http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/23/world/middleeast/23audit.html?hp


A Pentagon audit of $8.2 billion in American taxpayer money spent by the United States Army on contractors in Iraq (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/iraq/index.html?inline=nyt-geo) has found that almost none of the payments followed federal rules and that in some cases, contracts worth millions of dollars were paid for despite little or no record of what, if anything, was received.

The audit also found a sometimes stunning lack of accountability in the way the United States military spent some $1.8 billion in seized or frozen Iraqi assets, which in the early phases of the conflict were often doled out in stacks or pallets of cash. The audit was released Thursday in tandem with a Congressional hearing on the payments.

LOL...and this surprises you because...? This type of crap is one of the many defining "attributes" of the Bush administration. Their tagline should be "You pay for it, We Profit, Nothing Done"

Flagrantly wasting tax-payer monies started before Bush took office; Hyde and Gingrich wasted plenty on a Special Prosecutor, and Trent Lott wasted billions on an Aircraft Carrier the Navy said it did not need, and even budgeted 20% over what the Navy said it would cost.

Having a crook like Cheney in the White House has merely expanded the potential for waste, via the no-bid contracts that only his "former" business affiliates can get; and, can get renewed even after admitting to phony billings and shoddy to non-existent performance.

There's three kinds of defense contractor of the sort who actually operate in war zones (i'm not talking about those with supply contracts in non war zones...just the type that provide services in areas where bullets are flying).

There are those who get paid for trying and failing (Well, we built and provided power for all 269 clinics, but all the medical equipment is still stuck in Kuait, how about paying us for 65% completion?),
those who get paid for technically succeeding (but in the "good enough for government work manner"...like, instructions were provided....in a single, easily losable hardcopy that the contracting officer signed for having received. Would you like to talk about a tech support contract now?),
and providing nothing less than the best and most expensive service to achieve the goal (yes we will do your laundry, but all laundry will be dry cleaned and pressed at dry cleaning prices).

Pick your prefered method of wasting money.