USAID appears to be somewhat effective (for a USG organization) in nations that are not experiencing serious conflict, but I haven't seen much success (despite herculean efforts) in hostile areas like Afghanistan and Iraq. I think the failures in Iraq are due to internal corruption and corruption in the U.S. contracting process (primarily the last administration).

USAID simply lacks capacity to resusitate a corpse, borrowing a phrase from Dayuhan from another post.

There are several studies that indicate that our aid (not just USAID) prolongs problems and stiffles needed structural changes. Is aid really developmental or is it life support for a system/government/organization that needs to die?

I would like to see a list of USAID successes that actually mattered? Was it simply a temporary local job program, or did they do something that actually resulted in continued development?

The same caution I suggested for MBJ, carefully deleniate between development and aid.