American taxpayers are spending about $8 billion a month on Iraq. Is that money being spent wisely? Soon it could be harder to tell.
Staff members working for Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., quietly inserted a provision in the a military authorization bill that terminates the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction as of Oct. 1, 2007. The office, headed by Stuart W. Bowen Jr., has uncovered bribery and conspiracy, exposed poor construction work and discovered that the military did not properly track hundreds of thousands of weapons it shipped to Iraqi security forces, the Washington Post reported.
Members of Congress are now moving to reverse this provision and reauthorize the inspector’s office. Meanwhile, the Post also reported that because of legal loopholes, flaws in the contracting process and a lack of oversight by Congress, charges against the private contractors rarely stick.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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42 Comments
I think we should just give the money to contractors without them actually doing anything in Iraq.
That way, we wouldn’t be disappointed when they don’t do anything. We wouldn’t be putting Americans at risk and infuriating Iraqis as they see the fraud and waste.
Just let the contractors sit in an office in Washington DC playing hearts on their computers and get billions in taxpayer money for nothing.
It’s what they’re doing now anyway.
Why can’t those damn French subversives realize that Vichy France is a legitimate government, and not some puppet government established by Hitler.
Oops, wrong time period.
Maybe the concept of a Marshall Plan threw me off. You know, where the U.S. provided money to local companies to rebuild their own countries. It worked back then but I’m just assuming that the unelected Bush regime was good at history or interested in rebuilding Iraq.
Fiscal responsibility? Isn’t that the platform Tiahrt is running on, the same Tiahrt who approved of this wasteful spending? Yeah, that Tiahrt.
. . . And with this administration, anyone’s surprised?
“quietly inserted a provision”
HAD ENOUGH?
Damn ‘activist’ Inspector General who needs em? Sounds like a Democrat conspiracy to criticize our war effort!
If you support oversight in any form,you support terrorists.
That seems to be their point.
I got a better one for ya, Phill. Where is the oversite over the press in America?
AND NOW, THIS WORD FROM BROWNLEE’s SPONSORS: This message brought to you by Rent A Center and the new car dealers of Wichita, who ask, “Why own when you can lease from us in perpetuity???”
“Where is the oversite over the press in America?”
YOU MEAN CENSORSHIP?
This administration has operated in secrecy in way unlike any presidency in American history.Where’s there is the demand by government to operate in secrecy you can rest assured high crimes are being committed.
Well, I see our many-named johnny one-note is at it again. While I have long thought that the eagle is too cozy with car dealers it is economic rather than political. After all, the car dealers are overwhelmingly Republican; starting with Senator Les Donovan. The issue with the eagle is all that advertising revenue.
As for Scholfield it is my understanding that there has been some sort of ‘falling out’ in the family years ago and that Randy has nothing to do with the dealerships.
Just because my brother or cousin might be in some business does NOT mean that I am in that same business.
So Phillip is wording about spending in Irag, but not with Kansas government?
That’s rich.
Isn’t Congress capable of this oversight?
…and oversight of the media is in OUR hands. It’s called ratings. That’s not censorship.
CONGRESS?!?!?!? Ya gotta be kidding! Maybe after the election …
Isn’t that their job?
Of course it is. But, with Tiahrt et.al. they sure haven’t been doing it. That is why Tiahrt and gang voted to eliminate that Inspector general position.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, whose staffers apparently were involved in inserting the language at question, has ties to former Rep. “Duke” Cunningham, the California Republican who pled guilty to bribery, and connections to certain defense contractors:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-11-29-cunningham-case_x.htm
So, when elections don’t go the way you want, your answer is to simply find away around the voice of the majority? Do you want to make elections irrelevant? Like Tiahrt or not, he was elected. If you don’t like him, then defeat him. Don’t bypass him. That’s bypassing the vote of the people.
If Democrats take majority of the House today as is expected, Todd Tiarht will not be in his power seat any longer. So bypassing Tiarht will be a moot point.
Besides, do you believe that the lobbyists like Abramhoff are not bypassing the vote of the people? It was mostly Republicans involved with that scandal – wasn’t it?
Do you believe that corruption in Congress is ONLY a Republican issue? If so, you’re kidding yourself.
Term limits would be a nice solution to the problem, by the way.
Mike, we’ve discussed term limits here from time to time.Some of us came to the conclusion that they would actually create more corruption.When people know that they are there for a limited time, they tend to grab all the perks they can.(what are they gonna’ do, fire me?)
It seems silly to make that argument and decide the solution is to leave the same corrupt represntatives in office year after year, after year….
Have to agree with Mike. Also I think someone here had a good idea of providing dorm-style housing in DC for Congressmen and encouraging them to leave their families at home.
I owuld take that a step further. With technology why do they need to be in DC? Set up a high-tech office in the District with video-conferencing etc. Vote from the office. Live in the district. Then go to DC only for specific hearings etc.
Now for my final step – choose Representatives the same way we choose juries: Greetings …
How about a monthly polygraph,, unless of course if you’re a lawyer, and then make it weekly!
polygraph wouldn’t work – they are delusional and really believe their lies.
That’s great, hmmmm.
LOL and my eyes are watering.
Everyday we have contractors cleaning porta-johns, serving us food, building roofs which will take an IDF impact, fixing generators, fixing AC units, fixing buildings, generally making life a lot nicer here for the troops you all say you care about, and we have CapnAmerica saying they are doing nothing?
Those are just the things I can list off the top of my head. All the mechanical work they do on our vehicles…
The list goes on. But please don’t listen to me, the guy in Camp Falujah Iraq, listen to CapnAmerica…
Thing is, what are they doing for the Iraqi people? You know, the ones we went there to liberate?
I do what my GOP masters tell me to do. I troll other posters. I post garbage. That is what my GOP masters pay me for. And, of course, sucking their …
Nathan, tell us more about Camp Fallujah. We would be interested in knwoing more about the contractors work and your work.
That’s so funny idiot.you and gop shill are both the same person.
Nathan,
Email me a pic or pics (make it small) not sure what size file Cox will take. Would like to see the environment where you stationed.
Closest I ever got to that neck of the woods was Turkey and boy was it hot!!!
Hmmm . . . is right.
The contractors wouldn’t have to do anything if the soldiers weren’t there, would they.
If Iraqis are incapable of re-building their country, who built it the first time?
Bush is funnelling money to his base–”the haves, and the have mores.”
Iraqis don’t have enough money to bribe Republicans yet . . .
Bet the guy cleaning the port a poty is making four times what Nathan is! In Nam, we used to have Vietnamese shit burners, gave some of the locals employment!
Actually, the guys cleaning the port-a-johns are not making that much money.
They are foriegn people on some wierd working program.
One of the guys who cleans our port-a-johns is hungarian.
Nathan
New oversight is coming to the Iraq matter.
Your welcome.
I think one of the first things Pelosi will do is open an investigation into the Iraq contracts — if she doesn’t we need to put some heat on her to do so — she has promised no more “Business as usual” …
Hopefully she will use her Speaker of the House position wisely and without vengence — she has promised no impeachment proceedings, a wise move to avoid the same costly embarrassment the Republicans put us through with clinton.
If there is true oversight and disclosure, the impeachment process will be moved forward by the people.
A Staggering New Bill For Iraq?Jessica Holzer and Matthew Swibel 11.09.06, 6:00 AM ETThe U.S. armed services have requested a $160 billion supplemental appropriation to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the remainder of fiscal year 2007–a staggering amount that, if approved by the Defense Department, may hasten the showdown between resurgent congressional Democrats and the Bush administration over the budget-busting War on Terror.
The request–which will likely include all costs related to the war on terrorism–far surpasses the $94 billion supplemental authorized earlier this year to fund the ongoing wars as well as hurricane recovery in the Gulf and is nearly double the $82 billion Iraq war supplemental outlay of 2005. It comes within days of Republicans’ stunning losses in the midterm elections and the resignation of embattled Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who was set to decide on the request Nov. 15.
While House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has vowed not to undercut the troops in the field, defense experts said that she and other Democratic leaders probably hadn’t anticipated the massive request.
“I’m not sure they’ve grasped the potential size of this forthcoming supplemental request. We’ll just have to see whether they can choke down that amount of dough,” said Tom Donnelly, a defense expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
While a good chunk of the $160 billion request will be used to replace worn equipment, it also covers additional systems, armor and weaponry and thus is a blueprint for pressing on with the current troop levels in Iraq and strategy in the War on Terror.
“It’s not just going to be ‘I broke my tank, and I want to fix it,’” Donnelly said.
Small-cap defense contractors, such as DRS Technologies (nyse: DRS – news – people ), Essex (nasdaq: KEYW – news – people ) and Armor Holdings (nyse: AH – news – people ), are particularly sensitive to defense supplementals because they don’t hold as much sway over the regular defense appropriations process. However, they are not likely to be counting on a defense supplemental of such size.
Critics contend that the Bush administration has skirted the normal budget process for these defense expenditures to avoid scrutiny of the costs of the ongoing wars. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has sponsored legislation to fold these war costs into regular defense spending bills.
Such emergency supplementals are often used for spending that doesn’t past muster in the light of the normal budget process: For example, more than $7.5 billion in spending slashed from the 2005 defense appropriations bill was restored in the next supplemental, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense.
Sen. McCain is correct; the use of emergency supplementals makes it difficult for the Congress, much less the body politic to get a handle on the true cost of the ongoing operations.
While the use of an emergency supplemental is justified for unforeseeable costs, materiel replacement (especially after 3+ years) as an example, should be foreseeable and included within the normal defense appropriation process, IMHO.
I would suggest the Truman Committee as a model to be followed in establishing oversight for Iraq spending:
http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/The_Truman_Committee.htm
You make many good points in your article. I would like to supplement them with some information:
I am a 2 tour Vietnam Veteran who recently retired after 36 years of working in the Defense Industrial Complex on many of the weapons systems being used by our forces as we speak.
If you are interested in a view of the inside of the Pentagon procurement process from Vietnam to Iraq please check the posting at my blog entitled, “Odyssey of Armements”
http://www.rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com
The Pentagon is a giant,incredibly complex establishment,budgeted in excess of $500B per year. The Rumsfelds, the Adminisitrations and the Congressmen come and go but the real machinery of policy and procurement keeps grinding away, presenting the politicos who arrive with detail and alternatives slanted to perpetuate itself.
How can any newcomer, be he a President, a Congressman or even the Sec. Def. to be – Mr. Gates- understand such complexity, particulary if heretofore he has not had the clearance to get the full details?
Answer- he can’t. Therefor he accepts the alternatives provided by the career establishment that never goes away and he hopes he makes the right choices. Or he is influenced by a lobbyist or two representing companies in his district or special interest groups.
From a practical standpoint, policy and war decisions are made far below the levels of the talking heads who take the heat or the credit for the results.
This situation is unfortunate but it is ablsolute fact. Take it from one who has been to war and worked in the establishment.
This giant policy making and war machine will eventually come apart and have to be put back together to operate smaller, leaner and on less fuel. But that won’t happen unitil it hits a brick wall at high speed.
We will then have to run a Volkswagon instead of a Caddy and get along somehow. We better start practicing now and get off our high horse. Our golden aura in the world is beginning to dull from arrogance.