CptStern
suckmonkey
- Joined
- May 5, 2004
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interesting article on salon.com today:
Where did the money go?
As members of Congress consider the Bush administration's request for another $82 billion in military funding -- most of which will go to a war that was supposed to have cost about $50 billion total -- they might think about how the administration has handled finances in Iraq so far.
As we noted last month, the inspector general assigned to audit reconstruction efforts says there's no way to know what became of $8.8 billion that was once in the hands of the Coalition Provisional Authority. A hearing before the Senate Democratic Policy Committee brought forth more news on that front Monday. At the hearing -- called by Democrats who lack the numbers to hold actual congressional investigations -- a lawyer for two whistleblowers said that the Coalition Provisional Authority paid the Republican-friendly security firm Custer Battles $15 million to provide security for civilian flights at Baghdad International Airport.
The catch, according to today's Washington Post: No planes actually flew during the contract term.
"The U.S. inspector general assigned to audit the reconstruction effort says that "severe inefficiencies and poor management" by the CPA make it impossible to know what has become of $8.8 billion worth of Iraqi money that the CPA once controlled. Among the problems the inspector general found: The CPA may well have been paying "ghost employees" to provide security in Iraq. As CNN reports, auditors found 8,206 guards on the payroll at one Iraqi ministry but could validate the existence of only 602 of them. Perhaps this helps explains why Condoleezza Rice insists that there are 120,000 trained Iraqi security personnel when others, like Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, put the number at around 4,000. "
according to:
"Economist Doug Henwood has estimated that the war bill will add up to an average of at least $3,415 for every U.S. household."
source
do you feel your $3,415 is being spent correctly?
Where did the money go?
As members of Congress consider the Bush administration's request for another $82 billion in military funding -- most of which will go to a war that was supposed to have cost about $50 billion total -- they might think about how the administration has handled finances in Iraq so far.
As we noted last month, the inspector general assigned to audit reconstruction efforts says there's no way to know what became of $8.8 billion that was once in the hands of the Coalition Provisional Authority. A hearing before the Senate Democratic Policy Committee brought forth more news on that front Monday. At the hearing -- called by Democrats who lack the numbers to hold actual congressional investigations -- a lawyer for two whistleblowers said that the Coalition Provisional Authority paid the Republican-friendly security firm Custer Battles $15 million to provide security for civilian flights at Baghdad International Airport.
The catch, according to today's Washington Post: No planes actually flew during the contract term.
"The U.S. inspector general assigned to audit the reconstruction effort says that "severe inefficiencies and poor management" by the CPA make it impossible to know what has become of $8.8 billion worth of Iraqi money that the CPA once controlled. Among the problems the inspector general found: The CPA may well have been paying "ghost employees" to provide security in Iraq. As CNN reports, auditors found 8,206 guards on the payroll at one Iraqi ministry but could validate the existence of only 602 of them. Perhaps this helps explains why Condoleezza Rice insists that there are 120,000 trained Iraqi security personnel when others, like Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, put the number at around 4,000. "
according to:
"Economist Doug Henwood has estimated that the war bill will add up to an average of at least $3,415 for every U.S. household."
source
do you feel your $3,415 is being spent correctly?
