Subject: Rebuilding Iraq
Rebuilding Iraq is a U.S. national security priority. As part of this effort, Congress
appropriated $79 billon in emergency supplemental funds for fiscal year 2003 for military
operations and Iraq’s reconstruction, including humanitarian relief, peacekeeping, and
economic and political reform. We have issued reports on similar programs to rebuild
countries in the former Yugoslavia, the former Soviet Union, and other locations (see
attachment III for a listing of previous GAO reports). Based on this work, we have
developed short papers to help congressional decision-makers think about and prioritize
the range of issues related to rebuilding Iraq. These papers cover the following topics.
Food Aid and Humanitarian Relief
The conflict in Iraq has compromised the country’s food security and its medical and
water systems. In response, the World Food Program has developed an emergency plan
to meet the food needs of 27 million Iraqis, at a cost of $1.2 billion, from March 25 to
September 25, 2003. Other donors, including the United States, are providing medicine
and potable water to many locations. In addition, as many as 1 million Arabs may be
displaced in Northern Iraq by Kurds, who are retaking the homes and villages they were
expelled from over the last three decades. Potential issues are the total cost of food and
humanitarian aid, coordination and effectiveness of humanitarian aid, the transition from
emergency aid to sustainable living, and efforts to provide for the internally displaced.
Peace Operations
The peace operation in Iraq presents significant security and political challenges for the
United States. Some tasks for the peacekeeping phase are providing security,