Agency charged with spending oversight in Iraq left country in '04

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON - The chief Pentagon agency in charge of investigating and reporting fraud and waste in Defense Department spending in Iraq quietly pulled out of the war zone a year ago - leaving what experts say are gaps in the oversight of how more than $140 billion is being spent.
....
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 Defense Department inspector general, whose responsibility includes reviewing the $142 billion earmarked for the military, doesn't have a single auditor or accountant in Iraq tracking spending, Knight Ridder has found.

Spokeswoman Lt. Col. Rose-Ann Lynch, of the Defense Department IG's office, acknowledged Monday that the agency has no auditors in Iraq and that its criminal investigative arm "ceased operations in Iraq in October 2004." Lynch said taxpayers' interests are served instead by other watchdog agencies, including the Defense Contract Audit Agency and the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/12927316.htm

[Angry Girl]

1. Un-f*cking-believable!!!!! n/t

[indepat]

16. A microcosm of how the treasury has been looted, but the enablers

are too numerous to comprehend: W has, in effect, been given a trillion or so dollar to do absolutely whatever he wishes and the Congress, as an institution, is complicit. Lenin or whoever was right: we are rotting from within and the stench is becoming unbearable.

[Angry Girl]

18. Like you said, "the enablers are too numerous to comprehend"

I thought the 2004 "elections" were a sham but I never thought that this rampant corruption and blatant abuse wold go unchecked for so long! So many dead, so many lives shattered, so many families either in the grips of poverty or staring over the abyss....

So many we can't catch them all and throw them in a vermin-infested cell.... *sigh*

[MADem]

22. Totally believable, sadly

They didn't WANT TO DIE!!!!!!

No wonder the Pentagon IG quit, suddenly.

[babylonsister]

2. WTF?

:wow: :wow: :wow:

Add this to the list of total b.s., ineptness, and criminal action by this admin and every damn thing they touch!

[Rose Siding]

5. This is one way to keep Halliburton out of trouble

:grr:

[sasquatch]

3. And right after the 2004 election, isn't that just a coincidence

:sarcasm:

[Amonester]

4. $140,000,000,000?!?!?!! #"@¤ Does that include the 8.8 billions

that were "distributed" in bundles of cash "hidden" into paper brown bags?

Nope. The. Enron. Scandal. Was. Nothing. Compared. To. This...

Nothin'!! :nuke:

http://costofwar.com

[shanti]

6. oh puh-leeze!

we know where those billions went - right into those numbered bank accounts in switzerland and the caribbean! that's what the gd invasion was for in the first place!!!!! :mad:

[fasttense]

7. Just think, that debt that the U.S. is accumulating to pay for this war,

that debt that my children and my children's children will be paying off for years to come, is going right into Cheney and his conies' pockets. So in a way, our children will be paying back Cheney and brush for years and years. It's great to be an American serf.

[rodeodance]

9. so, the responsibility has been on Congress!!!

......Lynch said taxpayers' interests are served instead by other watchdog agencies, including the Defense Contract Audit Agency and the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.

[Nickster]

8. Remember, you can't use western style accounting methods over there./sarca

Who was it that said that?

[DoYouEverWonder]

10. Shouldn't Rummie get fired for this?

This traitor has single handedly destroy the US Military in less then 5 years. Way to go Rummie.

[babylonsister]

11. Kick and pls. recommend! This boggles the mind! nt

[SillyGoose]

12. Gross incompetence and mismanagement of public funds.

This should be all over the MSM. I am so sick and tired of getting outraged at story after story about the incompetence, mismanagement and arrogance of those in the White House. They "lost" 8 billion in Iraq and now this?

Unbelievable. Nominated.

[Nimrod2005]

13. Of course -- Why can't Bush/Cheney/Rummy be sent to jail for this?

If getting people killed based on lies is not enough, is this? Stealing the people's money?

[Zenlitened]

14. I vote republican because they're the ones I trust with my money.

I also have a rusty railroad spike embedded in the left frontal lobe of my brain.

Do you think there may be a connection?

[superconnected]

15. Gee that opens the doors to fraud and abuse

gee, wonder who pulled that agency out.

gee, wonder why.

And today I fought a republican on another site over illegal immigrants being "welfare queens" since he said they are sneaking in giant familys that are taking a huge toll on our countries money.

What an idjit. The republicans won't wake up from this article. They're not capable of growing brains.

[Barrett808]

17. The Iraq Job could prove to be more profitable than the S&L Heist

It appears that the Bush mafia can loot the US treasury with impunity and launder the money through Iraq. The Iraq Job could prove to be more profitable for organized crime than even the S&L Heist, which of course was overseen by Poppy Bush.

[newspeak]

20. yep, the S&L heist was what I was thinking of

Some considered the biggest "rip-off" (dollar wise) in the history of the world (that from Berkeley Free Press). Where were the American people while they were being ripped off? Because, besides those who directly dealt with S&L and lost, the taxpayers are the ones that are still bailing them out!!!!! And we know who was involved with all those shenanigans, don't we boys and girls!!! Also, our glorious media, keeping democracy alive (sarcasm), waited until after Poppy Bush was elected to expose the corruption. I mean, they wouldn't want truth to come between a Bush getting elected, now would they? The media is just as complicit as this administration. I'm thinking Julian Steicher. And by the way, didn't Rumsfeld state that there was ,what, 1-3 trillion dollars unaccounted for at the Pentagon?

[Barrett808]

21. There was a grass-roots effort here in Seattle: the "Bucket Brigade"

Started by local commentator John Hinterberger. There were a few meetings of very angry citizens. One I attended had 600 mostly older folks, and they were hopping mad about the Thrift Heist. Our elected representatives were invited, but only my man, Jim McDermott, had the stones to show up. He took a lot of abuse. "Who's minding the store?" asked one older man.

"Don't leave us holding the bag," was the slogan, and they handed out little paper bags to make the point.

Then, ever so conveniently, Saddam invaded Kuwait, and the whole movement evaporated.

Funny, that.

[suegeo]

19. George is gonna run the country like a business.

George is gonna run the country like a business. Too bad it's like a business he looted, then drove over a cliff.

[MADem]

23. Yeah, like all of his bid-nisses, RIGHT INTO THE GROUND!! nt