The massive nation-building effort underway in Iraq, led largely by the US government and American contractors, has been beset for almost 2 years by delays, insurgent attacks and corruption. Any one of these factors could derail the initiative, which aims to make Iraq an economic engine of the Middle East. Taken together, however, and in light of the findings of 2 new reports on the reconstruction, the future of rebuilding looks imperiled. In addition to kidnappings and ambushes, an Army analysis attributed the slow reconstruction to shortages of critical US government personnel. Particularly lacking are career procurement and contracting specialists with the skills and experience to manage massive nation-building operations.

Problems