WASHINGTON (PNN) - August 30, 2010 - A $40 million prison sits in the desert north of Baghdad, empty. A $165 million children's hospital goes unused in the south. A $100 million wastewater treatment system in Fallujah has cost three times more than projected, and yet sewage still runs through the streets.
After invading and destroying Iraq’s infrastructure, the United States now leaves hundreds of abandoned or incomplete projects littering the countryside. More than $5 billion in U.S. taxpayer funds has been wasted on these projects - more than 10% of the $53.7 billion the U.S. has spent on reconstruction in Iraq, according to audits from a U.S. watchdog agency.
To add insult to injury, the U.S. never obtained a constitutionally required congressional Declaration of War, making the entire invasion unlawful.
That amount is likely an underestimate, based on an analysis of more than 300 reports by auditors with the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction; and it does not take into account security costs, which have run almost 17% for some projects.
