayer....
Even if the [US] occupation forces had arrived [in S Korea] with a carefully laid economic plan, the situation would have been difficult ...[snip]
The problems were compounded by the fact that most of Korea's mines and industries had been owned and operated by Japan. As the United States military government let the 700,000 Japanese depart from South Korea in the months following the start of the American occupation, almost all of the mines and factories--now enemy properties vested in the military government--were without managers, technicians, and capital resources. This situation led to severe problems of unemployment and material shortages.
You see, that is where you went wrong...
If Hillary wants to take oil profits, take those and pay us back!
I thought the eeeeeeevil Bush and Hallyburrrrrrrrton were getting all the Iraq oil $$$$.....
Here’s a thought...withhold US reconstruction monies until the Iraqis start spending their own. And, then, match them at some controlled rate...three for one or four for one, until they max out their spending, and then we’ll talk about what additional may be necessary.
At some point, this ‘nascient democracy’ needs to get off it’s duff and start taking care of its own house.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.