Iraq Struggling to Maintain American Funded Facilities

Despite all the news about American success in Iraq, billions of US dollars are going to waste in this country. America has spent a whopping $53 billion for relief and reconstruction projects in Iraq, but the newly constructed facilities are not being utilized well.

Tens of thousands of hospitals, schools, bridges, water treatment plants and electricity stations have been built since the US invasion in 2003. American officials fear that Iraq won’t be able to maintain these facilities and waste a lot of American money.

This issue is important because there are upcoming elections in January and reconstruction is seen to be as critical as national security on Iraq’s political agenda.

There are many reasons why the reconstruction program is failing. One reason is there is a lack of trained workers, especially at hospitals. Many newly built hospitals are only half or a third staffed because people can’t work the high tech equipment. Hundreds of thousands of skilled Iraqi workers have either been killed or fled the country during the war.

Another reason is that the Iraqi government doesn’t have the money to maintain American funded facilities and build new facilities. The Iraqi government faces a budget deficit and revenues from oil are not as strong because the prices are decreasing. It is unclear where the $400 billion the Iraqi government needs for reconstruction will come from.

While the government struggles with its own reconstruction plan the Americans continue to leave the country as the Obama administration works to pull out troops. These people take away money, equipment and expertise, all of which the Iraqis lack in their reconstruction program.