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.