Late August 2003: US General Tells Committee of the Efficiency of Using Iraqi Firms

Members of the US House Committee on Government Reform travel to Mosul, Iraq and talk with Major General David Petraeus, commander of the US Army 101st Airborne Division. Petraeus tells them how he was responsible for fixing a cement plant in northern Iraq. US engineers told him it would cost $15 million to restore the plant. Instead, he gave the job to Iraqis, who managed to fix the plant with only $80,000. [US Congress, 9/30/2003, pp. 2, 4-5 ]