Report Says 2006 Critical Year for Iraq

"WASHINGTON (AP) - It will take far more U.S. support before the Iraqi government can take control over billions of dollars in reconstruction projects, including problem-plagued oil and electricity improvements, according to a government report released Monday.

The report, prepared by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, warns that 2006 will be a critical year of transition in Iraq. And it questions whether the Iraqi government has the needed resources to rebuild and protect the infrastructure, develop the country's major cities and support private sector projects.

"The need for more funding has reached a critical point; there is a compelling basis to increase support for sustainability," Special Inspector General Stuart W. Bowen Jr., said in the report.

The report - the eighth quarterly assessment done by Bowen - makes no recommendations on how much money is needed. But recent audits, summarized in this report, have said that billions of dollars in projects to improve water, sewer and electrical systems in Iraq could not be completed because the money was diverted to security and other higher priorities."
MyWay

I don't know if it's even possible, but why don't congress open offices in Baghdad to oversee the reconstruction, just giving more money to the administration don't seem like the solution.