Isn't it time after hearing stories about the waste of taxpayer money in Iraq for years that people start getting fired for incompetence and corruption? M

Published on Saturday, May 31, 2008 by CommonDreams.org
Missing Money In Iraq

by Christopher Brauchli

In my creed, waste of public money is like the sin against the Holy Ghost.
- John, Viscount Morley of Blackburn, Recollections (1917)

It puts it in a whole new light. And a better light it is. I refer to the recent news about spending in Iraq.

At a hearing before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform with the catchy title of Accountability Lapses in Multiple Funds, all sorts of interesting examples were offered by the representative from the Inspector General’s office that made earlier disclosures as to misspent funds in Iraq seem benign. The words used to describe the hearing are technical terms for which an explanation is needed. ”

Accountability” refers to the fact that the U.S. government disbursed $8.2 billion on Iraqi affairs and either forgot to get receipts or, when it got receipts, forgot to put on the receipts detailed descriptions of what the money was spent for. The reference to “multiple funds” means that it wasn’t only U.S. taxpayer dollars that were the victims of “Accountability Lapses.” Monies belonging to the Iraqi government known as “Seized and Vested Assets” were also victims of these lapses. The audit found that $1.8 billion in Iraqi assets over which the United States had disbursal authority was paid out in cash with no record of who the recipients were.

Mary L. Ugone (that is her last name-it is not a government name given someone looking for missing funds)m the Deputy Inspector General for Audit for the Department of Defense, explained the audit was started because a Defense Criminal Investigative Service assessment found that there were inadequate controls over disbursement of either U.S. taxpayer dollars or funds belonging to Iraq that were disbursed by U.S. authorities, disbursals the U.S. was able to make because of the very close relationship the U.S. enjoys with Iraq’s money (and leaders.) Ms. Ugone told the committee that the Department of Defense had been appropriated $492 billion to support Operation Iraqi Freedom and that $2.8 billion of Seized and Vested Assets were to be returned to Iraq to “help rebuild its infrastructure and economy.” Ms. Ugone said that $1.4 billion in contract and vendor payments and $6.3 billion in commercial payments lacked minimum supporting documentation and information for proper payment.

Ms. Ugone’s testimony was 29 pages in length. At page 16 of her testimony she describes the payment of $320 million in cash “to an Iraqi representative for Iraqi salary payments” with no indication of to whom the funds were provided or how many people were to receive salary payments. It seems appropriate that Iraqi funds be used to pay Iraqi salaries. It would probably have been helpful to indicate who got the salaries.

An exhibit attached to the hearing showed that David Dial, of Irmo (Home of the Okra Strut), S.C. received a U.S Treasury check for an entity called IAP for $11,122,582.80 with no indication what it was for other than “Public Voucher for Purchases and Services Other Than Personal.” Alderson Williams, SFC, certified that the “voucher is correct and proper for payment.” A U.S. Treasury check for $5,674,075 went to Al Kasid Specialized Vehicles Trading Company c/o Federal Reserve Bank in Baghdad without a description of what it was for. Anyone wanting more examples can go to the Washington Post or the New York Times.

The difference between disclosures at the May hearing and earlier disclosures is the fact that there was less embarrassment associated with the earlier disclosures. We know from earlier reports that Parsons, a Texas construction company had a $243 million contract to build 150 health clinics in Iraq, paid itself $60 million of that amount for administration and management and, using the remainder, completed 20 of the 150 clinics. We know Parsons had a contract for $99.1 million to build the Khan Bani Saad Correctional Facility North of Baghdad that was to be completed by June 2006. When that date rolled around, Parsons said it could not complete it before September 2008 and it would cost an addition $13.5 million to complete. Pocketing what it had been paid Parsons went off to look in the classified ads or the White House for other work. The contract was cancelled.

KBR overcharged for meals served troops in Iraq and delivered unsafe drinking water to those troops. (It has just entered into a new contract enabling it to share in a $150 billion contract to provide services to American soldiers in Iraq.)


URL to article: Missing Money In Iraq - CommonDreams.org

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You just wonder how this can go on and how the people involved are not being charged with various criminal offences.

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Trust me, I'm a socialist!

There's power in a factory,power in the land, power in the hand of the worker. But it all amounts to nothing if together we don't stand, there is power in a union.
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Money speaks for money, the devil for his own. - Billy Bragg

There will always be money scandals when huge amounts of money are involved and the wrong people get it in their hands.

But a lot of this seemingly undocumented spending may have security implications as well. The US forces provided the initial training and arming of many Iraqis, which initially was not supposed to be known for the trainees own sake of risk were they to be found out. There was money used to pay tribal leaders and locals to help protect neighborhoods or contribute to keeping the peace as well, and some of these may be undocumented for those same reasons.

Im not surprised that some companies paid on a government payroll would misuse the money given to them, because we've all seen that one before.

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"...Follow the crystal star to the pyre of the flame; there exists the dwelling of the spreading fire. The heart of this life rests upon the fate of that place, and what begins there sends a contagion to the rest of the universe.
As long as the fire burns we shall never be free..." (The Shadows of Yavara, Final Reclamation)

Yes, and companies who do this should be issued huge fines and banned from receiving further government contracts. But this doesn't happen.

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Walter Mondale: "George Bush doesn't have the manhood to apologize." George Bush: "Well, on the manhood thing, I'll put mine up against his any time."

with all their oil reserves, iraq should be rolling in money these days. we shouldnt have to be funding anything

It is my understanding that Iraq has the crude, but not the refineries.

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Walter Mondale: "George Bush doesn't have the manhood to apologize." George Bush: "Well, on the manhood thing, I'll put mine up against his any time."

you might be right - i dont really know but i imagine that ANY and ALL US refineries would LOVE to get hold of that crude oil

The issue is how to distribute the oil revenue fairly. They are still bickering about how to do this. So it goes into the bank and it is accumulating while we spend $12 a month on Iraq.

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And our money and our troops are being wasted on it all...

The Iraq War was what Senator Chuck Hagel called mission drift. We go into Afghanistan after Osama and Al Qaeda then let them escape into Pakistan. Then the sicko neo cons took over with their 1998 plan to remove Saddam from power. Since Bush and Cheney and the neo cons hijacked our original mission to quagmire us in Iraq, maybe they should personally pick up the tab.

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