If the United States ever tries to rebuild another broken country — say, Syria — it should focus on security, start small and make sure there are independent people on the ground to monitor the projects from the start.

These are among the common-sense lessons gleaned from the checkered record of Iraq, where the US has spent nearly $60 billion on so-called stabilization and reconstruction — of which at least $8-10 billion was wasted due to lack of security, poorly executed contracts and corruption, according to a new report. 

Yet there have also been some successes, according to Stuart Bowen, one of the few Americans dealing with Iraq from nearly the start of the US invasion. In 2004, Bowen, a former associate counsel for President George W. Bush with scant prior Middle East experience, was appointed Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR). Since then, his office has uncovered serious financial crimes, recovered millions of dollars for American taxpayers and redirected funds to where they could do more good for the Iraqi people.

“We’re the only entity that stayed,” Bowen told Al-Monitor in an interview at his Virginia office preceding release Wednesday, March 6 of the final report.