Reconstruction Failure

The NY Times reports today that former USAID officials believe that reconstruction of major infrastructure in Iraq was destined to fail:

In Iraq, "We set it up to fail," said Andrew S. Natsios, who was director of the United States Agency for International Development until January. He and some White House and State Department officials say they argued early on that a large-scale reconstruction program could never succeed in a hostile environment.

NY Times, Joel Brinkley, April 8, 2006