From TruthOut
By Mark Renner

Republicans and Democrats have been in an uproar over a new report that examines the amount of money the government of Iraq has been taking in and where they have been spending it. However, according to a leading Iraq economy scholar, the report is being misinterpreted and the political fall-out could be extremely harmful.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) report (.pdf), released on Tuesday, shows that the government of Iraq has spent less money than the United States in reconstructing vital infrastructure despite a growing surplus in Iraq’s treasury. Focusing on raw dollar figures, the report estimates that the government of Iraq has spent $3.9 billion since 2005 on security, oil, water and electricity projects.

Because of high oil prices, the government has been taking in more money than it’s spending, accumulating billions of dollars during this same time period. Currently Iraq’s budget surplus is estimated at $29 billion, with a possible surplus of an additional $50 billion in 2008.

In statements, senators from both parties compared the seemingly paltry Iraqi expenditures with the $23.2 billion spent by the US government in these specific reconstruction areas since the 2003 invasion.

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