October 14, 2004
WASHINGTON -- U.S. and Iraqi officials doled out hundreds of millions of dollars in oil proceeds and other moneys for Iraqi projects earlier this year, but there was little effort to monitor or justify the expenditures, according to an audit released Thursday.
Files that could explain many of the payments are missing or nonexistent, and contracting rules were ignored, according to auditors working for an agency created by the United Nations.
"We found one case where a payment ($2.6 million) was authorized by the CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority) senior adviser to the Ministry of Oil," the report said. "We were unable to obtain an underlying contract" or even "evidence of services being rendered."
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Auditors questioned why checks were made payable to a U.S. official -- a senior adviser to the Iraqi ministry of health -- rather than to suppliers.
Other questions were raised about funds provided by the U.S.-run governing authority to Kurdish officials in northern Iraq. In one instance, auditors were given a deposit slip that showed the transfer of $1.4 billion to a Kurdish bank. Auditors said they were denied access to accounting records and were unable to verify how -- or if -- the money was spent.
http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-iraq-funds-audit,0,688042.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlinesIn the meantime, the Bush's are bankrupting the US Treasury, while their friends stuff their pockets full of money. Iraq is not being rebuilt and our children will be paying for Bush's Blunder for the rest of their lives.
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