No, not the Wall Street collapse and bailout or the skyrocketing price of oil since the Iraq invasion. Not talking about the increasing inflation that is crushing normal Americans. Nope, not talking about the sub-prime bubble bursting nor the failures of post-Katrina reconstruction. And no, this isn't about the budget surplus disappearing into a massive deficit either. Oh and no, this isn't about the corporate welfare called "no price negotiations with Big Pharma despite preaching about the free market" with the Medicare money. This is just another example of failed oversight in the black hole of spending called Iraq.
Millions of dollars of lucrative Iraq reconstruction contracts were never finished because of excessive delays, poor performance or other factors, including failed projects that are being falsely described by the U.S. government as complete, federal investigators say.
The audit released Sunday by Stuart Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, provides the latest snapshot of an uneven reconstruction effort that has cost U.S. taxpayers more than $100 billion. It also comes as several lawmakers have said they want the Iraqis to pick up more of the cost of reconstruction.
