The escalation of violence in Iraq this month is curtailing the pace of U.S. government-financed reconstruction, but both contractors and U.S. officials maintained Thursday that the disruption so far has been relatively minor. Tom Wheelock, director of infrastructure for the U.S. Agency for International Development, said at a news briefing here that 90% of all projects were moving forward. Privately, however, some contractors say the situation is far from normal. “People just aren’t moving now,” an official at one major contractor said on condition he not be identified. “We can’t get out in the field.” Full Story