This must some of dickhead's "enormous progress" in Iraq

[boutons_]

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/printer_friendly/news_logo.gif

US money is 'squandered' in Iraq

Millions of dollars in US rebuilding funds have been wasted in Iraq, US auditors say in a report which warns corruption in the country is rife.

A never-used camp in Baghdad for police trainers with an Olympic-size swimming pool is one of the examples highlighted in audit.

Billions of budgeted dollars meanwhile remain unspent by Iraq's government.

The report comes as President Bush is urging Congress to approve $1.2bn (£600m) in further reconstruction aid.

The audit by Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction (Sigir), is the latest in a regular series of updates to Congress.

Budgeting problems

"The security situation continue to deteriorate, hindering progress in all reconstruction sectors and threatening the overall reconstruction effort," says his 579-page report, which is due to be released later on Wednesday.

Among the wide-ranging findings, the audit says that corruption continues to plague Iraq and infrastructure security remains vulnerable.

Auditors express "significant concern" about the Iraqi government's record in managing and spending budgets.

Billions of dollars budgeted for capital projects remained unspent at the end of 2006, the report says.

Vague invoices

As well as not spending funds, the audit also highlights ways in which money has been used either improperly or wastefully.

US FUNDS IN IRAQ
Security and justice 34%
Electricity 23%
Water 12%
Economic, societal development 12%
Oil and gas 9%
Transport, communications 4%
Health care 4%
Source: Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction

One case involved a payment by the US State Department of $43.8m to a contractor, DynCorp International, for a residential camp for police trainers outside the Adnan Palace grounds in Baghdad. The camp has never been used.

The Iraqi Interior Ministry ordered $4.2m of work there, never authorised by the State Department, that included 20 trailers for important visitors and an Olympic-size swimming pool.

The State Department has said that it is working to improve controls.

Another example cited in the report is $36.4m spent by US officials on armoured vehicles, body armour and communications equipment that cannot be accounted for because invoices were vague and there was no back-up documentation.

Contracts have been awarded for virtually all of the $21bn earmarked by the US government for Iraqi reconstruction, and some 80% has been spent.

Democrats, who now control the US Congress, have expressed concern at the prospect of devoting more funds to rebuilding efforts in Iraq.

Rep Henry Waxman is planning in-depth hearings next week into charges of waste and fraud in Iraq.

Since 2003, the way reconstruction aid is used has changed, with money originally destined for infrastructure programmes cut and more spent on areas like security and democracy projects.

Electricity output remains below pre-war levels, while funds initially earmarked for water and sewerage have been cut by 50%, the audit says.

Investigations

The report also points to continuing high unemployment, put at 18% but widely believed to be under-reported, as a contributing factor in the insurgency.

It concludes that the Iraqi government's "most significant challenge" continues to be strengthening the judiciary, prisons and the police.

"The United States has spent billions of dollars in this area, with limited success to date."

Mr Bowen's audit office began operations in March 2004 and is currently conducting 78 investigations, of which 23 have been referred to the US Department of Justice.

There have so far been four convictions.

His office, which was nearly closed down last year by Republicans, is now due to carry on its oversight work through 2008.

( one of the real objectives of the Regug Iraq war to enrich US companies aka profiteers. A funded, competent, effective audit function is too be shut down by the Repugs. Where are the reports showing the complete list of US companies and payments to them?

Yoni and Whott bitch about the German and French companies that were profiting from Iraq before the invasion. Now those companies have been replaced by US companies profiting from Iraq. It's ALWAYS about the $$$, NEVER about bullshit like democracy or WMD.

The "bottom line" is that there simply is no Iraq there to stand up so dubya can retreat in defeat. )

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/6316057.stm

Published: 2007/01/31 10:43:53 GMT

© BBC MMVII

======================

OK, everybody, copy your Iraq invoices and be ready to re-submit them all over again in IRAN!! :lol


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[boutons_]

January 31, 2007

U.S. Wasted Millions in Iraq Aid, Investigators Say

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 6:42 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. government wasted tens of millions of dollars in Iraq reconstruction aid, including scores of unaccounted-for weapons and a never-used camp for housing police trainers with an Olympic-size swimming pool, investigators say.

The quarterly audit by Stuart Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, is the latest to paint a grim picture of waste, fraud and frustration in an Iraq war and reconstruction effort that has cost taxpayers more than $300 billion and left the region near civil war.

''The security situation in Iraq continues to deteriorate, hindering progress in all reconstruction sectors and threatening the overall reconstruction effort,'' according to the 579-page report, which was being released Wednesday.

Calling Iraq's sectarian violence the greatest challenge, Bowen said in a telephone interview that billions in U.S. aid spent on strengthening security has had limited effect. Reconstruction now will fall largely on Iraqis to manage -- and they're nowhere ready for the task.

The audit comes as President Bush is pressing Congress to approve $1.2 billion in new reconstruction aid as part of his broader plan to stabilize Iraq by sending 21,500 more U.S. troops to Baghdad and Anbar province.

Democrats in Congress have been skeptical. Virginia Sen. Jim Webb has suggested that the U.S. is spending too much on Iraq reconstruction at the expense of Hurricane Katrina rebuilding in New Orleans, while California Rep. Henry Waxman plans in-depth hearings next week into charges of Iraq waste and fraud.

According to the report, the State Department paid $43.8 million to contractor DynCorp International for the residential camp for police training personnel outside of Baghdad's Adnan Palace grounds that has stood empty for months. About $4.2 million of the money was improperly spent on 20 VIP trailers and an Olympic-size pool, all ordered by the Iraqi Ministry of Interior but never authorized by the U.S.

U.S. officials spent another $36.4 million for weapons such as armored vehicles, body armor and communications equipment that can't be accounted for. DynCorp also may have prematurely billed $18 million in other potentially unjustified costs, the report said.

Responding, the State Department said in the report that it was working to improve controls. Already, it has developed a review process that rejected a $1.1 million DynCorp bill earlier this month on a separate contract because the billed rate was incorrect.

A spokesman for DynCorp, Greg Lagana, did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment.

Bowen, whose office was nearly eliminated last month by administration-friendly Republicans in Congress, called spending waste in Iraq a continuing problem. Corruption is high among Iraqi officials, while U.S. contract management remains somewhat weak. http://spurstalk.com/forums/images/smilies/smilol.gif

With America's $21 billion rebuilding effort largely finished, it will be up to the international community and the Iraqis to step up its dollars to sustain reconstruction, Bowen said in the interview. ''That will be a long-term and very expensive process,'' he said.

According to the report:

--Major U.S. contractors in Iraq, including Bechtel National and Kellogg, Brown and Root Services Inc., said they devoted an average 12.5 percent of their total expenses for security.

--Bowen's office opened 27 new criminal probes in the last quarter, bringing the total number of active cases to 78. Twenty-three are awaiting prosecutorial action by the Justice Department, most of them centering on charges of bribery and kickbacks.

Still, ''fraud has not been a significant component of the U.S. experience in Iraq,'' Bowen said.

As of the end of 2006, contracts had been let for all of the $21 billion Congress put into the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund it created in 2003. Some 80 percent of the money has been paid out, the report said.

Since 2003, use of the reconstruction aid changed several times as U.S. officials shifted priorities to spend more on security problems or programs critical to supporting elections or developing the new government.

For example, money was cut from what had been originally planned for electricity, water, oil projects and transportation and communication so it could be used to help pay for such things as health care, elections, democracy programs and training Iraqi security forces.

Overall, the largest single expense was security. The total was spent in the following way:

--34 percent for security and justice.

--23 percent to try to generate and distribute electricity. Still, the report noted, output in the last quarter averaged below pre-war levels.

--12 percent for water.

--12 percent for economic and societal development.

--9 percent for oil and gas.

--4 percent for transportation and communications.

--4 percent for health care.

Auditors had ''significant concern'' about the way ahead, partly because of the Iraqi government's bad track record on budgeting for such projects, the report said. It said the Iraqi government had ''billions of budgeted dollars remained unspent at the end of 2006.''

Unemployment remains high, contributing to the insurgency because it sours the population and leaves idle young men to their own devices, according to the report.

The government's ''most significant challenge continues to be strengthening rule-of-law institutions -- the judiciary, prisons and the police,'' the report said. ''The United States has spent billions of dollars in this area, with limited success to date.''

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aka "Enormous Progress"

you're doing a heckuva job, dubya

And let's keep doing it for year and years and years and years and years ....

... and 1000s more US military lives wasted ...

.

dickhead "has the stomach" for it. Anybody else?

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[clambake]

If congress doesn't act, it might be time for a mini revolution. Doesn't have to be an all out assault, just enough to get them back on track.

[boutons_]

"on track."

dubya/dickhead/condi/rummy were NEVER "on track"

with no Iraq state to stand up, hoping to get "on track" is sorta like:

Talking Heads

Well we know where we're goin'
But we don't know where we've been
And we know what we're knowin'
But we can't say what we've seen
And we're not little children
And we know what we want
And the future is certain
Give us time to work it out

We're on a road to nowhere
Come on inside
Takin' that ride to nowhere
We'll take that ride

I'm feelin' okay this mornin'
And you know,
We're on the road to paradise
Here we go, here we go

Chorus

Maybe you wonder where you are
I don't care
Here is where time is on our side
Take you there...take you there

Were on a road to nowhere
Were on a road to nowhere
Were on a road to nowhere

Theres a city in my mind
Come along and take that ride
And its all right, baby, its all right

And it's very far away
But it's growing day by day
And it's all right, baby, it's all right

They can tell you what to do
But they'll make a fool of you
And it's all right, baby, it's all right

We're on a road to nowhere

[clambake]

I meant congress on track. I would never suggest that bush was ever on track. I'm just hoping he can attach himself to some reality. Wishful thinking.

[Extra Stout]

If congress doesn't act, it might be time for a mini revolution. Doesn't have to be an all out assault, just enough to get them back on track.
Like what, the populist movement of the 1890's?

[ChumpDumper]

--Major U.S. contractors in Iraq, including Bechtel National and Kellogg, Brown and Root Services Inc., said they devoted an average 12.5 percent of their total expenses for security.KBR is Haliburton, in case you didn't already know.

[clambake]

Tell them the reasons for aquiring KBR.

[clambake]

Ok, Ill tell them.

It's so they could slap those company names over the name "Haliburton".

ES. I had to google the populist movement. Interesting info.

[johnsmith]

Everyone acts as if Halburton and Bechtel were the only company's given the opportunity to bid on work in Iraq. Truth of the matter is that all major contractors were given the opportunity but either declined due to the "danger" and politics of the contracts or they just weren't large enough companies to afford contracts with overseas work that demanded highly paid laborers and management.

Bechtel and Haliburton are pretty damn big companies by the way.

Oh, and there is a construction company in your own SA back yard that has joint ventured with KBR on several occassions, does this make them in on the conspiracy as well?

[johnsmith]

Ok, Ill tell them.

It's so they could slap those company names over the name "Haliburton".

ES. I had to google the populist movement. Interesting info.


Oh by the way, Haliburton purchased KBR in 1998.

Seems odd that they would buy KBR before this war was even on the horizon if the sole purpose was to mask the name Haliburton. That's just me though.

[Bob Lanier]

Halliburton's owned Brown and Root since the early 1960s.

[johnsmith]

Halliburton's owned Brown and Root since the early 1960s.


They didn't own the "K" part of it until 1998 though.

[1369]

Oh, and there is a construction company in your own SA back yard that has joint ventured with KBR on several occassions, does this make them in on the conspiracy as well?

Would they start with a "Z" or a "C"?

[johnsmith]

Would they start with a "Z" or a "C"?



I have no idea.

:angel

[PixelPusher]

Right now on MSNBC, they're showing the "Wartime Fleecing of America" story about the newly built Iraqi police academy with shit (literally) dripping down the light fixtures.

[Ya Vez]

Right now on MSNBC, they're showing the "Wartime Fleecing of America" story about the newly built Iraqi police academy with shit (literally) dripping down the light fixtures.

thats too funny... ever look up welfare fraud in the US?

[ChumpDumper]

What does that have to do with Iraq?

[PixelPusher]

What does that have to do with Iraq?
He probably just left out the word "corporate".