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Iraq Relief And Reconstruction Fund
The Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund (IRRF) was established by the US Congress on November 6, 2003. It allocated $18.4 billion to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure, damaged from years of neglect, sanctions, and war. As of March 29, 2006, approximately $16.3 billion, or 89%, had been obligated and $11.4 billion had been spent. The fund has come under some criticism due to the slowness with which the allocated money has been disbursed, largely because of the time-consuming US procurement process. Top construction firm Bechtel was awarded almost $3 billion dollars between two contracts with USAID through this fund, the first contract being in effect 2003-2006, the second 2004-2007. According to a July 2007 report from the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, Stuart Bowen, the second contract consisted of 24 job orders, mostly in water and sanitation, but also in power, telecommunications, and buildings. A budget for the allocation of the $18.4 billion may be founhere ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
US Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Senators and representatives are chosen through direct election, though vacancies in the Senate may be filled by a governor's appointment. Congress has 535 voting members: 100 senators and 435 representatives. The U.S. vice president has a vote in the Senate only when senators are evenly divided. The House of Representatives has six non-voting members. The sitting of a Congress is for a two-year term, at present, beginning every other January. Elections are held every even-numbered year on Election Day. The members of the House of Representatives are elected for the two-year term of a Congress. The Reapportionment Act of 1929 establishes that there be 435 representatives and the Uniform Congressional Redistricting Act requires tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reconstruction Of Iraq
Investment in post-2003 Iraq refers to international efforts to rebuild the infrastructure of Iraq since the Iraq War in 2003. Along with the economic reform of Iraq, international projects have been implemented to repair and upgrade Iraqi water and sewage treatment plants, electricity production, hospitals, schools, housing, and transportation systems. Much of the work has been funded by the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund, and the Coalition Provisional Authority. A significant event for aid or investment in post-2003 Iraq was the Madrid Conference on Reconstruction on 23 October 2003, which was attended by representatives from over 25 nations. Funds assembled at this conference and from other sources have been administered by the United Nations and the World Bank under the umbrella of the International Reconstruction Fund Facility for Iraq. While reconstruction efforts have produced some successes, problems have arisen with the implementation of internationally funded Ira ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bechtel
Bechtel Corporation () is an American engineering, procurement, construction, and project management company founded in San Francisco, California, and headquartered in Reston, Virginia. , the ''Engineering News-Record'' ranked Bechtel as the second largest construction company in the United States. History Founding and early years Bechtel's business activities began in 1898, when cattle farmer Warren A. Bechtel moved from Peabody, Kansas, to the Oklahoma Territory to construct railroads with his team of mules. Bechtel moved his family frequently between construction sites around the western United States for the next several years, eventually moving to Oakland, California, in 1904, where he worked as the superintendent on the Western Pacific Railroad. In 1906, W. A. Bechtel won his first subcontract to build part of the Oroville-to-Oakland section of the Western Pacific Railroad. That year he bought a steam shovel, becoming a pioneer of the new technology. He painted "W.A. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Agency For International Development
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 billion, USAID is one of the largest official aid agencies in the world and accounts for more than half of all U.S. foreign assistance—the highest in the world in absolute dollar terms. Congress passed the Foreign Assistance Act on September 4, 1961, which reorganized U.S. foreign assistance programs and mandated the creation of an agency to administer economic aid. USAID was subsequently established by the executive order of President John F. Kennedy, who sought to unite several existing foreign assistance organizations and programs under one agency. USAID became the first U.S. foreign assistance organization whose primary focus was long-term socioeconomic development. USAID's programs are authorized by Congress in the Foreign Assistanc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stuart Bowen
Stuart W. Bowen Jr. (born March 24, 1958), is an American lawyer who served as the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) from October 2004 to October 2013. He previously served as the Inspector General for the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA-IG), a position to which he was appointed in January 2004. Mr. Bowen's mission includes ensuring effective oversight of the $63 billion appropriated for Iraq's relief and reconstruction. Background Born in Washington, D.C., on March 24, 1958, Mr. Bowen attended the Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia, earned a Bachelor of Arts, B.A. from the University of the South/Sewanee, attended Vanderbilt University Law School, and received a Juris Doctor, J.D. from St. Mary's University School of Law in San Antonio, where he served on the Law Journal's Editorial Board. He spent four years on active duty as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Air Force, earning the rank of captain (United States), Captain and the Air For ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Special Inspector General For Iraq Reconstruction
The Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) (October 2004 - October 2013) was created as the successor to the Coalition Provisional Authority Office of Inspector General (CPA-IG). SIGIR was an independent government agency created by the Congress to provide oversight of the use (or misuse) of the $52 billion U.S. reconstruction program in Iraq. Stuart W. Bowen Jr. was appointed to the position of CPA-IG on January 20, 2004 and served until its closure in October 2013. SIGIR reported directly to Congress, the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of Defense. SIGIR's mission was to provide independent and objective oversight of U.S.-funded Iraq reconstruction policies, programs, and operations through comprehensive audits, inspections, and investigations. As of July 2009, SIGIR has issued 22 Quarterly Reports to Congress, 303 audits and inspections, 386 recommendations, and four Lessons Learned reports. SIGIR representatives have also testified befor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Financial Cost Of The Iraq War
The following is a partial accounting of financial costs of the 2003 Iraq War by the United States and the United Kingdom, the two largest non-Iraqi participants of the multinational force in Iraq. US war costs Direct costs The costs of the 2003–2010 Iraq War are often contested, as academics and critics have unearthed many hidden costs not represented in official estimates. The most recent major report on these costs come from Brown University in the form of the Costs of War, which totaled just over $1.1 trillion. The United States Department of Defense's direct spending on Iraq totaled at least $757.8 billion, but also highlighting the complementary costs at home, such as interest paid on the funds borrowed to finance the wars. Those figures are dramatically higher than typical estimates published just prior to the start of the Iraq War, many of which were based on a shorter term of involvement. For example, in a March 16, 2003 ''Meet the Press'' interview of Vice Presiden ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coalition Provisional Authority
) , capital = Baghdad , largest_city = capital , common_languages = ArabicKurdishEnglish (''de facto'') , government_type = Transitional government , legislature = Iraqi Governing Council , title_leader = Administrator , leader1 = Jay Garner , leader2 = Paul Bremer , year_leader1 = 2003 , year_leader2 = 2003–2004 , title_deputy = Deputy Administrator , deputy1= Richard Jones , year_deputy1 = 2003–2004 , era = Iraq War , event_pre = Saddam Hussein and Ba'ath Party deposed , date_pre = 21 April 2003 , event_start=CPA established , date_start=16 May , year_start = 2003 , event_end = Interim government , date_end = 28 June , year_end = 2004 , stat_year1 = , stat_area1 = , stat_pop1 = , currency = Iraqi dinar , today=Iraq The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA; ar, سلطة الائتلاف المؤقتة, ku, هاوپەيمانى دەسەڵاتى كاتى) was a transitional government of Iraq established following the invasio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coalition Provisional Authority Program Review Board
The Coalition Provisional Authority Program Review Board was composed of the senior personnel of the Coalition Provisional Authority, charged with the responsibility to review and make recommendations about the awarding of contracts to the administrator of the authority, Paul Bremer. The board recommended the awarding of more than 800 contracts. It had the authority to recommend expenditures from both the Development Fund for Iraq, which the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) administered in trust on behalf of the Iraqi people, and the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund, which the CPA administered on behalf of the American people. The expenditures from the Development Fund for Iraq that the board recommended to CPA Administrator Bremer were made under obligations the Coalition undertook under United Nations resolutionbr>1483 They included making sure that expenditures were administered in an open and transparent manner. According to the KPMG audit of the Development Fund for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Development Fund For Iraq
In May 2003, following the invasion of Iraq in March of that year, the Central Bank of Iraq-Development Fund for Iraq (DFI) account was created at the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of New York at the request of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) Administrator. A part of the fund has been transferred to Baghdad and Iraq, and the DFI-Baghdad account was opened at the Central Bank of Iraq "for cash payment requirements". The fund also eventually received money (US$1.724 billion) from seized and "vested" Iraqi bank accounts and funds seized by coalition forces ($926.7 million). $650 million of this amount belongs to Uday Saddam Hussein, the older son of the former Iraqi president. (This money was also used during the transition period before the DFI was set up.) The DFI have been disbursed mainly for "the wheat purchase program, the currency exchange program, the electricity and oil infrastructure programs, equipment for Iraqis security forces, and for Iraqi civil service salaries a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
