Millions wasted in Iraq reconstruction aid:audit paints grim picture

Quarterly audit paints grim picture of fraud, frustration
The U.S. government wasted tens of millions of dollars in Iraq reconstruction aid, including scores of unaccounted-for weapons and a never-used camp for housing police trainers with an Olympic-size swimming pool, 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.

(snip)
20 VIP trailers
According to the report, the State Department paid $43.8 million to contractor DynCorp International for the residential camp for police training personnel outside of Baghdad’s Adnan Palace grounds that has stood empty for months. About $4.2 million of the money was improperly spent on 20 VIP trailers and an Olympic-size pool, all ordered by the Iraqi Ministry of Interior but never authorized by the U.S.

It seems like W would rather send our tax $ overseas.

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=14023

Tons more data over and above these articles:

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=13538&printsafe=1
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11869

wasted. ;)