Records relating to keyword "Reconstruction"

• Iraq Weekly Status Report
  
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  Keywords: Reconstruction US Security US Government

  A valuable, if slanted, compilation of quantitative data, produced weekly by the US State Department. Grouped into the categories of security, democratisation, service provision, economy, law, international engagement, and strategic communications.

• GAO report: Coalition Support and International Donor Commitments (May 2007) (09 May 2007)
  
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  Keywords: Loans International donors GAO Reconstruction Debt

  US Government Accountability Office statement on foreign troop levels and international donor commitments to Iraq's reconstruction.

  On the latter, it found that:

  • As of April 2007, international donors had pledged about $14.9 billion for reconstruction efforts in Iraq. Some countries exceeded their pledges by an additional $744 million for a total of $15.6 billion.

  • About $11 billion, or 70 percent, of these pledges are loans (mainly from the IMF, World Bank, Japan and Iran), with the remaining $4.6 billion in the form of grants.

  • As of April 2007, Iraq had accessed only about $436 million in loans from the IMF, and had received $3 billion in grants, suggesting considerable wariness on the part of the Iraqi government to contract new debt: "according to the State Department, the Iraqis lack a system for approving projects supported by donor loans, which has impeded efforts by the World Bank and Japan to initiate loan-based projects."

  • According to IMF reporting as of February 2007, Iraq has received about $39 billion in debt reduction from commercial and bilateral creditors.

  • The UK has provided bilateral grants to Iraq totalling $775 million (i.e. outside the projects funded by UN and World Bank trust funds for Iraq)

• Overview of GAO Findings and Methodology on Iraq (18 Jan 2007)
  
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  Keywords: Security Reconstruction GAO

  This brief document summarises a number of key GAO reports on Iraq since 2003. Also interestingly states that the GAO plans to establish a presence in Iraq from March 2007 (subject to Congress granting them the money).

• GAO report: Status of Competition for Iraq Reconstruction Contracts Oct 2006 (06 Oct 2006)
  
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  • Auditing and financial transparency
  
  Keywords: Reconstruction State Department Department of Defense IRRF Reconstruction contracts

  Assessment of the awarding of contracts financed by the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund from October 2003 - March 2006. USAID awarded 99% of its Iraq reconstruction contracts competitively; DOD awarded nearly 82% competitively; but the State Dept awarded only 10% of its contracts competitively.

  Based on the US Government Accountability Office's review of $10bn of the total $11.6bn disbursed by the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund. Some DOD contracts could not be assessed because the DOD did not retain information on their awarding.

• UNDG ITF October Newsletter (Oct 2006)
  
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  • International Reconstruction Fund Facility for Iraq
  
  Keywords: UN Reconstruction Aid

• New GAO testimony on 'Rebuilding Iraq', 28 Sept 2006 (26 Sept 2006)
  
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  Keywords: Economic Reconstruction GAO Water Infrastructure Oil Electricity

  New congressional testimony by the US federal oversight body, the Government Accountability Office, on the progress of US-funded reconstruction efforts. Reports that (as of August 2006):

  • crude oil production is lower than pre-war levels (2.4 million barrels per day (mbpd), compared to the prewar level of 2.6 mbpd)
  • electricity generation was at 4,855 megawatts, above the prewar level of 4,300 megawatts, but below the US goal of 6,000 megawatts.
  • treated water delivery stands at 1.44 million cubic meters per day, compared to the U.S. goal of 2.4 million cubic meters.

  Violence and conflict is blamed for much of this shortfall. But within this uncertain context the GAO found that the US Department of Defense risked inflating the costs and delays of reconstruction further by

  • awarding some reconstruction contracts without defining "the work to be performed and its projected costs"
  • lacking the necessary personnel to administrate contracts
  • circumventing competition rules on awarding contracts by simply adding new, unrelated work to existing contracts (for instance, contracting for translators under an environmental services contract)
• World Bank Iraq Trust Fund Newsletter (July 2006)
  
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  • International Reconstruction Fund Facility for Iraq
  
  Keywords: World bank Aid Reconstruction

• Report of the Secretary-General (02 June 2006)
  
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  Keywords: Human rights UN Humanitarian situation Secretary General US Mandate Reconstruction Elections

  Summarises developments in Iraq from March to May 2006.

• Third Sixth-Month Report of the activities of UNDG ITF (11 May 2006)
  
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  • International Reconstruction Fund Facility for Iraq
  
  Keywords: UN Reconstruction Aid

  This report is in two parts, with part two.pdf) containting cluster level progress reports, and part one.pdf) covering progress as a whole. The report covers July-December 2005, detailing the work of the fund.

• World Bank Iraq Trust Fund Progress Report (May 2006)
  
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  Keywords: Aid World bank Reconstruction

• CSIS Report: Iraqi Economic Reconstruction and Development (21 Apr 2006)
  
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  Keywords: CPA US US Government Economic development Reconstruction

  A CSIS report by Onur Ozlu puts Iraq's economic reconstruction in broad historical perspective and then provides a sector-by-sector analysis of what is happening in Iraq and the successes and failures of the aid process.

  The US aid effort in Iraq has not accomplished most of its sectoral goals, and more importantly, has not effectively initiated the reconstruction of the country’s economy. After three years of struggle, the expenditure of more than $ 20 billion US aid funds, $ 37 billion Development Fund for Iraq (DFI) - UN accumulated from the oil for food program’s revenues and the seizure of bank accounts- and death of thousands of US and other coalition soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqis, Iraq is producing less oil, has less electricity and less water than it did during the Saddam period. After studying the modern Iraqi economic history as a background, this work analyzes why.

  Insurgency has been a major obstacle to an effective econstruction. However, shortcomings of the US aid planning and execution indicate that even if there was not an endemic insurgency in Iraq, the reconstruction would still be ineffective.

• Fact Sheet on Aid from Japan (17 Apr 2006)
  
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  Keywords: Japan Aid Reconstruction

• UN Reconstruction and Development Update (Apr 2006)
  
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  Keywords: UN Reconstruction Economic development

• Guardian: 'US postwar Iraq strategy a mess, Blair was told' (14 March 2006)
  
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  • Security, insurgency, and military tactics
  
  Keywords: Security Reconstruction Military

  Leaked memos reported by The Guardian newspaper. 'Senior British diplomatic and military staff gave Tony Blair explicit warnings three years ago that the US was disastrously mishandling the occupation of Iraq.'

• Corporate carve-up: the role of UK corporations in Iraq (13 March 2006)
  
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  • Auditing and financial transparency
  
  Keywords: Corruption Reconstruction UK Politics

  Listing of UK companies working in Iraq for Iraqi ministries, and under international reconstruction bodies. Between March 2003 and March 2006, this report finds £1.1bn paid to UK companies for work in Iraq, and estimates that the true figure is significantly higher. This includes £250m paid to Aegis for coordinating security operations, and $500 to Amec to rebuild electricity and water systems.

• Corporate Watch report: 'UK Companies in Iraq' (13 March 2006)
  
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  Keywords: Reconstruction Economic development

  "This report analyses the role of UK corporations in post-Saddam Iraq. To date, we have uncovered evidence for about £1.1bn worth of contracts, from the US and UK reconstruction budget, and from the Iraqi ministries."

  "UK corporations are playing a key role in two sectors: consulting (especially privatisation support) and private security, including private military companies. See the sections ‘Consultants: creating a new Iraq’ and ‘Bodies of armed men’ for more on these areas. The UK government, and British-based trade associations, have also played a key role in facilitating corporate access to Iraq’s markets, services and resources; see section ‘Iraq wasn’t sold in a day.’"

  Press coverage (AFP): “British firms enjoy billion-pound Iraq war dividend”

  LONDON (AFP) - British businesses have profited by at least 1.1 billion pounds (1.9 billion dollars) since coalition forces toppled Saddam Hussein three years ago, The Independent newspaper reported.

• Report of the UN Secretary General, 3 March 2006 (03 March 2006)
  
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  Keywords: Elections Reconstruction US Mandate Secretary General Humanitarian situation UN Human rights

  Quarterly report of the Un Secretary General to the Security Council on the Situation in Iraq, pursuant to SCR 1546. Covers events since 7th of December 2005. In this report, Kofi Annan draws attention to the "de facto arbitrary detention" by the US and Iraq of thousands of prisoners, and states that the "extent of such practices is not consistent with the provisions of international law governing internment for imperative reasons of security". He also draws attention to allegations of human rights abuses doing military operations by the MNF and indicates that UNAMI is investigation these.

  The report also contains extensive comment on the follow up to the December 2005 elections, as well as on continued reconstruction efforts by UNAMI.

• US Plans to Stop Funding Iraq Reconstruction (02 Jan 2006)
  
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  Keywords: Reconstruction Economic development US

  Article in the Washington Post detailing reports from government officials saying that the Bush administration does not intend to seek any extra funds from Congress after the $18.4bn already allocated runs out. "The U.S. never intended to completely rebuild Iraq," Brig. Gen. William McCoy, the Army Corps of Engineers commander overseeing the work, told reporters at a recent news conference.

• Poll by Oxford Research International (12 Dec 2005)
  
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  • Opinion Polls in Iraq
  
  Keywords: Opinion polls Reconstruction Politics Invasion

  Conducted for ABC News, Time magazine, the BBC NHK and Der Spiegel by Oxford Research International. Interviews were conducted Oct. 8 to Nov. 22, 2005, in person, in Arabic and Kurdish, among a random national sample of 1,711 Iraqis age 15 and up. The results have a 2.5-point error margin. (See details of the survey methodology )

  Full results are available from ABC News and BBC

  Results were consistent with previous ORI polls, but were widely interpreted as showing greater optimism about current and future conditions than previous polls.

  Interviewers found that 71% of those questioned said things were currently very or quite good in their personal lives, while 29% found their lives very or quite bad.

  However, Iraqis appear to have a more negative view of the overall situation in their country, with 53% answering that the situation is bad, and 44% saying it is good.

  Preference for strong leadership was strong: half of those questioned felt Iraq needed a single, strong leader following December's elections, but this fell to 31% in 5 years time.

  Also, 50.3 per cent of Iraqis polled answered that the 2003 invasion was somewhat or absolutely wrong. That’s an increase from 39.1 per cent in a similar survey in March 2004

  Analysis available from ABC News, BBC Online, and Der Spiegel (in German).

• Report of the Secretary-General (07 Dec 2005)
  
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  Keywords: UN US Mandate Elections Constitution Security Reconstruction

  Covers events from 7 September - 7 December 2005. This includes the constitutional referendum (October) and preparations for the 15 December elections, as well as a visit to Iraq by Kofi Annan. The report expresses serious concerns about human rights abuses by both insurgents and government forces. Humanitarian work continues, but is hindered by the security situation.

• US GAO Testimony: 'Rebuilding Iraq: Enhancing Security, Measuring Program Results And Mantaining Infrastructure Are Necessary to Make Significant and Sustainable Progress' (18 Oct 2005)
  
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  Keywords: Reconstruction Infrastructure Economic development Security

  Report by the US Government Accountability Office investigating US progress in rebuilding Iraq. Notes the difficulting in maintaining infrastructure projects, and the difficulty of measuring progress. Recommends that Iraq will probably need signifcantly more than the $56bn estimated previously by the World Bank, due to unforseen looting, sabotage and lower than expected oil revenues. Finds that data collected is incomplete, citing for example that the Department of State reports on number of water projects completed, but not on the condition of the water supply to Iraqi people. A summary can be found here.

• Planning post-conflict reconstruction in Iraq: what can we learn? (Oct 2005)
  
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  • Security, insurgency, and military tactics
  
  Keywords: Reconstruction Politics

  Review of the planning process within the CPA and related bodies, conducted by the RAND corporation. This concentrates primarily on management and institutional organisation, rather than on the problems and successes of policies.

• Poll of Iraqi businesses (Aug 2005)
  
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  • Opinion Polls in Iraq
  
  Keywords: Opinion polls Reconstruction Economic development

  Poll carried out by Zogby on behalf of the Centre for International Private Enterprise. Looks at Iraqi businesses' expectations of the future of Iraq as well as views on infrastructure, the government, etc.

• Poll by the International Republican Institute (IRI) (March 2005)
  
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  • Opinion Polls in Iraq
  
  Keywords: Opinion polls Reconstruction Politics Civil society Constitution

  An Iraqi polling firm conducted 2,200 face-to-face interviews in 15 of the 18 governorates from February 27 to March 5, 2005.

  The International Republican Institute reported the poll as 'Iraqis see country taking right steps, hopeful for the future', while AFP preferred 'Three out of four Iraqis say Islam should be source of law'.

  • Press Release

  • Results as a Powerpoint presentation

• Report by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) (Sept 2004)
  
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  • Opinion Polls in Iraq
  
  Keywords: Opinion polls Reconstruction Security Economic development Infrastructure Civil society Healthcare Education

  'Progress or Peril? Measuring Iraq’s Reconstruction'

  "The report, conducted over six months, measures the progress of Iraq’s reconstruction in security, governance, services, economic opportunity, health care, and education, according to an analysis of hundreds of data points drawn from 60 media sources, 17 public and officials sources, 16 polls, and nearly 400 interviews with Iraqis. The report is based partly on the field research of seven Iraqi interviewers who surveyed hundreds of Iraqis in 15 cities across the country between June 12 and June 27."

  • Press Release

  • The Report as a PDF file

  • Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is a US thinktank.

• Development Gateway: Relief and Reconstruction in Iraq
  
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  Keywords: Reconstruction Economic development

  An excellent collection of links and documents, including "Iraq's Constitutional Process: Shaping a Vision for the Country's Future"; "Gender and Constitution-Building: From Paper to Practice"; and "The Iraqi Constitution from an Economic Perspective"

• Monthly Reconstruction and Development Updates on Iraq since April 2005
  
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  Keywords: Humanitarian situation Reconstruction UNAMI UN