Mendacity of the Day Award goes to Uncle Don

[EFerrari]

@RumsfeldOffice Donald Rumsfeld

In 1967, I voted against raising the debt ceiling to $365 billion: http://bit.ly/ewbdvS That might cover today’s USG paper clip budget.

38 minutes ago via web

http://twitter.com/#!/RumsfeldOffice/status/57489452871860224

But there are known knowns:

Military waste under fire / $1 trillion missing -- Bush plan targets Pentagon accounting

May 18, 2003|By Tom Abate, Chronicle Staff Writer

The Department of Defense, already infamous for spending $640 for a toilet seat, once again finds itself under intense scrutiny, only this time because it couldn't account for more than a trillion dollars in financial transactions, not to mention dozens of tanks, missiles and planes.

The Pentagon's unenviable reputation for waste will top the congressional agenda this week, when the House and Senate are expected to begin floor debate on a Bush administration proposal to make sweeping changes in how the Pentagon spends money, manages contracts and treats civilian employees.

http://articles.sfgate.com/2003-05-18/news/17491492_1_pentagon-gao-financial-accounting

Cost of Iraq war could surpass $1 trillion
msnbc.com
updated 3/17/2006 7:25:08 PM ET

One thing is certain about the Iraq war: It has cost a lot more than advertised. In fact, the tab grows by at least $200 million each and every day.

In the months leading up to the launch of the war three years ago, few Bush administration officials were willing to comment publicly on the potential costs to the United States. After all, no cost would have been too high if the United States faced an imminent threat from an Iraq armed with weapons of mass destruction, the war's stated justification.

In fact, the economic ramifications are rarely included in the debate over whether to go to war, although some economists argue it is quite possible and useful to assess potential costs and benefits.

In any event, most estimates put forward by White House officials in 2002 and 2003 were relatively low compared with the nation's gross domestic product, the size of the federal budget or the cost of past wars.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11880954/

Pentagon can’t account for $8.7 billion in Iraq money, audit finds

snip

With the establishment of the Coalition Provisional Authority, which ran Iraq shortly after the start of the U.S. invasion in 2003 until mid-2004, about $20 billion was placed into the account. The $9.1 billion audited by the Iraq reconstruction inspector general were funds withdrawn from that account between 2004 and 2007.

The report found that the Defence Department could not “readily account for its obligations, expenditures and remaining balances associated” with the DFI. At issue was $8.7 billion, or 95 per cent of the withdrawn funds.

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/840935--pentagon-can-t-account-for-8-7-billion-in-iraq-money-audit-finds

Pentagon's no-bid contracts cost taxpayers billions, report finds

By Seth Borenstein
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWS SERVICE

September 30, 2004

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon has spent at least $362 billion in no-bid contracts since 1998 with the 10 biggest defense contractors getting the most noncompetitive deals, according to a report released yesterday.

Moreover, the Pentagon awarded $255 billion in controversial "cost-plus" contracts that allow companies to spend as much as they want on a job, tack on an agreed upon profit and pass the bill to taxpayers, the Center for Public Integrity, a nonpartisan investigative nonprofit group in Washington, found.

The 10 biggest contractors, which earn 38 percent of all defense contracts, got more than half of all the no-bid and cost-plus contracts issued by the defense department.

Because of the war in Iraq, Vice President Dick Cheney's former firm, Halliburton, managed to go from an also-ran 37th on the contract list in 2001 and 2002 to No. 7 in 2003, the Pentagon's own procurement statistics show.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20040930/news_1n30pentagon.html

Pentagon loses track of weapons for Iraqi forces

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The Pentagon cannot account for 190,000 AK-47 rifles and pistols given to Iraqi security forces in 2004 and 2005, or about half the weapons earmarked for soldiers and police, according to a government report.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/08/06/iraq.weapons.reut/

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

1. I would love to see a "Going Out of Business" sign at the Pentagon. K&R