Efforts to rebuild Iraq following nearly a decade of war will remain incomplete, said Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction. “If you can’t finish a semester, you get an ‘I.’ We weren’t able to finish what we set out to do,” said Bowen during an Aug. 29 meeting with defense reporters in Washington, D.C. Individually, Bowen gave the various reconstruction efforts a passing grade. However, none received a high mark, he noted. As far as security is concerned, Bowen said, “we largely achieved our goals.” He gave security a B+. Governance and capacity building earned a C- and healthcare got by with a D. Electricity earned a B grade. “Instead of a nine-year rebuilding program, we had nine, one-year rebuilding programs,” he said. Success in any follow-on contingency operations would require both “clarity of unity and clarity of command in order to achieve unity of effort,” he said.
U.S. Air Force F-15C Eagles have roared out of Barnes Air National Guard Base, Mass., for the last time. The 104th Fighter Wing’s last three F-15Cs departed the base Oct. 23 for the “Boneyard” at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., ending the aircraft's era on the frontlines of homeland defense.
