Iraq Watchdog Office Faces 2007 Closure

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON — An explosive report released Monday on U.S. weapons losses in Iraq could be part of the reason Stuart Bowen's days as the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction are numbered.

The special IG office, which since 2004 has kept watch over how U.S. taxpayers' funds are being spent rebuilding Iraq, is scheduled to close at the end of fiscal year 2007, next Sept. 30. Its expiration has prompted concerns that new and continuing investigations into waste, fraud and abuse by Iraqis and American contractors will recede into the shadows of the federal bureaucracy.
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"That is exactly the wrong time to close that office," said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., chairman of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee. "The proof is in the experience here and the Defense Department has not done the oversight and the Congress has not done the oversight so keeping the inspector general's office is critical for our taxpayers. ... I just think the taxpayers are getting fleeced and we need to have more, not fewer resources" toward oversight.

Dorgan said if Democrats win control of the Senate in next week's election, "We will make a major effort to keep that inspector general."

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