And then, without notice, the American soldiers who helped construct his madrassa showed up again, this time with books, pencils, notebooks and crayons.

As the children standing in a circle in the school's stark courtyard applauded the soldiers, Jassen imparted his own blessing.

"These children are your children, not just our children," he said. "We will never forget the American people who carried weapons in one hand and built this school with the other."

If Jassen's sentiment holds true on a larger scale, it would be no small return on the $25 million the military has invested in community building projects in the areas of Najaf and Karbala this year. Troops who have seen, firsthand, the responses of community members to American-funded community improvement projects, say they cannot imagine that anything they can do with their guns, tanks and jets could match the effectiveness of such missions.

But the recent Army-led trip to Jassen's school - and three others, under U.S. funded construction - came at a time when American officials are questioning whether some rebuilding projects in Iraq may have to be discarded.

The U.S. special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction has told U.S. lawmakers that security costs may have claimed more than a quarter of the resources meant to fund reconstruction. Stuart Bowen told a House of Representatives Government Reform subcommittee that money needed to complete and fund thousands of projects - from water to oil to electricity - "will outstrip the available revenue."

The effect of Bowen's prognosis on relatively small projects - like Jassen's school - is yet unclear. But the symptom was evident in the soldiers' visits to three schools under construction.

At one of the schools, Spc. Andrew Moser, of Cache Valley, Utah, scuffled with an onsite security officer, armed with an AK-47, who had been hired to protect the workers building the school. Officers from the Utah-based 115th Maintenance Company, which helped provide school supplies and security for the mission, later said the guard appeared to have misunderstood instructions to lower the barrel of his weapon and was probably just trying to do the job for which he had been hired.

In his statements to lawmakers, Bowen said estimates for reconstruction failed to include the costs of people like the school security guard.

In areas like the Shiite-dominated province of Najaf, which has been relatively free of insurgent violence in the past year, that cost may be minimal - a single security guard with a Kalashnikov might suffice for smaller projects.

But in other areas, maintaining security can not only be costly, but prohibitive to reconstruction.

In the volatile Al Anbar province, for example, American military officials and Iraqi businessmen are working furiously to figure out how to return the region's largest employer - a glass factory on the outskirts of Ramadi - to business.

U.S. forces shut down the operation, which once employed more than 2,200 people, last year after soldiers at nearby Camp Ramadi took sniper fire from factory buildings.

Since then, the United States has poured more than $500,000 into helping to renovate the facility, though it is unclear where, exactly, all the money has gone. The factory now lies in virtual ruins, with bird droppings piled high on rusted, dirt-covered bottling machinery and broken glass scattered throughout the plant.

The facility's director, Fou'ad Hammaad Enezi, has insisted he could have the plant up and running in a matter of weeks, if he can get clearance from U.S. forces to do so. But keeping insurgent fighters out while letting local workers in won't be easy - or cheap. Additionally, Enezi noted, transporting the volatile gasses needed for the production of glass from Baghdad on Iraq's dangerous highways will come with additional security costs.

But Maj. Victor Sarkozi, an Ogden resident and member of the Utah-based 222nd Field Artillery, said any costs incurred by the United States would be worth the benefit of getting the factory up and running.

"One of the biggest enemies we face here is the economy," said Sarkosi, who regularly meets with factory leaders in an effort to resolve differences over how to get the facility up and running. "If we can help put a couple thousand people back to work, just think of what that would mean."

In this Sunni-dominated land, where Americans troops patrolling streets are often met with scornful looks - and sometimes by roadside bombs - the factory's resurgence may never bring the goodwill that the building of schools has in Najaf.

"But here is a place to start," Sarkosi said. "And we must start somewhere."

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Reporter Matthew D. LaPlante and photographer Rick Egan are traveling in Iraq with Utah-based military units. Daily online dispatches, including additional information about, and photographs of, the troops with whom they are assigned, may be found at www.sltrib.com/iraq.

You may reach LaPlante and Egan at iraq@sltrib.com.