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.

On Wed, 16 Feb 2005 14:30:33 GMT, "Jim," wrote:


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 famous two-man hearing in which Reid had more important things to do, so he
left!

Here Jim, show the whole CNN article. It's a riot. Somehow these two senators
even got C-Span to be there. Can't find it on the C-Span site though. I suppose
even C-Span has limits as to the amount of bull**** it will put on TV.

________________________________


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Democrats probe alleged mismanagement in Iraq
Senate minority leader: 'This is a scandal'

From Paul Courson
CNN


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Democrats held a hearing Monday to probe concerns raised by
whistleblowers, saying Republican leaders refuse to act on calls to investigate
alleged U.S. mismanagement of resources in Iraq.

"I think there was a massive waste of taxpayer money," said Sen. Byron Dorgan of
North Dakota, who said the Senate Democratic Policy Committee is trying to
establish accountability in the wake of "stories about money being delivered in
paper bags -- cash -- millions of dollars of cash being delivered in bags."

Dorgan said his panel "would not hold oversight hearings if, in fact, the
committees of jurisdiction would be holding the oversight hearings themselves,"
referring to the Senate Government Affairs Committee.

A Defense Department spokesman said the Coalition Provisional Authority -- the
U.S.-led administration that ran Iraq until June 2004 -- spent money in a
process monitored by the United Nations, and did not do any contracting
involving U.S. funds.

Regarding Iraqi funds, which included a mix of oil revenue and money recovered
from Saddam Hussein's regime, the Pentagon official said such money was handed
over to various post-Saddam Iraqi ministries, who in turn were responsible for
spending it properly.

The military official said his expertise was limited to the CPA's affairs, and
he would not comment on Monday's criticism of the overall spending process.

Dorgan, along with Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, compared the
handling of money in Iraq to that of passing around an ice cube that melts a bit
in each hand until there's not much left.

Dorgan and Reid both made reference to a January inspector general's report,
which found that nearly $9 billion of money spent on Iraqi reconstruction is
unaccounted for because of inefficiencies and bad management. (Full story)

Former Iraq civil administrator Paul Bremer and the Defense Department, which
was in charge of the reconstruction effort, disputed those findings. The audit
dealt with Iraqi money and did not examine the use of U.S. funds appropriated
for reconstruction.

"It's not too late to have adequate controls on that which is spent on the
reconstruction and on the contracting in Iraq," Dorgan said, adding that "very
little" of about $19 billion in reconstruction funds approved by Congress in
October 2003 has been spent.

The men displayed a large photograph of a stack of money that a witness said
totaled $2 million, bundled in plastic-wrapped packages of $100,000 apiece. The
testimony cited a primitive banking system in Iraq that requires hand-carried
delivery of large payrolls.

Some of the testimony Monday was secondhand knowledge that included allegations
of discrepancies between the amounts contractors billed the government and the
actual cash spent.

Alan Grayson, an attorney who represents people hoping to get a share of reward
money as they file under the U.S. False Claims Act, testified that a former FBI
agent was recruited by an American subcontractor in Iraq, but walked out when he
was asked to inflate charges for time and materials.

Grayson said the man "refused twice and said, 'You all are going to prison.'

"The second time he was held at gunpoint in Baghdad, stripped of his weapons and
security identification and then was released, defenseless, on the streets of
Baghdad," Grayson said. "I'm talking about Americans holding guns on Americans."

There was also some firsthand criticism from a man the United States hired to
establish the "Iraqi Media Network" in the weeks that followed the end of Saddam
Hussein's regime.

Don North, a veteran U.S. radio and television correspondent, told the panel his
project hoped to inherit Saddam's well-equipped studios, only to find that "they
had been bombed" by U.S. forces and then looted by locals as security broke
down.

Once his group had cobbled together some basic television newsgathering and
production gear, he was told the point of the mission had changed.

Instead of looking for news and information of interest to the Iraqis, "we were
running a public diplomacy operation" covering briefings and photo opportunities
of the Coalition Provisional Authority, then headed by Bremer.

North left after only four months, and he told lawmakers that independent media
outlets that followed his efforts in Iraq did not enjoy U.S. support.

"Our know-how to establish free and open media should have been a priority in
Iraq," he said. "As one of the foundations of a budding democracy. These ideals
were seriously derailed in Iraq."

Dorgan said he had invited Republican senators, top Pentagon officials and
Bremer to the hearing, but none appeared.

"This is a scandal," Reid said. "This is only the tip of the iceberg. ... We're
talking about billions of dollars."

Reid, who left the hearing early, said the questionable practices are "wrong and
in some cases possibly criminal."

"It also contributes to the poor security position we find ourselves in today,"
he said.
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Let's see. Wasn't CNN the company which recently lost a high-powered executive
for the bull**** he was spreading?

John H

On the 'PocoLoco' out of Deale, MD,
on the beautiful Chesapeake Bay!

"Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it."
Rene Descartes