How much money is unaccounted
for? According to the report, nobody knows. After years of trying to account
for the billions we poured into the rabbit hole of Iraq, the government can
only say that billions were wasted, but not how much.
Some on the highlights
from the report:
…"billions of American taxpayer dollars at risk
of waste and misappropriation"...
..."The precise amount lost to fraud and waste can
never be known," the report said….
The auditors found huge
problems accounting for the larger sums and complex projects, but it was also
the smaller
sums that also added up to hundreds of millions of waste and fraud:
…"Given the vicissitudes of the reconstruction
effort — which was dogged from the start by persistent violence, shifting
goals, constantly changing contracting practices and undermined by a lack of
unity of effort — a complete accounting of all reconstruction expenditures is
impossible to achieve," the report concluded…
Although the Office of the Inspector
General (OIG) has spent more than $200 million tracking the reconstruction
effort, and producing numerous reports, some accountability has been realized.
The OIG investigations resulted in 87 indictments, 71 convictions and
$176 million in fines and other penalties.
Among those held
accountable are civilians, military personnel, and contractors accused of
kickbacks, bribery, bid rigging, fraud, embezzlement and outright theft of
government property and funds.
Nonetheless, these actions
are just a drop in the bucket trying to account for the outright criminal
behavior and complete lack of governance and oversight of taxpayer funds.
One of the major overlying
issues was the lack of trained, competent contracting personnel to oversee the
mission. In some cases, invoices were reviewed months after they had been paid
due to the lack of contracting officers.
The OIG highlighted a case
in which the State Department had only one contracting officer in Iraq to
validate more than $2.5 billion in spending. No contracting office representative, no help. Further, lack of
any invoice review whatsoever was the modus operandi. It is easier to not ask
questions, and sign the checks, as opposed to the improper micro-management
of contracts on the other spectrum.
Further, the IG goes on to
say:
…"As a result, invoices were not properly
reviewed, and the $2.5 billion in U.S. funds were vulnerable to fraud and
waste,"
"We found this lack of control to be especially
disturbing since earlier reviews of the DynCorp contract had found similar
weaknesses."
The report did highlight
that some funds were recovered ($60 million), but how much was wasted? Again, nobody
knows.
It is easy to sit behind a
keyboard and Monday-morning quarterback these failures, given the level of
violence and danger, shifting sands of priorities and goals, and difficulties
in securing the country. However, these failures did not occur overnight.
Endemic waste, fraud, and
corruption were rampant, and the lack of trained acquisition personnel was
known, or should have been known. Where are the government leaders who allowed
this to happen?
The OIG report is silent.
Silence seems to be acceptance.
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