Billions wasted in Iraq, says US audit

[cal04]

· Projects behind schedule despite massive outlay
· Roadside bomb kills 3 contractors, wounds 2
A US congressional inspection team set up to monitor reconstruction in Iraq today publishes a scathing report of failures by contractors, mainly from the US, to carry out projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars. In one case, the inspection team found that three years after the invasion only six of 150 health centres proposed for Iraq had been completed by a US contractor, in spite of 75% of the $186m (£100m) allocated having been spent.

The report says: "Fourteen more will be completed by the contractor, and the remaining facilities, which are partially constructed, will have to be completed by other means." The inspectors blame the failure in this instance on management problems and security concerns. The danger facing foreigners in Iraq was highlighted yesterday when a roadside bomb 30 miles south of Baghdad killed three private security firm staff and wounded two others. One of the wounded is British, the Foreign Office said.

The detailed and lengthy report on work projects in Iraq has been drawn up by Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction (Sigir). Mr Bowen's office was set up after Congress expressed concern about the slow rate of reconstruction and the misuse of funds on a massive scale. The report says Mr Bowen's inspection team is investigating 72 cases of alleged fraud and corruption, and is pursuing leads not only in the US but in Europe and the Middle East.

In March, investigators conducted a successful sting operation which led to the arrest of a contractor who offered a bribe to one of its undercover agents. The report says many completed projects "have delivered positive results, but there exists a gap between US project outputs and the delivery of essential services to Iraqis". While progress has been made in the construction of schools and police stations, many Iraqis still have no access to clean water, and electricity supplies in Baghdad are still below pre-invasion levels. The inspectors say that economic recovery is being hampered by the failure to restore Iraq's oil production to levels before 2003. The report says that corruption in the oil and gas sector is a continuing problem that could have "devastating effects" on reconstruction in Iraq.

more
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1765048,00.html

[SpiralHawk]

1. George AWOL Bush, Five Deferments Cheney and the CON culture of corruption

are directly responsible for this massive squandering of US taxpayer money.

Shame on them and their whole vast, stinking republicon culture of corruption.

[smtpgirl]

2. Why would it be anything more?

Did people question L. Paul Bremer where the $8 mil. went when he left Iraq????

[Kagemusha]

5. Bil. $8 bil.

nt

[spindrifter]

3. See other thread on topic:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1067674&mesg_id=1067674

[neoblues]

4. Yup, the Least-Best Government Money Can Buy...

Kinda like trying to open an ice-cream stand, on a hot day, in the middle of the Sahara, while purchasing all the requisite supplies and equipment on the spot (note: there's nothing to buy from the non-existent shops out in the middle of the Sahara). Generally speaking, though, we did come across a tiny caravan of Bedouin and their camels, so at least we could buy some Camel Milk... now, if we had some eggs, honey and... maybe some ice (and a nice ice-cream maker would be helpful). Anybody know how long Camel Milk lasts when it's 116 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade (did I mention... there's no shade, just sand dunes)?

Since the camels left, we'd better make some ice-cream soon or we'll be out here with nothing to sell to the crowds... Oh, wait, there aren't any crowds--and the caravans come by maybe once every six months or so.

Conclusion: making ice cream in the heat of the desert with no ice and only spoiled camel milk while having no equipment, to say nothing of having no customers... is probably infinitely easier and more profitable than "nation building" by forcing Democracy on Arab Muslims...

[NYC Liberal]

6. We needed a whole investigation to tell us this?

Hell, *I* could've told you money was being wasted in Iraq.

[leesa]

7. Exactly as planned. It went into the pockets of Bush's rich buddies.

What do you think we invaded for?

[cal04]

8. Iraq Inspector Says Rebuilding Lags as Handover Deadline Nears

The U.S.-led reconstruction effort in Iraq is running out of money and hundreds of projects are at risk of going unfinished as the yearend deadline approaches for handing off most of the work to the Iraqis, according to the U.S. inspector overseeing the effort. The rebuilding has been beset by mismanagement, corruption and crime as well as insurgent attacks and sectarian violence, Inspector General Stuart Bowen said in a report to Congress today. ``The U.S. relief and reconstruction effort will accomplish less than originally planned,'' Bowen said. ``Fewer projects will be completed than expected,'' and the shortfalls ``have the cumulative effect of slowing improvement in the daily lives of Iraqis.''

Congress requires Bowen to report every three months on the U.S. investment in Iraq's reconstruction. He calls this 228-page report his first ``comprehensive and detailed picture.'' The Bush administration last week touted the end of a four- month deadlock on forming an Iraqi government as a major step toward the planned drawdown of U.S. troops. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld visited Baghdad to give what they said was a clear message that it's time for Iraqis to take control of their destiny.

Bowen's report offers a dismal forecast of what might be left behind when the U.S. leaves, said Michael O'Hanlon, an analyst at the Brookings Institution in Washington who has studied the U.S. effort to rebuild Iraq. ``The bottom line is that infrastructure and quality-of-life indicators in Iraq are not getting better,'' he said. ``So much effort is being put in for so little progress.''

(snip)
`Critical Juncture'
Bowen said the reconstruction effort is at a ``critical juncture'' because most U.S.-funded projects and programs will be handed over to the Iraqis by year's end, and money has been diverted from reconstruction into training and equipping Iraq's security forces who will take over as the U.S. draws down its force of 132,000. He urged Congress to pass the emergency spending bill now before the U.S. Senate that includes $3.2 billion extra for reconstruction on top of the $18.4 billion approved so far. Most of that money has been spent and much remains unfinished, Bowen said.

more
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=ab8SOfouzGaQ&refer=home

[lovuian]

9. You mean Billions stolen!!!

like I said Thieves are in the WhiteHouse Congress and SupremeCourt and Military!!!

[Peter Frank]

10. It's...

...far worse than that.

[rodeodance]

11. and we are about to throw more Billions at the problem!

[sutz12]

12. Don't worry guys!

After all, the value of all those dollars we wasted is going down now as the dollar falls on international markets, so they are actually saving us money!

:sarcasm:

[maddezmom]

13. kick

[RamboLiberal]

14. Failures cited in Iraq rebuilding - Auditors detail a range of woes

http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2006/05/02/failures_cited_in_iraq_rebuilding/

A crucial program to train 20,400 Iraqis to guard key oil and electricity infrastructure sites ended in failure last year, with only about half that number actually trained and millions of dollars worth of automatic weapons, armored cars, night-vision goggles, and other equipment unaccounted for, auditors reported to Congress yesterday.

US officials who ran the training effort, Task Force Shield, kept so little documentation on how they spent the $147 million in Iraqi and American funds allocated to finance it that the program is now being investigated for fraud, the auditors said.

The program was one of a number studied by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, a congressionally appointed watchdog assessing the reconstruction efforts, which reports to Congress quarterly.

The inspector general also highlighted failures in the effort to build and refurbish hospitals and health centers across rural Iraq. Because of poor government oversight and the underperformance of a private contractor and its subcontractors, a $186 million project to construct 150 primary health care centers had managed to complete just six of the centers at the time the audit was prepared, according to the report to Congress and a newly released audit on that project.

[MissMillie]

15. Yet... it's LIBERALS that are the reason why we don't have victory in Iraq

:sarcasm:

[OregonBlue]

16. Didn't Bush make it illegal to prosecute American contractors in

Iraq? Thought I read this somewhere on DU. Part of Bremmer rules? Signing statement by Pres?