Re: U.S. taxpayer cash goes down the drain in Iraq
Roedy Green
wrote or quoted :
>Iraqi officials have crippled scores of water, sewage and electrical
>plants refurbished with U.S. funds by failing to maintain and operate
>them properly, wasting millions of American taxpayer dollars,
>according to interviews and documents.
What possible excuse has America for blowing them up in the first
place? That was against the Geneva conventions.
Bush crime family lost/embezzled $3 trillion from Pentagon.
Complicit Bush-friendly media keeps mum.
http://www.infowars.com/articles/us/mckinney_grills_rumsfeld.htm
--
Canadian Mind Products, Roedy Green.
See http://mindprod.com/iraq.html photos of Bush's war crimes
Harry Hope
From The Indianapolis Star, 4/10/05:
http://www.indystar.com/articles/6/235817-4276-010.html
U.S. cash goes down the drain in Iraq
Officials say Iraqis have let rebuilt sewage, water and power plants
fall back into disrepair.
By T. Christian Miller
Los Angeles Times
BAGHDAD, Iraq --
Iraqi officials have crippled scores of water, sewage and electrical
plants refurbished with U.S. funds by failing to maintain and operate
them properly, wasting millions of American taxpayer dollars,
according to interviews and documents.
Hardest hit has been the effort to rebuild Iraq's water and sewage
systems, a multibillion-dollar task considered to be among the most
crucial components of the effort to improve daily life for Iraqis.
Of more than 40 such plants run by the Iraqis, not one is being
operated properly, according to the Bechtel Group, the contractor at
work on the project.
The power grid faces similar problems. U.S. officials said the Iraqis'
inability to properly operate overhauled electrical plants contributed
to widespread power shortages this winter.
None of the 19 electrical plants that have had U.S.-funded repair work
is being run correctly, a senior American adviser said.
An internal memo by coalition officials in Iraq obtained by the Los
Angeles Times says that throughout Iraq, renovated plants "deteriorate
quickly to an alarming state of disrepair and inoperability."
"There is no reason to believe that these initial experiences will not
be repeated for the other water and sanitation projects currently
underway throughout Iraq," the memo said.
"This is the antithesis of our base strategy and a waste not only of
taxpayer funds, but it deprives the most needy of safe drinking water
and of streets free from raw sewerage."
Poor training and work ethic cited
Iraqis are paying the price.
Schoolchildren have to step over rancid brown puddles on their way to
classrooms.
Families swim in, fish from and get their drinking water from the
polluted Tigris and Euphrates rivers, leading to high rates of child
mortality and waterborne illnesses.
People jury-rig pumps in their home to increase water flow --
poisoning the water further by sucking sewage through cracks in the
lines.
U.S. officials blame insufficient training, logistical problems and an
indifferent work ethic learned under the regime of Saddam Hussein.
Iraqis say the Americans excluded them from the early stages of the
projects and have not provided adequate funds for upkeep.
The failures have left U.S. and Iraqi officials contemplating a
disheartening scenario:
After expending billions of dollars and tremendous effort, some of the
reconstruction effort quite literally might go to waste.
One official involved in reconstruction estimated that "hundreds of
millions" had been squandered because of improper operation and
maintenance of U.S.-funded projects.
It is the result, some U.S. officials said, of a misguided effort that
has put more focus on dirt-turning than developing the skills Iraqis
need to operate and maintain expensive equipment.
A State Department report to Congress on Thursday acknowledged the
problem and proposed shifting $607 million to pay for additional
operation and maintenance programs to protect U.S. investment in the
projects.
"This has been my biggest problem and concern in Iraq," said Mark
Oviatt, who oversees water projects for the U.S. Agency for
International Development, America's primary overseas development arm.
"Americans are investing hundreds of millions in Iraq. The capacity is
not there to maintain it."
U.S. officials say they have often been frustrated in their attempts
to establish operation and maintenance practices that are standard
elsewhere.
Maintenance never was a priority
There has been little emphasis on maintenance.
____________________________________________________________
Life in the Bush-created, taxpayer-funded quagmire.
Harry
basilod
"Harry Hope" <riv...@ix.netcom.com> wrote in message
news:tqbi51hfbuj4cb50a...@4ax.com...
>
> From The Indianapolis Star, 4/10/05:
> http://www.indystar.com/articles/6/235817-4276-010.html
>
> U.S. cash goes down the drain in Iraq
>
> Officials say Iraqis have let rebuilt sewage, water and power plants
> fall back into disrepair.
>
> By T. Christian Miller
> Los Angeles Times
>
>
> BAGHDAD, Iraq --
>
> Iraqi officials have crippled scores of water, sewage and electrical
> plants refurbished with U.S. funds by failing to maintain and operate
> them properly, wasting millions of American taxpayer dollars,
> according to interviews and documents.
>
> Hardest hit has been the effort to rebuild Iraq's water and sewage
> systems, a multibillion-dollar task considered to be among the most
> crucial components of the effort to improve daily life for Iraqis.
Water and sewage systems have been bombed into disrepair by Bush Sr. With
the Americans threatening him ever since Saddam has never been able to
attempt to rebuild that system.
> Of more than 40 such plants run by the Iraqis, not one is being
> operated properly, according to the Bechtel Group, the contractor at
> work on the project.
>
> The power grid faces similar problems. U.S. officials said the Iraqis'
> inability to properly operate overhauled electrical plants contributed
> to widespread power shortages this winter.
The power grid system was running just fine up to the rain of Tamahawks
unleashed upon Baghdad by Bush Jr. - One just needs to remember/review the
TV shots of Baghdad at the beginning of that missile shower - all the
streets had been brightly lit. Iraqis should now say again and again:
"Thank you, President(s) Bush!"
> None of the 19 electrical plants that have had U.S.-funded repair work
> is being run correctly, a senior American adviser said.
>
> An internal memo by coalition officials in Iraq obtained by the Los
> Angeles Times says that throughout Iraq, renovated plants "deteriorate
> quickly to an alarming state of disrepair and inoperability."
>
> "There is no reason to believe that these initial experiences will not
> be repeated for the other water and sanitation projects currently
> underway throughout Iraq," the memo said.
>
> "This is the antithesis of our base strategy and a waste not only of
> taxpayer funds, but it deprives the most needy of safe drinking water
> and of streets free from raw sewerage."
>
> Poor training and work ethic cited
>
> Iraqis are paying the price.
>
> Schoolchildren have to step over rancid brown puddles on their way to
> classrooms.
>
> Families swim in, fish from and get their drinking water from the
> polluted Tigris and Euphrates rivers, leading to high rates of child
> mortality and waterborne illnesses.
>
> People jury-rig pumps in their home to increase water flow --
> poisoning the water further by sucking sewage through cracks in the
> lines.
>
> U.S. officials blame insufficient training, logistical problems and an
> indifferent work ethic learned under the regime of Saddam Hussein.
What "work ethic" can we talk about in the country occupied by the foreign
power which has destroyed all that country's system of controls (from
government and parliament to the local organs of control)? The clumsy
efforts to replace that destroyed system of controls with the officials
recruited from among the collaborators of the occupational regime will not
be successful. I can hear the voices telling me that Saddam's system of
control was corrupted. - Not more corrupted than the American system, my
friends! Just move ALL of the American troops out of Iraq today, put the
money necessary to sustain 120,000 of American troops (as well as the army
of people providing logistical support to those troops) in Iraq into a new
fund created to repair the damages inflicted upon Iraq by our "civilizing"
efforts and the Iraqis themselves (with the help of their true friends) will
restore all of those systems destroyed by us - the Iraqis in general are
well-trained, well-educated and you will see wonders of work ethic!
>
> Iraqis say the Americans excluded them from the early stages of the
> projects and have not provided adequate funds for upkeep.
>
> ____________________________________________________________
Salad
> From The Indianapolis Star, 4/10/05:
> http://www.indystar.com/articles/6/235817-4276-010.html
>
> U.S. cash goes down the drain in Iraq
>
> Officials say Iraqis have let rebuilt sewage, water and power plants
> fall back into disrepair.
>
> By T. Christian Miller
> Los Angeles Times
>
>
> BAGHDAD, Iraq --
>
> Iraqi officials have crippled scores of water, sewage and electrical
> plants refurbished with U.S. funds by failing to maintain and operate
> them properly, wasting millions of American taxpayer dollars,
> according to interviews and documents.
>
> Hardest hit has been the effort to rebuild Iraq's water and sewage
> systems, a multibillion-dollar task considered to be among the most
> crucial components of the effort to improve daily life for Iraqis.
>
> Of more than 40 such plants run by the Iraqis, not one is being
> operated properly, according to the Bechtel Group, the contractor at
> work on the project.
>
> The power grid faces similar problems. U.S. officials said the Iraqis'
> inability to properly operate overhauled electrical plants contributed
> to widespread power shortages this winter.
The Republicans have found a financial rat hole that they approve of.
*us*
>From The Indianapolis Star, 4/10/05:
>http://www.indystar.com/articles/6/235817-4276-010.html
>
>U.S. cash goes down the drain in Iraq
>
>Officials say Iraqis have let rebuilt sewage, water and power plants
>fall back into disrepair...
Bechtel's just embezzling the money, and trying to blame
the Iraqi victims for its failure to get the job done right.