Stuart Bowen Jr, the special inspector general for Iraq Reconstruction, testified on Capitol Hill on Thursday. Bowen has been a harsh critic of the incompetence, disorganization, and waste that has characterized U.S. reconstruction efforts in Iraq, which he has documented in a series of scathing reports since his appointment twenty months ago.
Nonetheless, after having returned from his latest trip to Iraq last week, he now feels "cautious optimism . . . something that I had not returned from Iraq with . . . over the last twenty months."
As he put it: "It's been about twenty months since I have returned from Iraq with a sense of cautious optimism. I have that now."
Below are some highlights from the hearing.
MR. BOWEN: Good. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Chairman Lieberman, ranking member Collins, members of the committee, thank you for this opportunity to address you today on the important issues raised by our Latest Lessons Learned report which contains an extensive review of program and project management in Iraq reconstruction.
But before I begin, let me briefly summarize what I learned in my last trip to Iraq. I returned last week, my fifteenth since I was appointed three years ago, and I returned with a sense of cautious optimism about the progress in the Baghdad security plan. I met with the senior leadership, across-the-board military, and in the embassy -- and, in particular, had very good visits with General Petraeus. And what I learned across-the-board is that the preliminary results of this latest initiative in the Baghdad security plan have been positive.
And so I wanted to begin my discussion by saying that -- that cautious optimism is a good sign, and something that I had not returned from Iraq with, I guess over the last 20 months.
SEN. LIEBERMAN: I appreciate your beginning with that -- that's good news. And your reaction was qualitatively different than on the previous visits you had made -- and you said you've made fifteen visits to Iraq?
MR. BOWEN: Yes, sir.
SEN. LIEBERMAN: In the last 20 months?
MR. BOWEN: In the last three years -- but it's been about 20 months since I have returned from Iraq with a sense of cautious optimism -- I have that now.
SEN. LIEBERMAN: Last week -- and you've been there 15 times. But when you say that you came
back cautiously optimistic and you had a more positive reaction to what you saw than you have in the last 20 months, I take it seriously and significantly. And I think most people who have followed your work do, because you have gained a reputation as a straight talker. You're not a spinmeister if I might say so.
So, obviously, I'm encouraged by that. But I wanted to ask you to just talk in a little more detail. What did you see that brought you back from your last -- most recent trip to Iraq cautiously optimistic about how our cause was proceeding there?
MR. BOWEN: Well, first of all, what I experienced in my visits with senior leadership was a different tone, a more optimistic view of how the Iraqis are responding at this phase, differing from how they responded during Operation Forward Together I and II last year. And let me also say that the cautious optimism applies both to how the Baghdad security plan is moving forward on the military side and how the embassy is moving forward with its strategy in Iraq.
To the first, what I saw every morning at the battle update assessment briefing was a true and effective and progressive coordination of the Baghdad security plan between General Petraeus and General Odierno, the operational commander of MNCI. February was a tough month. Let's be clear. I mean, things have not gotten better in an instant, and that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that although February was the worst month for VBIEDs, for example, by the last week, the number of attacks had dropped significantly. And that has continued to be the case into March.
SEN. LIEBERMAN: In Baghdad.
MR. BOWEN: In Baghdad, and that is also true with insurgent attacks within Baghdad. And I noticed it myself, you know. Having been there so often, I have a sense of the security situation in the Green Zone itself, and I noticed a difference just in my immediate surroundings. I traveled a couple of times into the Red Zone and sensed some difference as well. I visited a project -- the fire brigade headquarters, down about 10 minutes northeast of the Green Zone -- and also visited the -- (inaudible) -- and got some sense there of a incipient change for the better.
On the embassy side, what I saw was real progress on the PRT program. General Olsen, who's the leader of that, is an excellent manager, and it has turned into a lesson learned itself about jointness. I think its own story will be one, I think, that we'd like to tell in our report at the end of the year, the story of Iraq reconstruction, because it is exhibit A for how a Goldwater-Nichols- like reform can be experienced. It is fundamentally a mixture of DOD, State and AID assets with a mixed mission as well.
SEN. LIEBERMAN: With a lot of local input, too.
MR. BOWEN: With a lot of local input.
SEN. LIEBERMAN: Yeah, right.
MR. BOWEN: I think there's so many elements to the story of the PRTs that are important to learn from for future post-conflict contingency planning.
So, in sum, I have a sense of cautious optimism but definitely a wait-and-see attitude about that with respect to the developments of the Baghdad security plan. As I tell people, there are 1,000 problems in Iraq and then there's one, and that one is security in Baghdad.
SEN. LIEBERMAN: Right.
MR. BOWEN: And that is the essential prerequisite to solving the rest of those problems.
