Retired 2-star picked for Afghan rebuilding

[unhappycamper]

Retired 2-star picked for Afghan rebuilding
By Anne Flaherty - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday May 30, 2008 7:07:01 EDT

WASHINGTON — Retired Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Arnold Fields is the White House’s choice to lead a new office that will investigate U.S. reconstruction spending in Afghanistan.

Congress mandated the office as a way to oversee the billions of dollars being spent to rebuild Afghanistan. A separate office that focuses on Iraq spending has uncovered numerous accounts of waste, fraud and abuse by contractors.

According to a White House announcement Thursday, Fields retired from the military after 34 years as deputy commander of Marine Forces Europe. More recently, he served as chief of staff of the Iraq reconstruction and management office at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and is now deputy director of the Africa Center for Strategic Studies at National Defense University.

Fields once was inspector general for U.S. Central Command, which oversees troop deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. He received his bachelor’s degree from South Carolina State University and his master’s from Pepperdine University in California.

The post does not require Senate confirmation.


Article at: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/05/ap_reconstructionig_052908/