....As the clock ticked down to the U.S. transfer of power last June, reconstruction projects were hopelessly mired in delays, and financial controls at the Iraqi Communications Ministry appeared nonexistent. Yet instead of putting the brakes on spending, top U.S. officials urged that contracts be accelerated, (Bill) Keller said....
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This apparent indifference toward accountability in spending Iraqi money was common among American officials last year as they rushed to sign contracts in the waning days of U.S. control of Iraq, according to interviews and do ents obtained by the Los Angeles Times.
In recent audits and interviews, June 2004 has emerged as a month when both money and accountability were thrown out the window....More than 1,000 contracts were issued by U.S. officials in June, about double the usual number. American officials discovered last month that the U.S. had improperly used Iraqi funds to award at least $85 million in contracts after its authority had lapsed and an interim Iraqi government took over, The Times learned.
Auditors disclosed this month that several U.S. officials were under investigation for possible embezzlement in connection with the June spending blitz....
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U.S. officials are unsure whether billions of dollars dispatched to Iraqi ministries for reconstruction projects ever reached their intended destinations. Schools and hospitals refurbished under hastily issued contracts have again fallen into disrepair. The oil and power industries are in worse shape than during the regime of Saddam Hussein....
(Lots more in this story, about, according to the article, "something like a Barneys warehouse sale in the Wild West, with the U.S. playing the role of frenzied shopper and leaving Iraqis to pay the bill.")
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