Billions of dollars wasted in Iraq

A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money:

Opening Statement of Rep. Henry A. Waxman (pdf file)
Chairman, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
Hearing on “Iraq Reconstruction: An Overview”
February 15, 2007

Last week, our Committee focused on the $12 billion in cash that our government sent to Iraq. We learned that no one knows what really happened to that money or even whether it ended up in the hands of terrorists. All we know is that the cash is gone and billions were wasted.

Today we get more bad news. The Director of the Defense Contract Audit Agency is going
to testify that there are more than $10 billion in questioned and unsupported costs relating to Iraq reconstruction and troop support contracts.

This estimate is three times higher than the $3.5 billion in questionable charges that the
Government Accountability Office warned us about last year. And in this new report, $2.7 billion in suspect billings are attributed to just one contractor: Halliburton. My staff has prepared a memorandum on this subject and, if there is no objection, I will enter it into the record.

Even worse, the actual amount of waste is likely even higher. The Defense Contract Audit
Agency arrived at its $10 billion estimate after reviewing only $57 billion of Iraq contract spending. But American taxpayers have already spent over $350 billion for the war in Iraq. There’s $300 billion still to audit. The total amount of waste, fraud, and abuse could be astronomical.

Let’s add it up. Last week’s $12 billion in cash and today’s $10 billion in questionable
charges combines for $22 billion. And there’s still the potential for tens of billions more in waste. It’s no wonder that taxpayers all across our country are fed up and demanding that we bring real oversight to the “anything goes” world of Iraq reconstruction.
[emphasis mine]

And here's an excerpt from an Associated Press report tonight by Hope Yen:

The three top auditors overseeing work in Iraq told a House of Representatives committee that 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 GAO, 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."

Hey y'all out there with the "W" or "Bush/Cheney" bumper sticker on your pick-'m-up truck or car, does this news give you a couple of billion reasons to plaster the below sticker over it?:




Naw, I betcha they won't. I haven't heard nary a one of them "W" supporters cry about the billions of taxpayer dollars lost through waste, fraud, and abuse in this incredibly inept and unnecessary war on Iraq that Bush and Cheney got us into. No, the "W" supporters would rather just cry about such nonsense as "illegal aliens" "invadin' 'n takin' over the country" 'n "our way of life" 'n "costin' us millions in welfare payments 'n edjukatin' their brown babies" 'n "bankruptin' hospitals gettin' free medical care" 'n "not payin' taxes" 'n "sendin' all their money outta the country to a foreign land" 'n "not speakin' English" 'n...ad nauseum.

Think I'm gonna buy me up a passel of these here Impeach 'em stickers and slap 'em over the top of every damn stupid "W" decal I see--in Crawford!