Iraq Hearing

Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen is scheduled to testify next week on his organization's final report before the House Foreign Affairs Middle East and North Africa subcommittee, according to a panel statement.

The hearing will take place at 10 a.m. on July 9.

John Herbst, director of National Defense University's Center for Complex Operations, is also scheduled to testify, according to the statement.

Subcommittee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) said in the statement:

This hearing will focus on the important lessons learned from the stabilization and reconstruction operations (SRO) undertaken by the United States in Iraq and the hope is to apply those to our other reconstruction efforts moving forward, most notably as our mission in Afghanistan shifts to a post-conflict emphasis. The critical bottom line of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) report underscores the need for a drastic change in how the United States conducts SRO efforts. SIGIR’s report highlights our inability in Iraq to organize, plan or execute a post-conflict strategy and the lack of accountability over the millions of American taxpayer dollars that were wasted. It’s important to cull from those lessons a best practices approach so the our nation can avoid the substantial human and financial costs associated with the rebuilding efforts in Iraq, and apply them to any similar role in the future.