The United States needs to improve its foreign nation stabilization and reconstruction efforts as they are both “disorganized” and “grossly underfunded” aspects of its national security architecture, the Pentagon’s special inspector general for Iraq (SIGIR) said yesterday.
“We invest hundreds of billions of dollars in military to ensure the president has the variety of options he’s now considering regarding military action (in Syria),” SIGIR Stuart Bowen said yesterday at a Defense Writers Group breakfast in Washington. “We invest very little in the stabilization/reconstruction piece, which means the president doesn’t have that range of options. He’s limited and I think that is a mistake.”
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| Special Inspector General for Iraq (SIGIR) Stuart Bowen. Photo: SIGIR. |
Part of the problem, Bowen said, is that the United States doesn’t do a good job ensuring multilateral participation, both financially and militarily. Bowen said in Iraq it was mostly U.S. investment in reconstruction. In his final report on Iraq reconstruction, released in March, Bowen said the United States spent nearly $60 billion reconstructing the Middle Eastern nation.
Bowen said the United States hosted a 2003 conference in Madrid to solicit donor commitments from partner nations. He said the United States was successful in securing commitments, but not collecting much of those commitments. According to the SIGIR quarterly report to Congress delivered in April, international donors contributed $14 billion to the Iraq reconstruction effort.
“When we go into these multilateral operations, they ought to be multilateral in every sense of the word,” Bowen said. “Those who have the most to gain from a successful stabilization/reconstruction operation are those countries in the (Gulf) region.”
Bowen said a bill introduced in the House could bring some organization to future U.S. reconstruction efforts. H.R. 2606, also known as the stabilization and reconstruction integration bill, was introduced in June and would establish the U.S. Office for Contingency Operations (USOCO). The bill said it would provide an “effective” means to plan for, and execute, stabilization and reconstruction operations in foreign countries; provide for unity of command in the planning and execution of such efforts; provide accountability for resources dedicated to stabilization and reconstruction; maximize the efficient use of resources and establish an entity to plan operations across relevant federal departments and agencies.
“H.R. 2606 would put someone in charge,” Bowen said. “No one’s in charge (and) someone should be in charge. USOCO would answer the mail on who’s in charge.”
The office would be headed by a director nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The director would report to the secretaries of defense and state. The bill has been referred to the House armed services, foreign affairs and oversight and government reform committees.