Money Down the Drain in Iraq NYTIMES OP ED

[jbfam4]

Editorial http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/26/opinion/26thu1.html

Money Down the Drain in Iraq


Published: October 26, 2006
When the full encyclopedia of Bush administration misfeasance in Iraq is compiled, it will have to include a lengthy section on the contracting fiascos that wasted billions of taxpayer dollars in the name of rebuilding the country. It isn’t only money that was lost. Washington’s disgraceful failure to deliver on its promises to restore electricity, water and oil distribution, and to rebuild education and health facilities, turned millions of once sympathetic Iraqis against the American presence.

Their discovery that the world’s richest, most technologically advanced country could not restore basic services to minimal prewar levels left an impression of American weakness and, worse, of indifference to the well-being of ordinary Iraqis. That further poisoned a situation already soured by White House intelligence breakdowns, military misjudgments and political blunders.

The latest contracting revelations came in a report issued Tuesday by the office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. The office reviewed records covering $1.3 billion out of the $18.4 billion that Congress voted for Iraq reconstruction two years ago. Reported overhead costs ran from a low of 11 percent for several contracts awarded to Lucent to a high of 55 percent for, you guessed it, the Halliburton subsidiary, KBR Inc.


Bush administration incompetence, not corporate greed, is the chief culprit. Still, these charges are one more example of how the favored American companies lucky enough to be awarded reconstruction contracts made large sums of money while the Iraqis failed to get most of the promised benefits.

As Americans now look for explanations of how things went so horribly wrong in Iraq, they should not overlook the shameful breakdowns in reconstruction contracting. They need to insist that Congress impose tough new rules on the Pentagon to ensure more competitive bidding, tighter contract writing and more rigorous supervision. That is the best way to ensure that such a costly and damaging failure never happens again.

[CJCRANE]

1. "Incompetence"?

Bushco get away with the incompetence excuse for everything they do, but it's on such a large scale - surely there's got to be a more appropriate word for that?

[ThomCat]

2. Right. It wasn't just incompetence.

Though there is a lot of that too. They are ignoring the greed. It seems that this administration will use every opportunity, every disaster, every tragedy as a way of diverting money to their supporters.

[ixion]

4. yep... they used the word 'misfeasence', but it is really 'malfeasence'

Because there's just too much of it to be a 'mis'.

[Marrak]

3. Ronald Dumfeld says:

Back Off!

<>
"Bush-War Admin", a no-liability, no-accountability company.

[Rageneau]

5. Hey, NYT -- are you sorry yet for lying about Gore?

And for cheerleading for the war?