US erred in Iraq rebuilding programme-US auditor

[sabra]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L31927700.htm

US erred in Iraq rebuilding programme-US auditor


BAGHDAD, Aug 31 (Reuters) - The U.S. government should have been quicker to employ local firms to help rebuild Iraq instead of relying on U.S. corporations whose contracts gave them no incentive to minimise costs, a U.S. official said on Thursday.

The top U.S. auditor for Iraqi reconstruction also said it was too early to say whether Iraqis would "get value for money" from the $22 billion Washington is investing on rebuilding postwar Iraq. The programme has been beset by complaints of waste, fraud and corruption that his office is investigating.

Thirty percent of the projects inspected by his office had not met the required standard and some were outright failures.

"The programme is obviously still in full swing, and to make a judgment about its success or failure at this point would be premature," Stuart Bowen, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, told journalists in Baghdad.