Ellington

About $10 billion has been squandered by the U.S. government on Iraq reconstruction aid because of contractor overcharges and unsupported expenses, and federal investigators warned Thursday that significantly more taxpayer money is at risk. The three top auditors overseeing work in Iraq told a House committee their review of $57 billion in Iraq contracts found that Defense and State department officials condoned or allowed repeated work delays, bloated expenses and payments for shoddy work or work never done. More than one in six dollars charged by U.S. contractors were questionable or unsupported, nearly triple the amount of waste the Government Accountability Office estimated last fall.

"There is no accountability," said David M. Walker, who heads the auditing arm of Congress. "Organizations charged with overseeing contracts are not held accountable. Contractors are not held accountable. The individuals responsible are not held accountable." [...]

Senate Democrats said recently cited cases of waste were "outrageous rip-offs of the American taxpayer" and introduced legislation Thursday to stiffen punishment for war profiteers and cut down on cronyism in contracting.

According to their testimony, the investigators:
_Found overpricing and waste in Iraq contracts amounting to $4.9 billion since the Defense Contract Audit Agency began its work in 2003. Some of that money has been recovered. An additional $5.1 billion in expenses were charged without proper documentation.

_Pointed to growing Iraqi sectarian violence as a significant factor behind bloated U.S. contracting bills. Iraqi officials, they said, must begin to take primary responsibility for reconstruction efforts. That is an uncertain goal, given the widespread corruption in Iraq and the local government's inability to fund projects.

_Urged the Pentagon to reconsider its growing reliance on outside contractors in wars and reconstruction efforts. Layers of subcontractors, poor documentation and lack of strong contract management are rampant and promote waste even after the GAO first warned of problems 15 years ago.

Walker complained that GAO investigators have difficulty getting basic detail about reconstruction contracts such as expenses and subcontractors involved because many Pentagon divisions fail to consistently track or fully report them.

Previous Comments

ID

91298

Comment

King, is there any hope for republicans? I'm all out of hope for those hopeless sinners and schemers.

Author

Ray Carter

Date

2007-02-16T09:58:43-06:00

ID

91299

Comment

Sure, I mean Democrats have recovered from old Bill being in office. :D

Author

Ironghost

Date

2007-02-16T10:00:07-06:00

ID

91300

Comment

And to think how all those squandered billions could've been put to good use to improve things in America, like infrastructure and education.

Author

golden eagle

Date

2007-02-16T10:07:04-06:00

ID

91301

Comment

If I might jump in... The NRA now has 4 million members; we recovered from the clinton years as well.

Author

Cliff Cargill

Date

2007-02-16T10:07:21-06:00

ID

91302

Comment

I'm less surprised by this than you guys are. Whenever large govt contracts are thrown out like that, especially in foreign policy, these things happen as any look at history shows. Problem is there are not many companies that can do alot of these things either. You need companies to operate in Iraq. You have Shaw, Halliburton, and a few others. Who else do you get? Having said that, the influence peddling game will always exist to some level. Not justifying it, just stating reality. Obviously if they get nailed they should be prosecuted.

Author

Kingfish

Date

2007-02-16T10:07:57-06:00

ID

91303

Comment

The stealings, killings and destroyings will stop with the next president - a Democrat. Don't know which one yet. That is, unless, of course, Fruity Guiliano wins, in which case I'm defecting back to Senegal. I can't take any more of this crap.

Author

Ray Carter

Date

2007-02-16T10:24:45-06:00

ID

91304

Comment

Cliff, where can I find a gun range to practice shooting a gun I purchased 7 years ago that I still don't know how to load or shoot? I'm scared of the gun!

Author

Ray Carter

Date

2007-02-16T10:28:42-06:00

ID

91305

Comment

knock it off Ray. there was quite a few crap in the previous admin and you know it. Remember the Chicoms? Loreal?

Author

Kingfish

Date

2007-02-16T10:30:07-06:00

ID

91306

Comment

I think Magnolia near Byram is still open and then there is the indoor shooting range on Hwy 80 near CLinton if its still open.

Author

Kingfish

Date

2007-02-16T10:31:29-06:00

ID

91307

Comment

I take it King you saw the hidden meaning in one of my comments. Wasn't it funny though?

Author

Ray Carter

Date

2007-02-16T10:39:40-06:00

ID

91308

Comment

I hope no one will seriously argue that the Clinton administration was fiscally as irresponsible as the Bush catastrophe. Under the Clinton adminstration there was a SURPLUS, the stock market made an incredible advance, and consumer confidence reached recod highs. This "conservative" Republican adminstration has completely destroyed the fiscal soundness of the nation; not to mention our credibility across the globe. It will take a generation to repair the damage that has been done. Remember the Chicoms? Are you serious? Now they own our debt incurred for the Iraq campaign!! I would rather they make a few political contributions than own half a trillion dollars of our debt.

Author

Willezurmacht

Date

2007-02-16T10:48:41-06:00

ID

91309

Comment

Sho Nuff.

Author

Ray Carter

Date

2007-02-16T10:51:30-06:00

ID

91310

Comment

Ray, Kinfish is right on both counts. If you need lessons though, let me know.

Author

Cliff Cargill

Date

2007-02-16T10:53:58-06:00

ID

91311

Comment

ok, time for some clarification here. Markets didn't take off until after Republican Congress assumed office and taxes on capital gains were cut. Once capital gains tax rates were cut and had time to take effect, the markets then took off. The Republican Congress had to pass all budgets, you do remember that part, right? You want to take responsibility for the dot.com bubble by the way? Gaz prices also started spiking when Clinton was in office in early 2000? You want that one too? I'm not prepared to blame him by the way as its market forces at work, however, I'm just using your logic. By the way, the Chicoms got nuclear secrets. YOu ok with that since they bought them? I assume you know about that whole deal so I can only assume you are intentionally leaving out that fact.

Author

Kingfish

Date

2007-02-16T10:57:57-06:00

ID

91312

Comment

and while you are accusing Bush of being fiscally irresponsible, does that mean you want to take back the NCLB act and medicare drug expansion?

Author

Kingfish

Date

2007-02-16T11:03:49-06:00

ID

91313

Comment

Thanks, Cliff. I'll let you know. If someone broke in on me right now, I'd run for fear of shooting myself. Also I perform a dangerous job for a living. Sometimes I worry I might have to shoot my way out of town.

Author

Ray Carter

Date

2007-02-16T11:03:52-06:00

ID

91314

Comment

You don't have to be scared; I can teach you. Have a look Ray: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mo72JfXiJoo

Author

Cliff Cargill

Date

2007-02-16T11:08:40-06:00

ID

91315

Comment

Thanks! I'll contact you after my next trial concludes. Hoefully, no one will shoot me before then.

Author

Ray Carter

Date

2007-02-16T11:21:17-06:00

ID

91316

Comment

I remember a lot of things the Repuiblican congress did. Including condemning the Clinton adminstration for attacking the Al Quaeda sites with cruise missles. Blocking lobbying reform. I would go on but I have to teach a course on american politics. Ill be sure to pass on your thoughts.

Author

Willezurmacht

Date

2007-02-16T12:02:16-06:00

ID

91317

Comment

Kingfish, please demonstrate how it is that the so-called chicoms got our nuclear secrets. You will automatically lose 15 points if you mention Wen Ho Lee. As for No Child Left Behind and the Medicare drug benefit, I would happily return both to their sender. NCLB is a mess that has never been funded adequately. The medicare drug benefit is the best thing that ever happened to America's pharmaceutical companies. Only in America could the government be so self-loathing that it would prohibit itself from negotiating drug prices. Or rather, Bush would prohibit the government from doing so, as he seems to regard the role of government to be enriching private companies. They talk about "distorting the market" if you let the government act as a large purchaser of drugs, as if locking the government into artificially high prices that no private company would ever accept does not distort the market. No, you can have that benefit back, King. We can do better than that.

Author

Brian C Johnson

Date

2007-02-16T12:34:44-06:00

ID

91318

Comment

Kingfish is right. Corrupt contractors and government officials exist regardless of which party is in power. The real issue is "What are we doing to keep corruption to the minimum humanly possible?" Namely, *Do we have enough auditors to investigate the financial statements? *Does Congress allocate enough funds to fund the investigative arms of the various government departments, including funds to hire investigators and to fund investigations? *What are Robert Gates and his deputies doing to reduce corrpution, to the extent that DoD does the subcontracting? You can no doubt think of others.

Author

Philip

Date

2007-02-16T12:49:26-06:00

ID

91319

Comment

To date, the auditors have been the fox "guarding the henhouse." Have you ever heard of "No-Bid Contracts" for a war? The unit supplying even the food and toilet tissue is the same one that operates the cranes. America can do better than this. The war has been a total rip off and has set Americans back 100 years. The hardest thing of all will be rebuilding our reputation of being a nation of people whose hearts and minds are right: With the majority of the folks working for the common good of others.

Author

justjess

Date

2007-02-16T16:27:07-06:00

ID

91320

Comment

The hallmarks of this administration have been increased federal spending, an increase in federal power at the expense of states (security and education specifically), corruption, incompetence, and nepotism. A historical irony that these are the same adjectives that Republiucans used to campaign against.

Author

Willezurmacht

Date

2007-02-19T12:15:17-06:00