 NYTimes. Targeting of western firms slows reconstruction in Iraq (see "Global Guerrilla Target: Halliburton"to understand the context for this).
Rising security and other overhead costs of Western contractors are cutting into the billions of dollars set aside for some 90 planned water projects, allowing them to supply only half the potable water originally expected, Iraqi officials say. "Everything we planned for, because of the budget limitations, what's available for construction is half," Ms. Berwari said. "There's no reason to dispute the figures," Mr. Susens said of the Iraqi calculations. He added that "security costs are the one thing we can't control. It's controlled by the enemy."
Western companies typically hire large numbers of private security guards, set up elaborate base camps and travel only in heavily guarded convoys, offer much higher salaries than Iraqi companies, pay skyrocketing insurance premiums and require much more administrative support in order to comply with stringent American regulations.
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