"Reconstruction in Iraq is essentially halted because we are in a war mode" by Reuters / MSNBC Interactive 12:03pm 5th Oct, 2004   Oct. 4, 2004    "Reconstruction in Iraq proceeds slowly", by Ned Colt: NBC News    BAGHDAD - It was a celebration — the reopening of a bridge in Tikrit bombed by the U.S. during the war. An Army band played as balloons soared into the sky. Hovering overhead — four attack helicopters — a stark reminder that an attack can come at any time here. Four workers were killed on this project. The insurgents are now threatening American plans to rebuild bridges, power plants, roads, water and sanitation systems.    The amount of untreated sewage pumped into the Tigris River every day would fill more than 200 Olympic-size swimming pools. The Tigris is the source of Baghdad's drinking water. That means increasing frustration among Iraqis like the Hanoush family, who still have to boil water and use generators for backup power.    "When the USA decided to come and let's say "free" this country, it was supposed to know the steps to make a quicker progress," says Najla Hanoush.    That progress has been stalled by insurgents — who increasingly target foreign workers — close to 150 kidnapped since April. They are also hitting reconstruction projects, like Thursday's car bombings at the Baghdad water pumping station. The pace of rebuilding?    "Glacial," says Johanna Mendelson-Forman of the United Nations Foundation. "The reconstruction at this point is essentially halted because we are in a war mode."    But there are other problems as well. Out of the $18 billion appropriated to rebuild Iraq, only $1 billion has been spent. As for that money — an estimated 25 percent goes to security costs, 15 percent to insurance, and another 15 percent is siphoned off by corruption. There's little left for the rebuilding itself.     "There has definitely been a sort of general approach of making it up as we go along," says Frederick Barton of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "That's one reason why we've had to spend much more money than we ever have anywhere before — to a lesser effect." It all adds up to a lack of progress that plays into the insurgent strategy of undercutting any support here for America and the interim government.    © 2004 MSNBC Interactive    September 29, 2004.    UN warns of Iraqi Malnutrition. (Reuters)    One in four Iraqis are dependent on food rations to survive and many of them have to sell what little food they have for basic necessities like medicine and clothes, the UN World Food Program (WFP) said.    In a grim report underscoring troubles in Iraq, the Rome based WFP said support from the state run Public Distribution System was grossly insufficient to prevent chronic malnourishment.    "The political environment before the war made it impossible to analyse the level of poverty and hunger in the country," said Torben Due, the director of the WFP's program in Iraq.    "For the first time, we are getting an accurate picture of people's access to food," he said in a statement.    Squarely blaming the situation on years of international sanctions and war, the WFP said that some 6.5 million Iraqis, or about 25 per cent of the population, were "highly dependent on food rations and therefore vulnerable".    Of those 6.5 million, 2.6 million resell part of their rations to buy other items, like medicine.    The survey on food security, which took place last year and covered 28,500 households in Iraq, also showed that 27 per cent of all children up to the age of five are chronically malnourished.    "Despite receiving food rations from Iraq's Public Distribution System, these people are still struggling to cope," Mr Due said.    "Once (Iraq) stabilises politically and economically it can take care of this portion of the population. But until that happens, external assistance will be required," he added.    The WFP receives most of its funding from the United States.    The group said it had launched a one year emergency operation that will cost $84 million and reach 220,000 malnourished children and 350,000 pregnant and lactating women.    The report comes at a time of increased scrutiny into the former UN oil-for-food program, the $94 billion humanitarian aid plan that operated from 1996 and was shut down last year.    It allowed Iraq to sell oil to buy civilian goods to ease the impact of 1991 Gulf War sanctions on ordinary Iraqis.    After the fall of Saddam Hussein documents surfaced that appeared to show the program had been rife with bribery and kickbacks, prompting UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to order an investigation.    -- Reuters
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