Iraq estimates it needs $100 billion to rebuild after defeating ISIS

Iraq estimates it will cost the nation $100 billion to rebuild after being ravaged by the Islamic State, with some officials grimly predicting that the sum could be the price tag for addressing Mosul alone, The Associated Press reports. But Baghdad, plagued by its own mismanagement, has not had much success finding help to foot the bill; the Trump administration has already refused to pay for the rehabilitation. "As a result, much of the rebuilding that has happened has come from individuals using personal savings to salvage homes and shops as best they can," AP writes.

That is no small task. In Mosul, which once served as the ISIS capital in Iraq, certain neighborhoods are covered in as much as 3,000 tons of rubble per acre with "much of it laced with explosives and unexploded ordnance." At least 40,000 homes in the city need to be restored, the United Nations predicts. "All I can think of is Dresden, or pictures I've seen of World War II," said senior satellite imagery analyst Stephen Wood, who has reviewed pictures of Mosul.

Rebuilding Iraq could mean more than just helping people return home, some locals point out. If Mosul isn't restored, the director of the municipality warned AP, "it will result in the rebirth of terrorism."

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