Waxman to Probe Iraq Contracting, Unaccounted-For $12 Billion

[babylonsister]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=auujbnoi7vaQ&refer=news

Waxman will be covering lots of topics related to contractors this week. Below is an outline:

Waxman to Probe Iraq Contracting, Unaccounted-For $12 Billion

By Jay Newton-Small

Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Representative Henry Waxman, kicking off hearings on government contracting, today will question former Ambassador L. Paul Bremer on what happened to as much as $12 billion in unaccounted-for cash spent when he was in charge of rebuilding Iraq.

A report from Waxman's House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said the money represented more than half of Bremer's budget from May 2003 to June 2004. The report described contractors being told to bring big bags to collect shrink- wrapped bundles of money, and one episode where a Bremer staff member was allegedly told to spend $6.75 million in a week.

``We're going to look at whether there's profiteering going on against the government as a payer or against the consumers in this country,'' Waxman, a California Democrat, said in an interview.

The hearings, which fulfill a Democratic campaign promise, will spotlight the use of contractors in Iraq and on homeland security under President George W. Bush, as well as spending on Medicare and Medicaid. The hearings ``will embarrass the administration,'' said James Thurber, a political science professor at American University and expert on government oversight.

snip//

KBR Audit

In addition to Bremer, Waxman today will call Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraqi reconstruction. In a report to Congress last week, he said Houston-based KBR, the largest U.S. military contractor in Iraq, failed to account for $22.3 million worth of items surveyed in two audits in 2004.

KBR, 80 percent owned by Halliburton, transports war supplies and provides food to U.S. troops in Iraq.

more...

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. good luck

every person who searched earlier has been demoted, fired, threatened, or professionally attacked. Inside and outside of government.

Watch for Waxman's plane to crash soon. These guys are deadly serious about their greed and avarice.

[babylonsister]

2. Jeeze. On that happy note...

Don't you think it might look a tad suspicious if he died 'accidently'? I for one look forward to whatever Waxman digs up. There's lots to be exposed, and I believe he'll do so.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

3. Waxman is hard-nosed, smart, and has the instincts of a

bloodhound on the trail. That is all to the good.

My problem (and it is a personal problem) has constantly been my own naivete about this administration and the lengths to which they go to hide bad news, to spin, to corrupt the process, and worse. Every time I think to my self, "This is it, Not even THEY can escape this crap of their own making" they manage to do something even more outrageous, proving my initial thought wrong.

I certainly wish Henry all the success that he, we and the whole country deserve. I just wonder how the Bushistas will sneak out of responsibility this time.

[blm]

5. They use media scorn now against anti-corruption Democrats. Easy now that they own

most of the corpmedia outlets.

[gasperc]

4. he should add a 0 to that

more like $120Billion