In a speech on December 7, 2005, “President Bush acknowledged that the rebuilding [in Iraq] had been slowed by violence, corruption, and misplaced priorities. By the time Bush spoke, only $12 billion of the $21 billion allocated for that purpose had been spent, and more than a quarter of that had gone to pay security costs, while some portion of the rest had been wasted or stolen through corruption.”
– Larry Diamond, Squandered Victory, Page 341