Inspector general report: U.S. cannot account for $1.7 billion spent in Iraq

[unhappycamper]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/06/inspector-general-report-u-s-cannot-account-for-1-7-billion-spent-in-iraq/



Stuart Bowen, Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, attends a Senate hearing on Capitol Hill on November 18, 2010 in Washington, DC.

Inspector general report: U.S. cannot account for $1.7 billion spent in Iraq
By Agence France-Presse
Wednesday, March 6, 2013 15:07 EST

After invading Iraq ten years ago, the United States spent $60 billion on a vast reconstruction effort that left behind few successes and a litany of failures, an auditor’s report said Wednesday.

The ambitious plan to transform the country after the fall of Saddam Hussein has been marked by half-finished projects and crushed expectations, according to the final report of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, Stuart Bowen.

The aid effort was plagued by in-fighting among US agencies and an improvised “adhocracy” approach, with no one clearly in charge of a massive investment that was supposed to put Iraq on a stable footing, said the report to Congress.

~snip~

Some of the reconstruction money was stolen, with a number of US military officers and contractors now imprisoned for fraud, while other funds remain unaccounted for to this day, it said.



unhappycamper comment: Lest you think only $1.7 billion dollars disappeared in Iraq, there was also this little gem from 2004:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,129489,00.html

Audit Shows $8.8B Missing in Iraq
Published August 20, 2004
FoxNews.com

A soon-to-be-released audit will show that at least $8.8 billion in Iraqi money that was given to Iraqi ministries by the former U.S.-led authority there cannot be accounted for, FOX News has confirmed.

~snip~

The draft audit by the Coalition Provisional Authority's (search) inspector general chastises the CPA — formerly led by L. Paul Bremer — for "not providing adequate stewardship" of at least $8.8 billion from the Development Fund for Iraq. The audit is not expected to be released for at least two or three more weeks, possibly longer.

The audit was first reported on a Web site earlier this month by journalist and retired Col. David Hackworth. A U.S. official first confirmed to Reuters the contents of the leaked audit cited by Hackworth were accurate.

~snip~

One of the main benefactors of the Iraq funds was Texas-based firm Halliburton, which was paid more than $1 billion of that money to bring in fuel for Iraqi civilians. The monitoring board said it had not been given access to U.S. audits of contracts held by Halliburton (search).


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Color me surprised. Not.....

[Sherman A1]

1. Yup,

knock me over with a feather....

How many pallets of $100.00 bills were simply shipped over there and never seen again... "Oh, Mr. Bremer?"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._Paul_Bremer#Inadequate_financial_controls

[newfie11]

2. And that worked so well

We are going to do it again with Iran.

[Xipe Totec]

3. We pissed away $58.3 Billion in Iraq. The other $1.7 Billion we can't account for. nt

[Submariner]

4. Is this $1.7 billion on top of the $9 billion stolen

from the big cash airlift to Iraq in 2004 that the republicans decided was okay by them?



I wonder how many yachts and mini-mansions Halliburton/KBR and Blackwater employees bought with their blood money.

[valerief]

8. On top of the 2 trillion Rummy couldn't account for on 9/10/01. nt

[Heywood J]

14. I have to wonder.

Would it have just been cheaper to give one of those bricks to every man, woman and child there?

[DainBramaged]

5. It wan't about the oil.......

[Snake Plissken]

6. What's the big deal? it not like it's something people go to prison for

like stealing a pack of gum from Walmart

[bonniebgood]

7. Everytime a republicon Mention the so call debt that has increased under

President Obama, EVERY come-back line should be: where's the boat load of money
that disappeared in Iraq? wimpy ass dem will never mention the money stolen in Iraq.

[Sadie5]

9. Each and every one of those crooks

should have to pay back their share of stolen money. Whether in prison or not then the Bush administration should be tried for war crimes against the American people.

[on point]

10. It wasn't 'Shock and Awe', More like ' Awe Shucks'

Lies Incompetence Fraud deceit.

When will the Bush Cabal go down for their war crimes???

I suggest an audit looking at the other side of the accounting.

See if Carlisle group, other companies AND friends of Bush CO can account for extra millions income in this period of time.

Don't forget to look in Switzerland and the Caymans...

[Javaman]

11. anyone try looking in the pockets of the no bid contractors?

I know, crazy!

[randr]

12. War profiteers

Cheney/Haliburton

[JayhawkSD]

13. I don't know why we're getting excited about this NOW

This is old news. We've known about this waste and profiteering for five or six years, and we've known about the extent of it. Bringing it up now may feel good in terms of painting the Bush administration as bad guys, or bashing Republicans, but we've got to move past that.

Bashing Republicans feels good, but it is not really going to solve the problems we face. The party we support has got to start coming up with and talking about the policies we support going forward. Health care reform was great, but it didn't solve the jobs problem, and bashing Republicans isn't going to solve that problem either.

We may think that if we bash Republicans hard enough long enough that we can get them out of office, but that's not going to work. Does people calling Obama a Kenyan or a Socialist make you want to vote Republican? It doesn't work that way. Calling people names and talking about how bad they are does not make them want to join your side.