I just wanted to see if that title got more response because this is an important story.
"The DoD Inspector General doesn’t have anybody in Iraq auditing the spending. Nope, pulled them out a year ago. That also means there isn’t anybody in Iraq who can make a spending report public either. Hold on to your hat now, cuz it gets even better… there IS one person from the DoD IG office in Iraq, they’re there to “develop an anti-corruption process for the Iraqi government.”
WASHINGTON - The chief Pentagon agency in charge of investigating and reporting fraud and waste in Defense Department spending in Iraq quietly pulled out of the war zone a year ago - leaving what experts say are gaps in the oversight of how more than $140 billion is being spent…
“The auditors were withdrawn in the fall of 2004 because other agencies were watching spending, too. But experts say those other agencies don't have the expertise, access and broad mandate that the inspector general has - and don't make their reports public...
“U.S. spending in Iraq falls into two big categories - fighting the war and rebuilding the country. A Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction has a 45-person staff in Baghdad to monitor $18.4 billion in contracts.
In contrast, the Defense Department inspector general, whose responsibility includes reviewing the $142 billion earmarked for the military, doesn't have a single auditor or accountant in Iraq tracking spending, Knight Ridder has found..
“Spokeswoman Lt. Col. Rose-Ann Lynch, of the Defense Department IG's office, acknowledged Monday that the agency has no auditors in Iraq and that its criminal investigative arm "ceased operations in Iraq in October 2004." Lynch said taxpayers' interests are served instead by other watchdog agencies, including the Defense Contract Audit Agency and the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress…
“Lynch said the Defense Department Inspector General "currently has no specific audits being conducted in Iraq..."
“Lynch said the Defense Contract Audit Agency - an internal group of auditors in the Defense Department - has issued 622 reports, questioning costs and referring some cases for investigation of possible fraud. But nearly all those reports are classified. Most inspector general reports are public..
"The IG is probably the best-equipped office to look at the broad range of problems and possible misconduct that will arise in Iraq," said Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project On Government Oversight. "It's really hard to fathom how the IG could have thought how it wasn't worth having his people on the ground in Iraq scrutinizing the situation."
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