$56 billion directly into the pockets of war profiteers, but we can't afford

[mudplanet]

to throw money at education or social services.
-
Stung by Senate criticism, auditor of Afghan spending sacks aides

WASHINGTON — The top auditor of U.S. contracting in Afghanistan announced Tuesday that he had fired two of his deputies in a shake-up aimed at improving his investigations of waste and corruption.

Arnold Fields, the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, made the changes in his staff after coming under fire from four senators who wrote President Barack Obama late last year demanding his resignation. Fields said he is looking for replacements to run his audits and investigations divisions after concluding their work needed to be more in-depth.

Fields said the firings were partly in response to the congressional criticism. . "Certainly, I took seriously the concerns brought to my attention by the stakeholders on Capitol Hill," Fields said in an interview with McClatchy.

The senators have asserted that Fields' office has done a poor job of scrutinizing how $56 billion in reconstruction money is being spent in the war-torn nation.


Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/01/04/106187/stung-by-senate-criticism-auditor.html#ixzz1ADrHXrj5


Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/01/04/106187/stung-by-senate-criticism-auditor.html#ixzz1ADr5Oj3C

[gratuitous]

1. Any word from the Republicans about cutting this spending?

Of course not.

[liberal N proud]

2. The only profit in poor people for Congress and the corporations is...

When we are all too poor to live on our own then they can own us.

[freshwest]

3. Ooooh man... That is all that's left, huh?

[chill_wind]

4. And here's a great deal of why, and it's not just Republicans.

as`we all certainly well know.

151 current members Congress Invested in Defense Contracts

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x580142

[TheMadMonk]

5. Um, weren't there a few auditors pointing at the disappearing money...

...who soon saw their jobs following a while back?

A lot like the Siebel Edmonds story, but what was moving was money not intel.

And it seems like that's the fate of anyone who dares to "blow the whistle" openly anywhere you look today. Even when the whistle comes with the job, and that job is to blow.

We know where some of the money goes at least. The "plus" in "cost plus" is a lot bigger on a whole new truck (+load) than a set of runflat rims. Thus it makes ecconomic sense to adopt a policy of abandoning entire trucks and their loads in danger zones, rather than modifying the vehicles to escape a with a puncture without stopping to replace a wheel.

"Cost plus" encourages suppliers to think in terms of the most expensive solution to fit the parammeters, than the most effective.

Now make the contracts "No Bid" for selected suppliers with top level connections that render them nigh on untouchable.


A certain part of it too will be simply dealing with local corruption. And perhaps the solution is not to forbid the paying of bribes, but to simply require their accounting. Make it open, let the warlords confirm that their subordinates are passing the reqisite percentage up the food chain. Or keep the details secret whilst only revealing the gross bribery budget. Either way, class it as a non-deductible expense.