U.S. Agency Finds New Waste and Fraud in Iraqi Rebuilding Projects

BAGHDAD, Jan. 31 — A federal oversight agency reported Wednesday that despite nearly $108 billion that had been budgeted for the reconstruction of Iraq since the 2003 invasion, the country’s electrical output and oil production were still below prewar levels and stocks of gasoline and kerosene had plummeted to their lowest levels in at least two years.

The United States alone has accounted for nearly $38 billion of the rebuilding money, according to the agency, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.

Even as the flow of reconstruction money from the United States is coming to an end, the litany of major American contractors that are suspected of having wasted large amounts of the money has lengthened, new investigations by the inspector general have found.

I suppose it comes as no surprise to learn that funds distributed by the anti-Democratic Party to its largest campaign donors were abused and mismanaged, but the expanse of waste and fraud is truly amazing.

One of the reports released on Wednesday found that an American company, DynCorp, appeared to act almost independently of its contracting officers at the Department of State at times, billing the United States for millions of dollars of work that was never authorized and starting other jobs before they were requested.

The findings of misconduct against the company, on a $188 million job order to build living quarters and purchase weapons and equipment for the Iraqi police as part of a training program, were serious enough that the inspector general’s office began a fraud inquiry.

“As a result of that audit, matters meriting investigation were uncovered,” Stuart W. Bowen Jr., who is in charge of the office, said on Wednesday.

Mr. Bowen declined to give further details but said that he was also initiating a countrywide review of DynCorp’s work in Iraq. The company has also received major contracts to train police in Afghanistan.

The article notes that so far one man, Robert J. Stein Jr., a former Pentagon contractor, has been sentenced to nine years in prison after admitting to stealing millions of dollars in Iraq.

That’s only one.

But Mr. Bowen said Wednesday that his office had 80 active investigations of potential criminal activity in Iraq. Some 23 cases have been handed over to the Justice Department, “and they are making progress on those,” he said.

As Congress begins its investigation of the Bu$h malAdministration in earnest, it’s likely we will see quite a few more referrals for criminal prosecution.