Word: iraqi
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...Iraq Windfall Profits in Iraq? Thanks to soaring oil revenues, Iraq could have a cumulative budget surplus of $79 billion by the end of the year, the Government Accountability Office reported. And yet, of the $67 billion the Iraqi government spent from 2005 to 2007, just 1% went toward infrastructure projects. Senators Carl Levin and John Warner, who requested the report, expressed outrage at Iraq's weak spending record; U.S. taxpayers have spent $48 billion on Iraq reconstruction...
...given day in Baghdad it's hard to envision a city on the rise amid the shattered buildings, fields of trash and pools of smelly greenish waste water baking under the sun in many neighborhoods. But a few urban planners in the Iraqi government are dreaming big nonetheless. On the drawing board are plans for overhaul and expansion of Baghdad's bridges, roads and sewage systems, plus ambitious commercial development. Planners are scouting sites around Baghdad to build a five-star hotel, an international fairground, a cultural center, a library, a park with a lake and fountains and an aquarium...
...Between 2004 and 2007, al-Qaeda in Iraq had "controlled the city", says General Ra'ad Jassim Mohammed, one of the lead Iraqi National Police commanders in Samarra. Today, the city is witnessing a slow but shaky revival. Two months ago, the central market re-opened; a university - the city's first - is now under construction; and even the rubble of the ancient shrine, which was bombed again in 2007, is being prepared for a momentous rehabilitation. A city that had come to symbolize Iraq's sectarian schism may yet play a key role in national reconciliation. That...
...military commanders and Iraqi police chiefs say the tide turned last November, when Baghdad bolstered its security presence in the city and residents began to help push for change. The police walled the city in, leaving only three entrances, to prevent infiltration. The city's 800 policemen, planned to grow to a force of 1,500, have also dealt effectively with sectarian tensions, says deputy police commander General Adnan al-Saadi. "When we first came here, al-Qaeda spread rumors that we were here to occupy the city, and that we are [Shi'ite] and were going to treat...
...cordon off the field of rubble and debris outside the ruined al-Askari shrine. Before the bombing, it drew anywhere from 250 to 500 pilgrims a week; today there are none. But it is being slowly and carefully rebuilt under the direction of UNESCO, with the backing of the Iraqi government and the European Commission. Mourad Zmit, the Samarra project manager for UNESCO, says it may take four years, and up to $300 million to restore the ancient structure, depending on the results of the damage assessment over the next several months. But the fact that reconstruction is now possible...