I posted this ealier, but pasted in the wrong link and the edit period has expired, so I'm reposting. More details on how corruption is affecting Iraq are found in the article, so I wanted to make it easier for everyone to get to the full text. Mods, please combine.
Three years on, and the glorious, pay-for-itself cakewalk continues...http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=reu... Iraq rebuilding lags, security eats precious fundsTue May 10, 2005 5:45 PM ET
By Sue Pleming
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Major reconstruction has not yet got off the ground in Iraq and security costs can eat up half the funding in some areas, the top official auditing $18.4 billion in U.S.-funded projects said on Tuesday.
U.S. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen sees himself as a "taxpayer watchdog" entrusted to verify whether money appropriated by Congress to rebuild Iraq is spent wisely. Asked whether he thought rebuilding was properly under way and funds were being spent as Congress intended, the former White House lawyer said: "No," largely because so much money had been diverted to security, forcing projects to be scaled back.
There has also been evidence of corruption in some U.S.-funded deals. As of April 11, his office had received 131 potential criminal cases, and of these 62 have been closed, 35 referred to other agencies and 34 remain open.
"The big ones are yet to unfold ... We are talking tens of millions of dollars and not just thousands," he said in an interview with Reuters, declining to provide further details of ongoing investigations.
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