In Basra, he said construction of the first new hospital in Iraq since the 1980s, a children's hospital on a 13-acre campus, is to be completed next summer.

Walsh said the United States had contributed nearly $22 billion toward Iraq's reconstruction and "every day we see successes in the U.S. government reconstruction program."

But he agreed with criticism by Iraqis they do not have nearly enough electricity, partly because demand is growing,

"If they hit the switch and the lights don't come on, people are going to be unhappy," Walsh said. "They should be getting more power."

And yet, he said, before President Saddam Hussein was overthrown in a U.S.-led war in 2003, many parts of Iraq did not have more than four or six hours of power a day, although Baghdad had 22 to 24 hours.

That's been shifted now, Walsh said, with the people outside the capital getting about 20 hours of power and Baghdad, 10 to 12 hours.

"So if you were a Baghdadi used to 24 hours of power you would certainly be unhappy," Walsh said.

By the end of Sept. 30, he said, the Corps of Engineers had completed more than 4,000 of 4,600 planned projects.

In the oil sector, he said, $1.7 billion of projects were completed by June. More than 95 percent of Iraq's economy is fueled from oil exports, he said.

Walsh said three key goals had been reached: 3,000 tons of liquefied petroleum gas capacity a day, 3 million barrels of crude oil capacity a day and 800 million standard cubic feet of natural gas a day.

And, he said, last year the Iraqi government put $10 billion aside from its oil revenue for reconstruction and "they are moving forward with that particular task."

"Every day we see successes in the U.S. government reconstruction program in Iraq, better essential services where in some places there were none," Walsh said. "And 75 percent of the country has twice as much power as they had before the war."