Auditor:Billions wasted in Iraq

[tallcal101]

The US Government is at risk of squandering significantly more in an Iraq war and reconstruction effort that has already wasted,overcharged or poorly tracked $10 billion in taxpayer money,federal investigators said Thursday.

The three top auditors overseeing contract work in Iraq told a House commitee that Defense and State department officials condoned or otherwise allowed poor accounting,repeated work delays,bloated expences and payments for work shoddily or never done by US contractors.

The problem could worsen,the Government Accountability Office said given limited improvement so far by the Department Of Defense even as the Bush administration prepares to boost the US prensence in Iraq.

"There is no accountability",Walker said."Orginizations charged with overseeing contracts are not held accountable.Contractors are not held accountable.The individuals responsible are not accountable.

A spokesman for the Army,which handles most of the Iraq contracting did not have an immidiate comment.
"Outragious rip-offs of the American taxpayer"is how most reacted to the grim news.

Hey,D unit,more emotional babble from an uninformed liberal? Maybe it's the libral press telling tales again,or maybe some people have their expeditious heads in the deep sand(or snow)!or in a dark tunnel seen best in a mirror from the rear.
Hearings,you bet we will be having hearings,until the cess pool is empty and those who belong in prison are put there.Greed has been driving the war on terror.What else is new from the Republican thugs and liers who hood winked the American public and stole the treasure.
Once again,this was all in print for those wishing to look beyond blind belief in this contemptuious bunch.

 

[arkjarhead]

tallcal,
surprisingly enough i think we agree here. to me this is a rich man's war being fought by the lower and middle class, but i don't think the dems are the saviors you think they are. although i don't think the republicans are anything to write home about either. they all stink. i wish we could get rid of the career politicians in the congress and put up some term limitations for congress to get the dead weight out of there. i also wish there was a competent third party that had a chance of winning some seats and not playing the games. some people who wouldn't care about reelection or moving to a higher office, but about making a difference. one thing i can say about my state's former gov. mike huckabee who is running for president is he waited until he was through being gov. to focus and spend time on trying to become president. he is out of office due to term limits.

 

[Jayman]

"mike huckabee who is running for president is he waited until he was through being gov. to focus and spend time on trying to become president."

Cool. That is one thing that Kerry and Edwards did not do that really honked me off. They were being paid to be senators. But...they were MIA. x(

I seriously dont know who I would vote for if I had to vote today. All I know is it wouldnt be hillary...

 

[arkjarhead]

in the last election i felt like we had to choose between the lesser of two evils.

 

[Jayman]

Keeping in mind you will never agree with everything the President says or does... I had no problem voting for George W and I would do it again. People loved him after 9/11 for his courage and strenght. They loved him for being devoted and serious enough to take a stand and send troops over seas. But, when the job got long and weary...people started getting tired. We all know things in the world isnt good. We all wish the war was an easier war to prosecute. But, it isnt. And that isnt George W's fault. Sure, mistakes have been made. But, who here could of done the job fault free?

 

[Pilgrim]

I am shocked - SHOCKED! that auditors have discovered govt. waste and fraud in Iraq. And it's all because of those theiving, corrupt, immoral Republicans. Of course none of this skullduggery has ever happened with a Democrat in the White House. And every Democrat-controlled congress has been pure as the wind-driven snow and spent every taxed penny as prudently as Silas Marner. Let's not even think about corruption, waste and fraud in Medicare, Medicaid, LBJ's war on poverty, welfare, Social Security, TVA, the Dept. of Education, FEMA, to name only a few govt. agencies. Of course the most inept, incompetent and ineffecient one of them all is the IRS. Considering the total amount spent on this war, the percentage of that waste and fraud is no worse than the financial bungling that goes on right here in the continental 48. This kind of financial largesse is inherent with any govt. agency or operation. I for one am old enough to remember the similar waste and fraud that went on during the Vietnam war - and that was with JFK and LBJ in the White House.

 

[arkjarhead]

like i said lesser of two evils. i think w was looking for a reason to go into iraq so he could finish what his daddy started.

 

[vandecamp]

Unfortunately when you have cost plus contracts that are the norm in warzone logostic support bidding, the blight and waste is considered a moot point (to those sucking down the cash inflow).

To the uninitiated (myself) who observe this great gluttonous spectacle firsthand, it is quite disturbing. The only thing I can compare what is going on today in Iraq,is the late great aircraft manufacturing behemoths, (McDonnell Douglas, North American, Lockheed, and now Boeing) bloated on big fat rails of military contract dollars.

How many millions (billions??) went up in smoke, spent on fat happy union workers making outrageous wages, doing nothing but showing up for work, maybe spending an hour or two on an assigned task and then going into the break room and playing cards for the rest of those $27/hour 10 hour days. Millions of dollars lost on tools, brand new snap-on tools handed out in boxes with the plastic wrapping still intact, out of tool cribs with no tracking, no record.
Then those same workers had to be treated for shock when they received their layoff notices because the company didn't survive the Guv'm'nt audits. Like spoiled little teenagers, eff tomorrow, we gonna party t'day.

Same freaking thing is going on over there in the sand. Tools, electronics, vehicles, building materials, going missing, damaged and/or destroyed, sold over the fence?? It's already been paid for, IT DOESN"T EXIST ANYMORE.

Blatant, effit, arrogant, no sense of accountability. Just like Japanese soldiers raping Nanking,"Yeah, we know it isn't right, buuut, WHO the heck is to hold us accountable, when we work for the powers that judge and condone ultimately?" Sound crazy? Maybe it does to some folks, may not others. The point is, they are doing whatever the heck they want over there, the powers that be aren't going to restrain themselves, why should they? There are no competitors to outbid them, there are no politicians to rein them in.

Supposedly the original LOGCAP contract was trashed to eliminate the dominate Halliburton monopoly and open the way for competitive bidding, supposedly because the Army was thoroughly disgusted with the way that KBR was handling the construction issues and padding of billing for services rendered. I haven't heard of any companies bidding on any of the work KBR is doing. The only thing I've seen different is the split of Halliburton and KBR, me thinks it was for Halliburton to distance itself from the sword that will be swinging for KBR.

Before anyone accuses me of leaning left, let's remind ourselves of some INDISPUTABLE facts, GW acted on bad intel, but so did Willy. Willy dissolved valuable human intelligience assets in the middle east that had been in place for 25 years because he didn't want us "associating with unsavory characters". Willy himself said WMD in the hands of Hussein was an unacceptable risk and that was back in '92. GW was never offered OBL's head on a platter, but Willy was, by Sudan in I think it was '86?
For those that scream let the UN take care of it, give them a chance-Let's also remember, Hussein had violated UN resolutions clearly in place--- for 12 years. And the UN manned by umm, French, and some others, who had miltary equipment and nuclear development business interests, were the ones that REQUESTED when and where they would search for WMD. If you wanted search a teenager's bedroom closet for drugs, would you ask for permission and give them warning you were going to do it? Holy crap, of course you won't find anything.

Bush blows, Clinton blew, Hillary needs to return Mary Lincoln's settee. Let's share the blame for the bloody shenanigans going on in Iraq now. Dems--Cmon, 'Bama and Hill the best you can come up with?
If we're going to get out of this funk you got to do better.
Republicans? Mcain? Rudy? not going to happen. Lets'fix it!!

 

[tallcal101]

Unfortunatly,all the rational debate is worhtless as it is now happening on W's watch,and he will take the historic heat for it.Really does not matter what happened 10,20 or 30 years ago,under which Presidents watch.It's W's show right now.The VP,as I'm sure most of you know,but have not mentioned,has rather close ties(to say the least)with Halliburton.I'm sure he is as clean as the fresh snow as well,but it has kind of a bad odor,like stale Veleveeta.Not the real thing,and rather stinky with age.
I recall all those who were so gateful that Gore was not elected as he would have surely made a mess of the War On Terror. "Mission Acomplished"was presented to us just a wee bit prematurly.
In the end,this entire Administration has been one for the record books.It's impossibe that Gore could have done a worse job,I don't know how a worse job can be defined.I did not support W,as I had his number very early on.Anybody who looked at his horrible history in business's supported by the Bin Laudin's,or the Federal Government,that all failed,should have flashed the same red flag I saw.
Yes,after 911,we were one behind W,I even put an American Flag on my car window.But what happened?No need to go over it again and again.
Blaming LBJ is a bit of a stretch.Blaming Willie is easy.Blamimg the cuurent mess on anyone other then W,or calling it business as usual in a war,is a total cop out in my opinion.If the tables were turned,and a Democrat had screwed the pooch to this degree,there would already be impeachment hearings.There are lies(Monika)then there are LIES.

 

[LDB]

There will be no end to this until the entire planet is Muslim or devoid of Muslims. The "mission" was accomplished at that point where we were told it was. Saddam was out of power and his people were no longer controlling the country. The current war with terrorists and radicals is an ancillary conflict. That is the conflict that is ongoing and must continue. President Bush has not done a perfect job however he has done much better than Clinton ever did or Gore would ever do. It's impossible to do a good job as president when your primary focus is your small head and not your brain encapsulating head.

Leo Bricker, 73's K5LDB, OOIDA Life Member 677319
Owner, Panther trucks 5508, 5509, 5641
Highway Watch Participant, Truckerbuddy
EO Forum Moderator
----------
Support the entire Constitution, not just the parts you like.

 

[greg334]

Vandecamp –

I agree with most of what you said but this has been going on for a long time, long before Bush was in office.

This is a point I tried to make earlier, the dems could have been doing something about this even if they were the minority. The mere fact that in the house and senate have rules to bring up issues that the Repubs could not stop, causes me to wonder how many of the dems actually benefited by this very issue, I know the state I am sitting in, Connecticut surely has and they have 5 dems, 1 repub and one independent.



Tallcal –
You said;
‘Unfortunatly,all the rational debate is worhtless as it is now happening on W's watch,and he will take the historic heat for it.Really does not matter what happened 10,20 or 30 years ago,under which Presidents watch.It's W's show right now.The VP,as I'm sure most of you know,but have not mentioned,has rather close ties(to say the least)with Halliburton.I'm sure he is as clean as the fresh snow as well,but it has kind of a bad odor,like stale Veleveeta.Not the real thing,and rather stinky with age.’

OH so should we forget about the past to protect the ‘innocent’?


But you mentioned Halliburton, remember Tyson chicken and the EPA?

How about all the cronyism going on in the Clinton white house in the first 90 days?


You said; “I recall all those who were so gateful that Gore was not elected as he would have surely made a mess of the War On Terror. "Mission Acomplished"was presented to us just a wee bit prematurly.â€

I agree with you on the mission accomplished thing but I am really glad that Gore did not make it, we would still be trying to figure out what happened and why somebody would do such a thing – d*mn tree.


You said; “In the end,this entire Administration has been one for the record books.It's impossibe that Gore could have done a worse job,I don't know how a worse job can be defined.I did not support W,as I had his number very early on.Anybody who looked at his horrible history in business's supported by the Bin Laudin's,or the Federal Government,that all failed,should have flashed the same red flag I saw.â€

Every administration is for the record book, like the Clinton administration and a non-elected person trying to do something that was not her job and should have been censured. I don’t agree about Gore, I think his administration would have been disastrous and we would have been on the same path as the French and Spanish – governing by fear.

You said; “Yes,after 911,we were one behind W,I even put an American Flag on my car window.But what happened?No need to go over it again and again.â€

How kind of you putting a flag on your car, did you remove it?


You said; “Blaming LBJ is a bit of a stretch.Blaming Willie is easy.Blamimg the cuurent mess on anyone other then W,or calling it business as usual in a war,is a total cop out in my opinion.If the tables were turned,and a Democrat had screwed the pooch to this degree,there would already be impeachment hearings.There are lies(Monika)then there are LIES.â€

LBJ is not a stretch; examine the facts, the lies and the cost to our country. It does matter what happened long ago, especially with LBJ and his good intentions – the ‘great’ society.

Blame Clinton, well yep, he should share some blame but Carter, that disgusting anti-Semitic (read his last book, no wonder people quit his staff over it), anti-Christian (yes that is what I said), anti-United States, Anti-Israel little man who needs to be in the spot light by any means – he is to blame for Bin Laden, for terrorisms increase and all the deaths of all the innocent people who have been killed in the name of Allah.

As for a dem being impeached for this if they were in office, I doubt it, just like I told you the house would not move on their ‘promise’ of impeaching Bush – they lied to get elected. Yep LIES, let’s see Clinton lied under oath, was impeached but not removed – fact. Bush will not go through that, the Dems are still benefiting from him.

Oh just to throw this in, the resolution, non-binding Democrat party resolution that is – is so un-American and anti-troop. You can not slap the face of every soldier any harder than this. This empowers the people that they are fighting and say to them that the congress is not backing them. This is the message we have sent to the terrorist, the government is divided – the terrorist's goal has been met.

 

[vandecamp]

Good call on the Carter relevance. Gore? Bush may not come across as Harvard cum lauda when he speaks but holy toledo, Gore steams right through the carbon dioxide cloud and shows us again and again what he truly is. The man is dinky-dau. Crazy. Full blown fruit loop. Wishing he had been in charge on 9/11? Can't begin to wrap my head around it.
If Cheney is accountable, I hope his head rolls across the tarmac with the rest of them. He jumped the corporate boat when he had to politically. Do I doubt he has some sort of back door coal chute dumping cash into his basement, umm, I honestly can't say I would find it a shock. But dumping all this swamp mud on GW2 is an easy cop out. The outcry over Willy wasn't about Monica, one more time, it was LYING TO CONGRESS UNDER OATH. I have a problem with it not being a problem, I don't care if it was about the meth he smoked with his unborn tibetan hermaphrodite love child, it was WHERE he lied about it and to whom. It's like catching some future ex-wife lying about the pool guy, you just ain't gonna look at her the same way when she says you're the only one baby.
Forget about the past? Ok, I'll play. What would YOU do if you were flying this boat right now? What truly is the solution in Iraq? Dissolve Iraq as a country, not that it really was a real country to begin with, split it up, draw the lines make new borders, what? I don't know, but I see that congress doesn't either so I guess I'm not the only one perplexed. It's a bucket '0 Shi'te fer sure lad.

 

[lanier1]

I congratulate you tallcal on your post even if it was a copy and paste. You shouldn't have any trouble finding articles that are anti Republican.

Pilgrim hit the nail on the head.

I have stated many times I am not happy with our current political state for alot of reasons but the dems are so set to trash and bring down the republicans they don't care how much it hurts our nation or our troops. All that matters is they promote their agenda and tear down the right. I truly think that is where their is a big difference in the two parties.

 

[vandecamp]

Ok, I forgot I was forgetting about the past. I believe it was North Vietnamese General Giap?who proudly pointed out that if it weren't for the fervent stirrings of the amerikan students rallying the anti-war shrieking combined with the acidic cementing of the liberal media vitriol, the North would've given up long before it did.
The unwillingness of the amerikan public to stomach battle losses was what sustained a devastated enemy to keep pushing on to "victory". Remember Tet? Walter Cronkite did, his report on that battle as a DEFEAT for the US was believed by the gullible majority who gobbled up everything the liberal media rammed down their throats every night. Historians and informed individuals remember Tet for what it was. Wholesale slaughter of the Viet Cong who were thrown into battle by the NVA in hopes that they would be destroyed and not have to be included in the post-war power sharing. Effing brilliant dose guyz were.

 

[Pilgrim]

Facts are stubborn things - and given the facts we now know about the Clinton administration, he was much more deserving to be impeached and removed from office than was Nixon. He was a convicted perjurer, found to have more cover-ups of criminal activities, more illegal activities with fund-raising, and gave away military secrets of a technological nature to the Chinese that have allowed them to advance their military capabilities 20 years ahead of schedule, to name a few of his transgressions. Without Clinton and Carter, the North Koreans would not be a nuclear threat today. If a Republican had been involved in the same sex scandals and corruption as Clinton, the mainsteam media would have screamed for his imprisonment. Instead, they give him and his offensive wife excuses and a pass and tout him as the most astute politician of the last 100 years - absolute NONSENSE! Everyone that has even remotely followed his political career has always been aware of his glaring lack of moral standards and ethics, in addition to his questionable political tactics. If Bill Clinton and his administration were held to the same standards as Richard Nixon's we would have seen a Gingrich presidency. I'm not making excuses for Nixon - I clearly remember those days and those were bad times.

The point is that the vast majority of the public sees current events through the lens of the Associated Press and NBC, CBS & ABC news. Their liberal bias prevents objective analysis of current events by those who depend on them as theire sole sources of information. If these news sources maintained the same standards as those of WW II, the attitude of the public toward this war would be a lot different.

 

[lanier1]

Amen.

I will say this for Bill. I believe he is the best "politician" we have ever seen. The man is made of teflon in the media and lefts eyes.

 

[Pilgrim]

He is a good politician - he and the others that are at that level in the national scene have to be much better than average. However, he has proven himself to be an almost pathological liar with no morals or character whatsoever. The most exasperating thing is that the mainstream media has always let him get away with anything - they trivialize the most obvious transgressions that they can't ignore (like messing around with White House interns) and simply ignore everything else (like rape allegations). By comparison, look at the media hysteria that resulted from the Republican congressman from FL sending suggestive text messages to pages. To paraphrase a quote from George Will: "He's not the worst president the country ever had, but he's the worst man to ever be president".

 

[LDB]

The Clintons are trailer trash. If it weren't for the media giving them a pass on every illegal and immoral activity they've committed they'd be out in the woods somewhere spawning inbred cousins, nieces and nephews. He is unquestionably articulate which allows him to talk his way out of things. He's a criminal guilty by conspiracy if not by personal commission. Had he been treated as any other criminal early in his career several women would not be rape victims, untold number of people wouldn't be victims of real estate fraud and Vince Foster and others would be alive today. Anyone who gives them any credence is either morally bankrupt or has an incredibly warped sense of justice and right and wrong.

Leo Bricker, 73's K5LDB, OOIDA Life Member 677319
Owner, Panther trucks 5508, 5509, 5641
Highway Watch Participant, Truckerbuddy
EO Forum Moderator
----------
Support the entire Constitution, not just the parts you like.

 

[Jayman]

Well said!

 

[tallcal101]

Not sure how old you are Mr.V,but you introduce a very uncompelling sketch of the matters regarding the saving of American lives by ending the war in Viet Nam.Now,if you were around,and not making yellow in diapers,your memory is a little clouded,perhaps from all that smoke circulationg around all the end the war rallys you attended to see what the fuss was all about.Or maybe,somebody told you about the war,and those crazy young people that took to the streets and ended that madness.Plenty of blame to go around.But it was the citizens,not politicians,who ended that war.And brought the troops home.A war that was without victory,but many gave their lives with honor.Could victory have been attained with more troops,more treasure?A handful of die hards thought so,but the American people had had enough.Sound familiar?A little wisper that"this will not be Viet Nam"that was being passed around 4 years ago?Guess what,your little sermon about the 60's should be a glaring reality check that we are nearing that point again!No difference,the same people who shut down that war are shutting down this war,but with our voice's and our votes.Age changes a few things,but not the core values of right and wrong.Check out Article 1 again,it's a few postings up.
I lost 5 of my best friends during the war.I have their names from the Memorial(I etched them)on my wall.
My generation gave 50,000.Geroge Bush and ##### Cheany were draft dodgers and have no moral high ground in this matter.
Gore has more brain power in his finger nail then W has in his immidiate family.(Barny excluded).
Ofcourse,talking about the 60's is just more deflection of the crap going on today.