Tuesday, February 17, 2004

World Bank on Iraq escallating dangers (more...) Posted here Tuesday, February 17, 2004 at 12:45:28 PM     It is hard to get a solid assessment of trends in Iraq. My current assumption has been that it is going better than reporting tells us. But I've had doubts. This report supports that it is is not good and the trend is bad. World Bank 'wrote security fears report' By Nicholas Pelham in Baghdad and Alan Beattie in WashingtonPublished: February 17 2004 4:00 | Last Updated: February 17 2004 4:00 USAID, the American aid agency, said the report it circulated last week warning of a rise in Iraq attacks and possible "Balkanisation" of the country was an assessment received from the World Bank.The report, which the bank said was confidential, was sent by USAID's security officer in Iraq to help alert foreign aid agencies to what the document said was the danger of an "escalating" insurgency. The report, entitled "January national review of Iraq", carried a graph tracing a rapidly rising rate of high-intensity attacks on both civilian and military targets in Iraq ********