$1.2 BILLION Iraq Contract So Badly Managed That it's Unauditable by Special Inspector General

By: Dianne
Published On: 10/23/2007 2:22:43 PM

I'm getting kind of tired of writing these stories of how Bush and the Republicans are completely incompetent.  (A heads up to Democratic candidates and those speaking for them, tell them how [read below] Republicans throw your hard-earned tax dollars down the drain....

So here we go again and this time to the tune of $1.2 billion on an Iraq contract that is in such bad shape it is Unauditable!!! And it's the State Department again (remember the State Department IG employees who were told not to cooperate with Henry Waxman's investigation of State Department contracts?).

This story is unbelievable; unfortunately it was buried in the Business Section of today's WaPo! This is completely outrageous from the Party who touts itself as better able to govern.  The Republican's idea of governing is stealing from you, me and the American public and making themselves and their business buddies rich.

The State Department so badly managed a $1.2 billion contract for Iraqi police training that it can't tell what it got for the money spent, a new report says.
...
"As a result, INL [State Department's Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs] does not know specifically what it received for most of the $1.2 billion in expenditures under its DynCorp contract for the Iraqi Police Training Program," Bowen [Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction] said in a new 18-page report.
...
It will now take the Department of State three to five years to review invoices and demand repayment from DynCorp for unjustified expenses.
...
Bowen reported in January that the State Department paid $43.8 million to DynCorp for a residential camp for police training personnel outside of Baghdad's Adnan Palace grounds. He said the camp had been 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.

But I saved the best news for last--

DynCorp has been mentioned as a possible replacement for Blackwater USA in the contract to provide armed security for diplomats in Iraq following a string of security incidents involving Blackwater guards, including a September shooting that left 17 Iraqis dead.

Our money, $1.2 billion, wasted:  the contractor has been paid and we don't know what, if anything, we got for the money!  Wasn't the Iraqi police training project the one General Jones testified that should be trashed and started all over again. 

I'm outraged yet again.  And they are still asking for money for Iraq.  I say NO.

Comments



Condi Rice will face Waxman today (Dianne - 10/25/2007 8:17:20 AM)
Seems Ms. Rice and her Dept of State will have to face Henry Waxman in a hearing today on this subject, according to the WaPo. It must have them frightened: 

"For the administration, and for a lot of others, people need to be careful now," said Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (Va.), the ranking Republican on the committee. "Someone is looking over their shoulder."

Keep repeating:  Republicans can not govern.  They throw your hard-earned money away!

Go Henry...you're the man!