British magazine: Corruption stopped the wheel of reconstruction after a war that destroyed about 75

[size=52]British magazine: Corruption stopped the wheel of reconstruction after a war that destroyed about 75% of the liberated cities[/size]

[size=45]Translated by Hamid Ahmed[/size]
[size=45]The sight of the people of Mosul performing the Eid Al-Fitr prayer among the ruins and ruins of the historic Al-Nuri Mosque for the first time since the expulsion of ISIS militants from the region in 2017, it is only an image that blatantly reminds us that the reconstruction operations in Iraq are progressing at a snail's pace.[/size]
[size=45]The destruction of Iraq is caused by years of fighting with ISIS in addition to the damage caused by the prolonged war against terrorist organizations in Iraq in which the US-led international coalition has participated since the overthrow of the former regime in the country in 2003. Despite the fact that the United Kingdom donated in 2019 a sum £ 33 million (nearly $ 43 million) to help rebuild devastated cities like Mosul. The disappointing thing is that only a few of the 56,000 homes and buildings damaged by the war have been rebuilt so far. The British magazine, Business Matters, says that the reason for this is largely due to the rampant corruption in the country, which has witnessed the waste and theft of billions of dollars on their way into the pockets of officials, politicians and armed groups. As long as the foundations on which the Iraqi political, judicial and social system were built are reformed and purified from all cases of corruption and manipulation, the country will never be able to rebuild after years of terror and hardships. In nearly four years of fierce fighting and wars, the United States carried out more than 9,000 air strikes and dropped more than 65,000 bombs on Iraq. There is no city in which the size of the damage was greater than the damage caused to the city of Mosul, which witnessed losses estimated at 11 billion dollars, including the destruction of 75% of the public buildings. By September 2018, 17% of the city had been reconstructed, and the Minister of Planning, Salman Al-Jumaili, had estimated in February of that year the cost of rebuilding all the affected cities of Iraq to reach 88.2 billion dollars.[/size]
[size=45]An inspection audit report conducted in 2007 revealed that the benefit of this program was faltering due to the ongoing violence in Iraq, with corruption and weak oversight that were the cause of these problems.[/size]
[size=45]According to one of the official reports, the influential political elites and their allies are taking advantage of the weak state of state institutions and expanding economic opportunities to fill their pockets with money at the expense of the public. The fragile political system based on quotas and favoritism has resulted in a parliament that annually costs the state nearly $ 2 billion in salaries and expenses, and that corruption is rampant in all areas of society's life. In Baghdad, for example, one in three says he has experienced bribery. After ISIS was expelled from Iraq in 2017, then-Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced that the next war would be waged against corruption. After 40 months of those courageous statements, it seems that nothing of these promises has been fulfilled and that corruption is still hindering the progress of Iraq.[/size]
[size=45]Unless the government can reform the way the country is going from the top to the bottom, it does not seem that there is any room for real reconstruction, and in order to achieve this, the international community must play its role in changing the status quo by supporting the building of a new social situation in Iraq that is based on On the principles of stability, good governance and reconciliation. This is Baghdad's only hope for a better future that it depends on.[/size]
[size=45] About: British magazine Business Matters[/size]
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