Fifteen Billion Dollars in in Pentagon Iraq spending unaccounted for
- From: Florida <demeter547opine@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 23 May 2008 17:22:03 -0700 (PDT)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080523/pl_afp/usiraqmilitarybudget
15 bln dlrs in US Iraq spending unaccounted for: reports
1 hour, 28 minutes ago
The Pentagon cannot account for nearly 15 billion dollars in payments
for goods and services in Iraq, according to an internal audit which
members of Congress blasted Friday as a "shocking" accountability
failure.
Of 8.2 billion dollars in US taxpayer-funded defense contracts
reviewed by the defense department's inspector general, the Pentagon
could not properly account for more than 7.7 billion dollars.
The lack of accountability of the funds, intended for purchases of
weapons, vehicles, construction equipment and security services,
amounted to a 95 percent failure rate in basic accounting standards,
according to the report.
"We estimated that the army made 1.4 billion dollars in commercial
payments that lacked the minimum documentation for a valid payment,
such as properly prepared receiving reports, invoices, and certified
vouchers," deputy inspector general Mary Ugone told a Congressional
committee Thursday.
"We also estimated that the army made an additional 6.3 billion
dollars of commercial payments that met the 27 criteria for payments
but did not comply with other statutory and regulatory requirements."
The Pentagon also was found to have given away another 1.8 billion in
Iraqi assets "with absolutely no accountability," said Congressman
Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform.
"Investigators examined 53 payment vouchers and couldn't find even one
that adequately explained where the money went."
Another five billion dollars spent on supporting the Iraqi security
forces could not be properly traced, according to a November 2007
inspector general report.
"Taken together, the inspector general found that the defense
department did not properly account for almost 15 billion dollars,"
Waxman said.
The disclosures sparked outrage among legislators and concern that US
taxpayers are deeply vulnerable to massive waste and fraud in the
Pentagon's contracting system.
"The report has new shocking details of billions of dollars of
American taxpayer money unaccounted for and likely wasted, which
should be a wake-up call to Congress and the (President George W.)
Bush administration that the status quo is unacceptable," Democratic
senator and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said in a
statement.
"American taxpayers are picking up the tab for Iraqi ministries,
coalition governments, US and foreign contractors, Iraqi security
forces, and Blackwater and other US security companies," Waxman said.
"In one remarkable instance, a 320-million-dollar payment in cash was
handed over with little more than a signature in exchange."
The Pentagon to date has been appropriated 492 billion dolllars to
support Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to Ugone.
___________
© 2008 Agence France Presse
.
- Prev by Date: Re: Women say: No thanks to metrosexual men
- Next by Date: Re: The fear of white decline
- Previous by thread: U.S. Home Sales Stall
- Next by thread: Re: Mean-spirited as ever but out of options, rightards try focusin...
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
