Audit: Millions in Iraq reconstruction aid wasted

From the AP via CNN courtesy of AlterNet:

Tens of millions of U.S. dollars have been wasted in Iraq reconstruction aid, some of it on an Olympic-size swimming pool ordered up by Iraqi officials for a police academy that has yet to be used, investigators say.

The quarterly audit by Stuart Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, is the latest to paint a grim picture of waste, fraud and frustration in an Iraq war and reconstruction effort that has cost taxpayers more than $300 billion and left the region near civil war.

"The security situation in Iraq continues to deteriorate, hindering progress in all reconstruction sectors and threatening the overall reconstruction effort," according to the 579-page report, which was being released Wednesday.

Calling Iraq's sectarian violence the greatest challenge, Bowen said in a telephone interview that billions in U.S. aid spent on strengthening security has had limited effect. He said reconstruction now will fall largely on Iraqis to manage -- and they're nowhere ready for the task.

The audit comes as President Bush is pressing Congress to approve $1.2 billion in new reconstruction aid as part of his broader plan to stabilize Iraq by sending 21,500 more U.S. troops to Baghdad and Anbar province.

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I have a hunch that when all this is finally sorted out, perhaps decades from now, the amount of money lost to fraud and corruption will be counted in the billions rather than millions. But for now, millions is bad enough. Bad enough for what? If you've ever wondered exactly why things have gone so badly in Iraq for the United States, I think it's safe to say that there are numerous causes, but certainly mismanagement by Pentagon contractors is one of them. Clearly, lots of taxpayer money that's supposed to be going into reconstruction isn't actually making it, which, by itself, is a cause of instability. Furthermore, the Iraqi government that we created and dominate appears to be wildly corrupt. Bush's "surge" is supposedly going to clear the way for that puppet-government to finally take responsibility for governing, but how the hell is it supposed to do that when so many officials seem to be on the take? These stories about missing money and waste in Iraq aren't simply about US taxpayers getting the shaft: in between the lines is the guarantee that the occupation will continue to be a spectacular failure.

But we already knew that, didn't we?

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