WP: Ability to Track Costs in Iraq May Be Difficult, Report Says

[Pirate Smile]

Ability to Track Costs in Iraq May Be Difficult, Report Says

By Griff Witte
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 9, 2005; Page A19

Auditors monitoring reconstruction funding in Iraq are concerned that the system for managing work there is so diffuse that the government may not be able to get an accurate estimate of how much its projects cost, according to an inspector general's report set for release today.

Congress allocated $18.4 billion for Iraqi reconstruction in 2003, of which about a quarter had been spent as of April. The money was intended for programs aimed at restoring basic services to the Iraqis, such as electricity, water, health care and education after the U.S. invasion in spring 2003.

But auditors with the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction say the lack of accurate cost estimates raises the possibility that the government could be stuck without enough money to pay for reconstruction programs already begun. "That's always a danger if you don't know how much you've spent," said James Mitchell, spokesman for special Inspector General Stuart W. Bowen Jr.

The report points to projects under an Army reconstruction program that were more than 90 percent complete and had cost more than 50 percent above the initial estimate. It also cites U.S Agency for International Development projects that are more than half complete and are on track to cost 85.5 percent more than estimated.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/08/AR2005050800873.html

[shanti]

1. they are stealing our money with impunity

must be cya time.

[jimshoes]

2. How do you cover up a boondoggle?

Create an even bigger and more costly boondoggle. (Iran)

[Sadie5]

3. Great excuse

for the stolen funds. Perhaps after they steal what they want they can start the difficult task of finding out where the rest should go. Kinda like Enron bookkeeping.

[daleo]

4. Item #457

Of Bush doing exactly what he accused Saddam of doing (misappropriating funds).

[truthisfreedom]

5. the best way to get away with looting the US Treasury is to create a war

with such a level of mayhem that nobody can keep track of anything, and in the end, nobody wants to. that way the bushco cronies can just rip a hole in the bottom of the bag of our TAX DOLLARS and empty it directly into their pockets, whistling innocently as they limp away under the enormous added weight of their booty.

[Daphne08]

6. Government has got to have some way of

funneling money into those Black Projects they've been working on for years!

:tinfoilhat: No, I won't take off my tinfoil hat about that one. ;)

[burrowowl]

7. We know where it went

to Haliburton, Bechtel, et al.
The Iraquis could have done it themselves for less and better.

:mad: :mad: :mad:

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. The auditors need to bribe the bookkeepers more

to get them on their side, rather than Halliburton's side. :crazy:

[TomClash]

9. Theft isn't even mentioned as a possibility

Another nitwit reporter reciting another nondescript report.

[orpupilofnature57]

10. Who's the C.P.A's employed by halliburton? Shrubs turd ,we eat!!!!!!!!!!