Few people would doubt that Barack Obama was elected the forty-fourth President of  the United States at a perilous time in American history.  In fact, his timing could hardly have been worse.  Financial markets had crumbled, major banks and insurance companies were descending into insolvency, millions of Americans were losing their jobs,  economic recession was spreading across the globe, and the resultant U.S. tax revenues were taking a nosedive.  The President was faced with an immediate need to prop up the financial services industry,  save the auto industry, and bail …

Top U.S. government officials are becoming increasingly concerned that most of the money spent on infra-structure rebuilding will ultimately be wasted due to Iraqi government incompetence. As a further slap in the face to U.S. taxpayers, the Iraqi government has outright refused to take possession of many U.S. funded reconstruction projects due to unavailability of staff and technical expertise.