The current U.S. (and coalition) effort to re-build Iraq

The current U.S. (and coalition) effort to re-build Iraq

Introduction

United States focused on providing key services in the sectors of energy, water, and that by repairing oil installations and to increase power generation capacity and the renewal of water treatment plants. Despite U.S. efforts, the United States cannot achieve these goals of the planned result of the challenges of security and administrative corruption. The deterioration of security conditions which led to the postponement or cancellation of projects or reduce the scope of these projects and increased costs for security services, which reached a proportion of 16 to 22% of the total cost of projects to rebuild infrastructure. Management problems impact negatively on the implementation of the United States for the reconstruction of Iraq. These problems include the lack of agreement among U.S. agencies, contractors and the Iraqi authorities and an environment that cannot be inflated with pricing and uncertainty in the project sites, and finally the difficulty of determining the ownership of project sites (GAO, 2007). The main aim of the topic is to focus on the efforts of US to rebuild Iraq. The paper highlights the aim and mission of US, what problems it faced and how Iraq reacted to the rebuilding efforts. The paper also highlights if a few efforts proved successful or not.

Background

Post-Conflict reconstruction is commonly perceived as a process of restoring pre-conflict physical infrastructure. However, as a concept, it also deals with the broader need to rebuild the socio-economic structure and the institutional capacity in war torn countries." Post-conflict reconstruction requires a lengthy commitment from all stakeholders involved, both internally and externally, and an extensive, and often risky, financial investment in the future of fragile states."

The internal make up of Iraq's society is very diverse in terms of religion, sect, and ethnicity. Early signs of a rising tension among different ethnic and sectarian groups were evident immediately following the U'S led military intervention in Iraq. With the passage of time, this tension spread and became more violent. It placed the entire democratic process and institutional stability in the country in jeopardy. Although a consistent reality in Iraq's modern history, the strong national identity associated with political institutions mitigated sectarian tensions in the past (Crocker, 2004).

As a result of the unrestrained release of these suppressed tensions, ethno-sectarian factors dominated the political process and were the main determinants of institutional structures and policy preferences in Iraq following the U.S led military intervention in 2003. In December 2005, over 90% of Iraq's National Assembly seats were occupied by parties and coalitions defined primarily by ethnic and sectarian identities. Members of the National Assembly distanced themselves from the pressing needs and problems of the country and focused instead on responding to the immediate demands of their parties.

Iraq's external environment is equally complicated. For years, Iraq has been a battleground for a proxy war between Iran and the Gulf States. Unfortunately, this continues to be the case after the 2003 US led military intervention with ...