Iraq police academy set to implode..from the Herald.

[DarrylS]

What has upset me most about Iraq, aside from the way we are viewed by the rest of the world and the loss of life on both sides, is the way money has been spent foolishly and shortsightedly. The rampant fraud and greed has existed, all the while many of our state and local infrastructures are crumbling drives me nuts. The money we have lost in Iraq would go a long way in rebuilding many of our cities and towns. This article from the Herald, talks of how the massive Iraq Police Training Academy is substandard from shoddy worksmanship..

http://news.bostonherald.com/interna...format=&page=1

A U.S. project to turn the Baghdad Police College into the crown jewel of Middle Eastern law enforcement academies is such a shoddy mess that parts of it face demolition and the sprawling facility itself may be forced to shut down in two weeks, an American adviser in Iraq tells the Herald.

The crumbling academy, which was supposed to be finished this summer, is emblematic, American advisers say, of a widespread failure to bring basic civil order to Iraq through stable public safety and justice institutions. It’s a goal to which the United States has committed more tax dollars - $15 billion so far - than any other aspect of Iraqi reconstruction.

“The argument could be made that we already have paid for our mistakes in blood and in money,” said Gerald F. Burke, a former Massachusetts State Police major and Babson College law enforcement instructor who spent 25 months trying to train Iraqis in rudimentary law-and-order skills.“The reality is we and the Iraqis will probably pay far more.”

Burke contacted a ranking adviser in Iraq late last week who confirmed that the Baghdad Police College project, which began in 2004, has all but imploded. Burke and the adviser describe a compound where urine and feces cascade from ceilings through burst pipes, floors sink and buckle, basic services such as food, laundry, ventilation and electricity are inoperative, and even fresh water is unavailable for days.

[Real World]

That was in the news months ago. I remember it because everyone pointed to the Big Dig, and Katrina Relief as comparisons.

[sdaniels7114]

You can't just throw money at a project like that to make it go faster. If you do then you end up with what they got, which appears to be nothing more useful than maybe a target range for the pilots to use. It takes due-diligence and TIME, and that's that. All you'll read about is 'thieving contractors' but I'll just about guarantee that the people who built it were no more dishonest than on any other project. They were just asked to do the impossible and they failed.

Edit- Take a look at what the ABC show: Extreme Makeover, Home Edition, doesn't want you to see. Those houses that are completely re-built in a week are falling down around the new owners a month after the cameras depart.