There is an old adage that says “a fool and his money are soon parted”. Unfortunately, this saying has proven to all too true when it comes to the $53 billion dollars that the U.S. government has spent for relief and reconstruction in Iraq since the invasion in 2003. Over the last seven years the U.S. taxpayers have paid for hospitals, water treatment plants, electrical sub-stations, schools, bridges and just about every kind of infra-structure improvement imaginable. This hugely magnanimous gesture of American generosity has been, I suppose, our way of repaying the Iraqis for the devastation and deprivation caused by George Bush’s war of aggression against Saddam Hussein. Although Iraq is a nation that floats on a sea of crude oil, this source of potential revenue to fund infra-structure rebuilding has been deemed “off limits”.

So what, in fact, has the U.S. government’s $53 billion dollars really bought for the Iraqi people? Among other things, it has bought a $270 million water treatment plant that sits idle because it is too sophisticated for Iraqi workers to operate; it has bought a state-of-the-art hospital that never opened because the Iraqi government was unable to supply it with equipment, staffing or electricity; and it has bought oil treatment facilities, electrical power plants and communications facilities that operate at one tenth capacity because the Iraqi government cannot fund ongoing operations. 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. It gets worse! Ali Baban, from the Iraqi Planning Ministry, has publicly criticized the U.S. rebuilding effort as “wasteful”, and has said it has had “no discernible impact”.

As Iraq goes slowly ahead with its plan for national elections, and as U.S. military forces are extracted from the Iraqi theater of operation several things become increasingly clear. First and foremost, the U.S. invasion of Iraq has not brought about peace, stability and democracy to this country, but has only been an expensive lesson in futility. Other than ridding the world of Saddam Hussein, the war has accomplished absolutely nothing. Secondly, any and all acts of generosity by the American taxpayers will only be regarded by the Iraqis has an attempt at “influence buying” by the “Great Satan” from the West. Thirdly, no amount of American infra-structure rebuilding will ultimately make a difference when Iraq enters into a sustained period of civil war. Perhaps some day, far in the future, Iran or Saudi Arabia will be able to help the Iraqis operate their “gifts from America”; however, in the meantime the best policy for America would be to close our checkbooks and “head out of Dodge”.

—Rich