Henry Waxman: “before we went to war, President Bush and other administration officials made three promises to the American people…”

“before we went to war, President Bush and other administration officials made three promises to the American people: one, we would find weapons of mass destruction; two, we would be welcomed as liberators; and, three, the reconstruction of Iraq would pay for itself. Well, all three promises proved to be false. Today I will focus on the reconstruction effort in Iraq and the massive waste, fraud, and abuse that have undermined our efforts. Stuart Bowen is the Special Inspector General for Iraq reconstruction. He often talks about the reconstruction gap which is the chasm between the President's promises and reality. Mr. Bowen is absolutely right: the gap is enormous. But it is dwarfed by the incompetency and corruption gaps in Iraq. The consequences of mismanagement and corruption are serious. Waste, fraud, and abuse have flourished. The taxpayer has been repeatedly gouged. Iraq is not being rebuilt. We have lost credibility and are now viewed in Iraq as occupiers, and our troops did not get essential equipment when they needed it. We have now spent $50 billion on Iraq reconstruction, including $30 billion from U.S. taxpayers. Let's look at what we got for the money. Despite spending $2 billion, Iraq's oil production is still well below prewar levels, running about a half million barrels below 2003 levels. We have invested $4 billion into improving electricity generation.…”