The UK Independent says that there are now renewed "fears that Western staff and companies may flee Iraq, and the already slow reconstruction effort may grind to a complete halt.

It is a far cry from the bonanza of lucrative reconstruction contracts envisaged before the war, that were supposed to make the invasion and occupation of Iraq a self-financing affair. Today the American group Bechtel employs two security staff for every one of its Western employees in Baghdad. The biggest American contractor, Halliburton, has seen 34 of its employees killed in Iraq.

There is little sign of reconstruction. Electricity is still only available for 12 hours of the day in Baghdad, a city of 5 million people. There is no sign of road building, and Baghdad's sewer system is collapsing."