April 2009: Quarterly Report To Congress

The Changing Face of Iraq Reconstruction

Ambassador Christopher Hill has been confi rmed as the new U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, assuming leadership of diplomacy, development, and continuing reconstruction eff orts. He arrives in Baghdad to take on a variety of signifi cant challenges, including:

• Reconciling Kurdish-Arab divisions, which are worsening, particularly with regard to Kirkuk
• helping Iraq fi ght the problem of corruption in national and local governments, which prime Minister al-Maliki has acknowledged as serious and significant
• adapting the reconstruction mission to a changing U.S. security posture, which will affect the U.S civilian presence, particularly the Provincial Reconstruction Teams
• assisting Iraq in responding to its faltering GDP, which has been constricted by the collapse in world oil prices

Notwithstanding these daunting challenges, Ambassador Hill inherits an Iraq more stable and prosperous than the country his three preceding Chiefs of Mission encountered. Th e security environment is generally safer now than at any time since the 2003 invasion, the GOI recently approved its largest budget in six years, and the January 31 provincial elections were a success.

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This report is also broken out by Figures, Pictures, and Tables. Download all Pictures here.