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Think of Iraq and oil and we often think of pipelines blown up. That happens but Iraq this year is pumping and exporting more oil than at any time in the past five years. U.S. government auditors expect Iraq to earn approximately $60 billion in oil revenues this year alone. With oil hitting $111 a gallon it could be even more.
But, when it comes to the reconstruction of Iraq, U.S. taxpayers are footing the bill. They’ve already paid nearly $50 billion.
That’s not how it was supposed to work. In 2003, then-Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said “We are dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction and relatively soon.”
Iraq has money in the bank but, ironically, it’s having trouble spending it. Barham Saleh, Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister, tells me “People should not be too judgmental.” He blames it on Iraq’s bureaucracy, the transition from a socialist command economy, corruption, terrorism.
But Frederick Barton, an expert to the Iraq Study Group, says Iraq set up its post-invasion government “as if it was a political science class,” instead of dealing with Iraqi reality.
“Of course, they couldn't spend the money,” he says. “This is a whole new administration. None of these people have not had these jobs before, they are not safe, they can’t even travel outside of the green zone without dozens of bodyguards.”
He says it reminds him of Hurricane Katrina.
“If you had walked into Vice President Cheney's office after the hurricane had hit the Gulf states and said “Mr. Vice President, I have a wonderful idea. We are going to build a big new bureaucracy in Washington and it is going to make everybody in New Orleans feel great” he would have thrown you out of the office in about second but that is exactly what we tried to do in Baghdad and Baghdad is actually a lot tougher place to do it than Washington.”
Barton says the Iraqi government should spend more money directly on its people. “If you want to have a capable government you have to have a stable people.”
-Jill Dougherty, U.S. Affairs Correspondent
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