RawStory has the scoop
http://www.rawstory.com/showarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fs%2Fafp%2F20060712%2Fwl_mideast_afp%2Fusiraqpolitics_060712075015%26printer%3D1%3B_ylt%3DAkOx2bKjac0Ma5X9IM58ag2ROrgF%3B_ylu%3DX3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-<snip>
The overall number of attacks increased by 23 percent from 2004 to 2005 and rose to the highest ever level of intensity last April, the investigators pointed out.
In the absence of security, the document continued, efforts to rebuild the war-ravaged country or even to return key segments of its economy to their pre-war level have hit a roadblock.
. . .
A combination of insurgent attacks on pipelines, dilapidated infrastructure and poor maintenance have hindered domestic refining and turned Iraq into an importer of liquefied gas, gasoline, kerosene and diesel fuel, the document said.
Water and sanitation projects, on which the United States spent about 52 million dollars, were inoperable or operating below capacity.
Investment has been reduced to a trickle. Last year, the report noted, the Iraqi government budgeted approximately five billion dollars for capital expenditures, but managed to spend only a few hundred million.
. . .
Meanwhile, it will take 30 billion dollars for the Iraqi oil industry to produce five million barrels a day -- and 20 billion to rebuild the electricity sector, the agency estimated.
All of these factors have prompted the GAO to issue a dire forecast: "Security, political, and economic factors will hamper US efforts to stabilize Iraq and achieve key US goals."
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