Biden endorses Iraq partition

Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., saying sectarian violence is driving the country toward civil war, Monday proposed partitioning Iraq into three semiautonomous regions as part of a plan to defuse internal strife and speed withdrawal of all U.S. troops by 2008.

Biden said his plan will give competing religious and ethnic groups administrative authority over their regions. Each region would have a share of Iraq's oil revenue, which would be administered by a central government with limited authority. Biden, a leading Democratic voice on foreign policy, unveiled the plan at the World Affairs Council in Philadelphia.

"The sectarian genie is out of the bottle," Biden said. "Ethnic militias increasingly are the law in large parts of Iraq. They have infiltrated the official security forces. Sectarian cleansing has begun in mixed areas, with tens of thousands of Iraqis fleeing their homes in recent weeks, and dozens of dead bodies turn up in Baghdad daily."

The White House said Iraqis have rejected such plans before.

"A partitioned government with regional security forces and a weak central government is something that no Iraqi leader has proposed, and that the Iraqi people have not supported," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

Biden said his plan would give Iraq's main competing religious and ethnic groups administrative authority over their regions, and permit them to establish their own military forces.

Report: Rebuilding won't be finished

The $21 billion U.S. rebuilding campaign in Iraq has made "substantial progress" but will leave a legacy of unbuilt projects and unfulfilled promises, said a report issued Monday by the U.S. reconstruction watchdog.

Congress requires Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, to report every three months on the U.S. investment in Iraq's reconstruction. He called this 228-page report his first "comprehensive and detailed picture."

Bowen described a substantial gap between projects promised by U.S. officials and those likely to be completed before U.S. funds are exhausted. All U.S. rebuilding funds have been allocated and more than 60 percent of the money has been spent, the report said.

The report said hours of electric power in all areas of the country except Baghdad are now above prewar levels, U.S.-sponsored projects have provided potable water to 3.1 million more Iraqis and sewer service to an additional 5.1 million, 5,108 schools have been refurbished or repaired and more than 47,000 teachers have been trained.

Bowen cited several instances where key initiatives were derailed by security issues, corruption and mismanagement. Among them:

• A $243 million contract awarded to Parsons Corp., a Pasadena, Calif.-based construction company, to build and equip 150 primary health centers in Iraq is already running short. After $186 million spent, only six health centers are complete and only 14 more will be finished by Parsons, the report said.

• Task Force Shield, the $147 million program to train Iraqi security units to protect key oil and electrical sites, failed to meet its goals, the report said. "The lack of records and equipment accountability raised significant concerns about possible fraud, waste and abuse by U.S. and Iraqi officials," the report said.

Also

Living conditions protested: About 200 Shiites rallied Monday outside the Green Zone in Baghdad to demand that U.S. and Iraqi forces do more to stop insurgent attacks in the capital and help Iraqis who are fleeing their homes because of sectarian violence.

Soldiers protest: A day after a near-riot by hundreds of Sunni recruits who were told they were to deploy away from their hometowns at a ceremony marking the end of basic training at Habbaniya base near Fallujah, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Michael Negard expressed optimism that the soldiers would go anywhere to fight insurgents.

Compiled from USA Today, Knight Ridder Newspapers, The Associated Press and Reuters