Corruption, Shoddy Work and Mismanagement Cripple Iraq Reconstruction

[babylonsister]

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050307J.shtml

Corruption, Shoddy Work and Mismanagement Cripple Iraq Reconstruction
By William Fisher
t r u t h o u t | Report

Thursday 03 May 2007

Evidence of widespread corruption, shoddy work, and poor management has called into question the Bush administration's claims that sabotage by insurgents is responsible for the failure of its multibillion-dollar Iraq reconstruction effort.

The new and growing body of evidence comes from the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR); the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which is the investigative arm of Congress, and CorpWatch, a nonpartisan, not-for-profit monitoring organization.

The head of SIGIR, Stuart Bowen, reports that his agency sampled eight projects that the administration had touted as successes, and found that seven were no longer operating because of plumbing and electrical failures, lack of proper maintenance, apparent looting and expensive equipment never used.

The GAO tells Congress that Iraqi government institutions are undeveloped and confront significant challenges in staffing a competent, nonpartisan civil service that's effectively fighting corruption; using modern technology, and managing resources effectively.

And CorpWatch reports that smugglers are suspected of diverting billions of dollars worth of crude oil onto tankers because the oil metering system that's supposed to monitor how much crude flows into and out of (oil terminals) has not worked since the March 2003 US invasion of Iraq.

more...

[dave_p]

1. ... and still it goes on

Remember this? It's probably the biggest fraud in history, all paid for by the Iraqi people.