1,287 Recommendations Made For Iraq And Afghanistan Reconstruction, Many Ignored

According to Michael J. Thibault, co-Chairman of the Commission on War Time Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, there have been 1,287 recommendations have been made to improve oversight of the reconstruction effort in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many of the recommendations have been ignored (0:38).
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“In a sense, the Department of State has contributed to the killing and maiming of U.S. soldiers”

Judge Arthur Brennan, who had served in Iraq in 2007 as the Director of the Office of Accountability and Transparency, says in a hearing titled “Have Bush Administration Reconstruction and Anti-Corruption Failures Undermined the U.S. Mission in Iraq?” that the Department of State misled the U.S. Congress, the American people, and the people of Iraq. He also says the Department of State contributed to the consequences of corruption, and that “billions of U.S. and Iraqi dollars have been lost, stolen, and wasted.” (0:46)
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Obama says to stop spending money in Iraq, rebuild American infrastructure instead

At the CWA conference, Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) says America must focus on rebuilding its own infrastructure and proposes a national infrastructure reconstruction bank that will invest $60 billion over ten years for that purpose. He says if America can spend $400 million per day in Iraq and $10 billion a month rebuilding a foreign nation, it can spend $10 billion domestically to put citizens back to work and restructure the economy. (1:00)
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General Tony Thomas says that the Iraqi government "awash" in oil revenues

During a press briefing at the Pentagon via teleconference from Iraq, Gen. Tony Thomas, assistant division commander, Multinational Division-North says that the Iraqi government is "awash" in money for reconstruction coming from oil revenues. (0:54)
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