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U.S. Teaching Iraqis How To Spend Riches

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The Associated Press

The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 25, 2008

BAGHDAD - Iraq's government has an unusual money problem as much of the world grapples with a credit crunch - it can't spend its oil riches fast enough.

The United States is trying to change that by training Iraqi bureaucrats struggling to emerge from a centralized system in which nearly all decisions - from where to build a water treatment plant to which workers would do the job - came from the top.

Money also was scarce for more than a decade after the U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions to punish Saddam Hussein's regime for the 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

"Our efforts are devoted to helping the Iraqis spend their own money," said Marc Wall, the U.S. Embassy's coordinator for economic transition in Iraq.

The August report drew outrage in Congress, where lawmakers asked why the Iraqis haven't spent more of their own money on reconstruction.

U.S. and Iraqi officials dispute the report, arguing the figures are inflated. They also say Iraqi spending on reconstruction is expected to increase by 50 percent from 2007 to 2008.

But most agree that major obstacles still include inexperienced bureaucrats, too few Iraqi contractors and a cumbersome approval procedure aimed at curbing corruption.

The U.S. Agency for International Development's Tatweer project is designed to train Iraqis in basic decision-making skills to help them allocate funds and effectively deliver government services such as electricity, water and security.
Sattar Hussein, a 42-year-old instructor for Tatweer - which means development in Arabic - said the key is training Iraqis in how to choose the best projects.

"They have the money, but they don't understand how to invest the money to help the people," the Fallujah native said during a class break for coffee and cookies.

"The idea is to prepare these people for the future because they will be the decision-makers."

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