Palm Beach (FL) Post Op/Ed: To Support The Troops, Follow The Iraq Money

http://www.palmbeachpost.com:80/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2007/02/26/m16a_leadedit_iraqmoney_0226.html

To support the troops, follow the Iraq money

Palm Beach Post Editorial

Monday, February 26, 2007

If Democrats try to withhold money to stop President Bush's Iraq "surge," Republicans will allege that they are cutting off support for troops in the field. Before making that accusation, Republicans might want to explain why, when they ran Congress, they never made sure that the billions American taxpayers have sent to help the troops in the field actually benefitted the troops in the field.

This month, the new Democratic Congress called three auditors to testify about Iraq spending. They reported that $10 billion spent on contractors had been wasted, resulted from overcharges or simply wasn't accounted for. That total included items such as $212 million paid to Halliburton Co. for meals for U.S. troops - part of an estimated $2.7 billion in improper charges from Halliburton - and $100 million for troop housing.

Perhaps $10 billion doesn't seem like that much in the scope of a $350 billion war bill. Consider, then, that the auditors have been able to look at only about $57 billion of the expenditures. The total also doesn't include other shockingly wasteful practices, such as the administration's blase handling of 363 tons of cash - about $12 billion - shipped in shrink-wrapped packages to Iraq during the early stages of the war.

Almost all of that money vanished without any attempt at proper accounting. That money theoretically came from Iraq's oil-for-food program. In fact, it was under the control of Paul Bremer, who ran Iraq - very badly - for the Bush administration.

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is this typically a left, right or center paper?

to be balanced. Positive on Charlie Crist, and as a Dem, so am I.

More from the article:


Misspending money like that - and the hundreds of millions Halliburton squandered on oil fields the company was supposed to repair - might not have been destined for direct aid to U.S. troops. But since it was part of a reconstruction effort that was supposed to provide the economic stability necessary for creating a politically stable Iraq, wasting that money has been just as bad as wasting money that could have been spent on better vehicle armor or other safety equipment.

Republicans who watched as more and more units rotated through Iraq for unprecedented tours of duty now want to present themselves as protectors of the troops' safety in the field. That from a bunch that did not ensure that there were enough troops to begin with, shrugged off complaints about inadequate equipment and closed their eyes to waste and mismanagement. Now that conditions have deteriorated so drastically that a troop "surge" has dubious chances of success - why do they think 21,500 will be enough? - the GOP still claims that, for them, the troops come first.

now that I re-read it. Dems should be using those paragraphs as talking points daily.

Put it all back on the Republicans each and everytime they accuse the Dems of not caring for our troops.

"Where's the money?"