Talking Points about Iraq Reconstruction Contracts and the Occupation:

March 31, 2003

Q. What problems have been reported with the reconstruction contracts?

A. Huge amounts of money are being spent, but reports from Iraq suggest that little progress has been made in revitalizing Iraq's infrastructure almost a year after President Bush declared, "Mission Accomplished."

Problems include uninstalled phone lines, shoddily repaired schools, uncollected garbage, clogged roads, and defective sewerage. Most of Iraq suffers from power interruptions that last an average 16 hours per day.

"Iraqis are in broad agreement that life is deteriorating rather than improving," Herbert Docena reported from Iraq in December, a situation that hasn't changed much since. "The prevailing sentiment is a complex mix of resentment and resignation, frustration and incredulity." (Asia Times, 12/25/03)

Delegates who have visited the country report that hospitals in and around Baghdad are worse off than before the war, when there was an embargo on Iraq. The hospitals and clinics lack basic equipment and medicines. The hospitals are so unsanitary that 80 percent of patients leave with infections they didn't have when they arrived. Bechtel and Abt Associates have contracts to rebuild the hospitals.

Reports about shoddy reconstruction are rampant in other areas as well. For example, Public Citizen and other groups have criticized Bechtel for not fixing the country's water infrastructure. See their report HERE.

For more stories and information check these groups:
Iraq Revenue Watch
War Profiteers
Occupation Watch
U.S. Labor Against the War
Taxpayers for Common Sense
Institute for Southern Studies
U.S. House Government Reform Committee Minority Office

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