Rice admits 'mistakes' in Iraq

2006-02-16 22:01

Washington - US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, under sharp questioning in the senate over Iraq, acknowledged on Thursday mistakes in early efforts to rebuild the battered country and raise local security forces.

Testifying before the senate budget committee, Rice was generally upbeat about progress in the reconstruction of Iraq nearly three years after US forces ousted Saddam Hussein.

She said "large portions" of the Iraqi infrastructure had been modernised and about 227 000 "quality" Iraqi troops had been trained and equipped to battle a raging insurgency alongside US forces.

But the chief US diplomat admitted that the process of raising an Iraqi army and police force had got off to a bumpy start.

"To be fair, we made a mistake earlier. We relied on number rather than on quality," she said.

Efforts to mount effective Iraqi security forces are a key part of the US administration's exit strategy for the eventual withdrawal of the approximately 150 000 US troops in the country.

But military officials say that of the 227 000 trained and equipped Iraqis, fewer than 100 000 have been organised into battalions as fighting forces.

Water, sewage

Rice also clashed with Democratic senator Kent Conrad, who took issue with her assessment that the Americans had boosted the capacity for clean water for seven million Iraqis and four million had better sewage operations.

Conrad cited media reports and official figures showing the percentage of Iraqis with clean drinking water had declined from 50% before the war to 32% now.

Those with decent sewage were down from 24% to 20%.

"Who are we to believe?" he asked.

When Rice countered that it might be the difference between delivery or capacity, Conrad shot back: "We can improve capacity, that's great. But at the end of the day, what matters to people is to get it!"

Rice, visibly uneasy, backed off and recognised that US forces had shifted the focus from large-scale reconstruction projects to more local efforts "to make certain that there is also better delivery for Iraqis".

Conrad was unmoved.

Money

"Please mark me down as a sceptic," he said, adding that "by virtually every measure, things are going in the wrong direction, not the right direction.

"I am very concerned that we are going to be asked for more funding."

The United States has spent more than $20bn on Iraqi reconstruction.

The White House is seeking $120bn to cover operations in Iraq and Afghanistan on top of another $50bn in a defence spending bill approved in December.

- AFP