The report, commissioned by opposition Democrats in the U.S. Congress, also said billions of dollars have been shifted away from rebuilding projects to pay private security contractors and to train and equip Iraqi forces.
'We're not building what needs to be built to meet the basic, everyday needs of Iraqis,' said U.S. Representative Henry Waxman, who published the report. 'Our credibility is being further eroded.'
The report used U.S. government audits and briefings and documents from the State Department's Iraq Reconstruction Management Office in Baghdad.
It said Iraq spent 3 billion dollars to import fuel between January and August 2005 because it could not produce enough refined petroleum products for domestic use.
While in March 2003 Iraq produced 2.6 million barrels of oil per day, production remained below 2.4 million barrels per day in August 2005, the report said.
Only 66 per cent of Iraqis had access to potable water and peak electricity output was 4,635 megawatts on August 26, 2005, nowhere near the U.S. administration's promise to increase peak output to at least 6,000 megawatts, the study said.
In addition, the study said a 'flawed contracting strategy' has led to 'overspending and underperformance.'
'The administration has spent literally billions of taxpayer dollars on reconstruction in Iraq, yet progress has been limited or nonexistent and much of the money has been squandered,' said Waxman, the top Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee.
