US Military: Can't Account For $15 Billion In Spending In Iraq
Friday May 23rd, 2008 / 23h06
WASHINGTON (AFP)--The U.S. military cannot account for nearly $15 billion in payments for goods and services in Iraq, according to an internal audit which members of Congress blasted Friday as a "shocking" accountability failure. Of $8.2 billion in U.S. taxpayer-funded defense contracts reviewed by the defense department's inspector general, the Pentagon could not properly account for more than $7.7 billion. The lack of accountability for the funds, intended for purchases of weapons, vehicles, construction equipment and security services, amounted to a 95% failure rate in basic accounting standards, according to the report. "We estimated that the army made $1.4 billion in commercial payments that lacked the minimum documentation for a valid payment, such as properly prepared receiving reports, invoices, and certified vouchers," deputy inspector general Mary Ugone told a Congressional committee. "We also estimated that the army made an additional $6.3 billion of commercial payments that met the 27 criteria for payments but did not comply with other statutory and regulatory requirements." The Pentagon also was found to have given away another $1.8 billion in Iraqi assets "with absolutely no accountability," said Congressman Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. "Investigators examined 53 payment vouchers and couldn't find even one that adequately explained where the money went," Waxman said. Another $5 billion spent on supporting the Iraqi security forces could not be properly traced, according to a November 2007 inspector general report. "Taken together, the inspector general found that the defense department did not properly account for almost $15 billion," Waxman said. The disclosures sparked outrage among legislators and concern that U.S. taxpayers are deeply vulnerable to massive waste and fraud in the Pentagon's contracting system. "The report has new shocking details of billions of dollars of American taxpayer money unaccounted for and likely wasted, which should be a wake-up call to Congress and the Bush administration that the status quo is unacceptable," Democratic senator and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said in a statement. "American taxpayers are picking up the tab for Iraqi ministries, coalition governments, U.S. and foreign contractors, Iraqi security forces, and Blackwater and other U.S. security companies," Waxman said. "In one remarkable instance, a $320 million payment in cash was handed over with little more than a signature in exchange." The Pentagon to date has been appropriated $492 billion to support Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to Ugone.
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