The U.S. official overseeing Iraq reconstruction funding — whose recent audits have detailed a wide gap between the promise and result of rebuilding efforts — said in a report published Monday that officials had made significant strides toward providing essential services to Iraqis. “Despite certain setbacks, chiefly caused by security problems, the overall picture conveys a sense of substantial progress in the relief, recovery and reconstruction of Iraq,” Stuart W. Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, said in his latest quarterly report. Full Story