Well, since I have an audience, I would like to follow up and say that USAID has been providing assistance to local governments since 2003. CA units were providing assistance to neighborhood, district and provincial councils as well. Would be interested to hear what folks think about promoting strong local government (decentralization?) in Iraq.

More info on USAID's work in this area at:
http://www.usaid.gov/iraq/accomplishments/locgov.html

More info on USAID's Local Governance Project in Iraq at:
http://www.lgp-iraq.org/