Deconstruct

American administration of reconstruction funds in iraq is an example how a slow moving bureaucracy can cripple an effort with good intentions. Of the 18.4 billion dollars allocated in april 2003 to repairing all that our tax dollars have destroyed with bombs and support of sanctions, just above 3 billion has actually been commited to projects. Less than a third of said money has actually been doled out to the people doing the constrution. "Barton and his organization estimate that less than 30% of the money spent reaches Iraqis. Another 30% appears to be going to security, about 10% to U.S. government overhead, 6% to contractor profits, and 12% on insurance and foreign workers' salaries. The rest, perhaps 15%, may be lost to corruption and mismanagement, they estimate."(truthout.com) The government is hiring on a massive scale in the security sector, but hiring reconstruction workers has not been pursued nearly as fervently by the occupation. I believe their reasoning is "security brings stablility". This may be true, but is not employment part of this equation? A speedy funding process is CRITICAL to the reconstruction efforts in iraq. Immediate funding for materials factories-which exist INSIDE Iraq-must take place.(currently 75 plus percent of all materials-namely cement and steel are currently imported at great expense) This alone will create many jobs, and service companies will spring up to support internal industry, thereby creating jobs as well. The government must also begin hiring workers for massive state sponsored conservation and construction projects, helping to fill the gap in the massive amount of work to be done left by private industry. The effort needed to be undertaken makes the efforts of our government during the Great Depression pale in comparison. Why this did not happen immediately after occupation was complete is incomprehensible and in my mind close to criminal. In fact, the edicts of Paul Bremer-CPA CEO-fired nearly all existing government employees.(they soon realized their mistake and hired some back, but the action was too late and the rebellion had taken hold) I know i have hit on the government hiring(and the level of employment in general) issue several times, but i believe it is the crux of many current problems. So here's what i getfor my tax dollars-bombs that kill, planes that kill, and wasted dollars on our pitiful reconstruction effort. Thank you Congress, for your vigilant checks and balance provided to our militant presidency.

Thank you W and friends(PNAC members, AEI members-basically the heart of his advisory committee) for your well informed decisions on foreign policy during this tumultuous time in american history. psych.