Spence
11-03-2005, 01:43 PM
The people charged with making sure American tax dollars are not wasted and stolen in Iraq have left the country.The Pentagon agency in charge of investigating abuse and fraud in the spending of Department of Defense funds in Iraq actually "quietly left" the country a year ago. The Knight Ridder Washington Bureau reports that both government and public experts say this decision has left large gaps in "the oversight of how more than $140 billion is being spent."
The Defense Department's inspector general sent auditors into Iraq when the war started more than two years ago to ensure that taxpayers were getting their money's worth for everything from bullets to meals-ready-to-eat.
The auditors were withdrawn in the fall of 2004 because other agencies were watching spending, too. But experts say those other agencies don't have the expertise, access and broad mandate that the inspector general has – and don't make their reports public. That means that the bulk of money being spent in Iraq doesn't get public scrutiny, leaving the door open for possible waste, fraud and abuse, experts say.
The revelation comes the same day that the annual Transparency International Global Corruption Report was published. That index showed that Iraq is the most corrupt country in the Middle East. So, there you have it. The U.S. government is spending billions of dollars every week in Iraq and the people who are meant to monitor how that money is spent are gone. Meanwhile, Iraq is the most corrupt country in the Middle East. If that makes sense to you, you must be working for the Bush administration.
So, guess where your money is going. No, I meant that literally -- guess. Because you have no way of knowing. Of course, you could always take the Bush administration's word for it that everything is above board. Those guys wouldn't lie to us, would they?
Source (http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1019/dailyUpdate.html)
The Defense Department's inspector general sent auditors into Iraq when the war started more than two years ago to ensure that taxpayers were getting their money's worth for everything from bullets to meals-ready-to-eat.
The auditors were withdrawn in the fall of 2004 because other agencies were watching spending, too. But experts say those other agencies don't have the expertise, access and broad mandate that the inspector general has – and don't make their reports public. That means that the bulk of money being spent in Iraq doesn't get public scrutiny, leaving the door open for possible waste, fraud and abuse, experts say.
The revelation comes the same day that the annual Transparency International Global Corruption Report was published. That index showed that Iraq is the most corrupt country in the Middle East. So, there you have it. The U.S. government is spending billions of dollars every week in Iraq and the people who are meant to monitor how that money is spent are gone. Meanwhile, Iraq is the most corrupt country in the Middle East. If that makes sense to you, you must be working for the Bush administration.
So, guess where your money is going. No, I meant that literally -- guess. Because you have no way of knowing. Of course, you could always take the Bush administration's word for it that everything is above board. Those guys wouldn't lie to us, would they?
Source (http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1019/dailyUpdate.html)