Officials remain mum on corruption in Iraq

[maddezmom]

Officials remain mum on corruption in Iraq
Douglas Turner
Updated: 05/05/08 6:37 AM


WASHINGTON — The Bush administration has resorted to a technique in buying stuff in corrupt Iraq that is reminiscent of the way the Soviet Empire worked.

The U. S. Government Accountability Office, the nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress, used polite words in March to describe the government’s practice of covering the tracks of a crooked deal.

The GAO said our Defense Department negotiated an oil contract there “more than six months after the work commenced and most costs (were) incurred. DOD paid nearly all the $221 million in costs questioned by auditors.”

The Bush administration responded that the Iraq “government,” the hopelessly divided sick man of South Asia, should fix the problem.

Last week, the GAO said Iraqis are stealing and smuggling oil worth $15 million a day. That larceny is peanuts in the overall picture. On-the-ground auditors, both U. S. and Iraqi, estimate that up to $18 billion in American taxpayer funds sent for rebuilding a land we disabled has been stolen.

more:http://www.buffalonews.com/149/story/339234.html