Iraq: Money Pit

Of all the problems that the Iraq war brought us, perhaps the most ignored is the element of rampant fraud and war profiteering.   One would hope that the recent changes in Washington would lead to some investigation into whether or not the American taxpayer is getting completely shafted by Bush’s little Mid East experiment. 

I just read a post by digby that gave me some hope.  It looks like Henry Waxman is looking into it a bit:

Chairman Waxman Invites Witnesses for Waste, Fraud, and Abuse Hearing

Rep. Waxman has requested the testimony of three key witnesses regarding Iraq reconstruction efforts at an Oversight Committee hearing on waste, fraud, and abuse, to be held the week of February 6th.

L. Paul Bremer, former head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, has been requested to testify regarding reconstruction activities during his tenure at the CPA, as well as an audit report from January 2005 that concluded that more than $8.8 billion in cash under CPA’s control was disbursed without adequate financial controls or accountability.

Stuart Bowen, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, has been requested to testify regarding the audits and field inspections conducted by his office related to reconstruction activities in Iraq.

Timothy Carney, Coordinator for Iraqi Transitional Assistance, has been requested to testify regarding the newly created position of Coordinator, his role in assisting the Iraqi government with reconstruction efforts, and his prior service in Iraq.

February 6th is, of course, Tuesday.  Should be interesting. I think we’ll see why Bush apparently wanted the cronies to be in charge of the reconstruction. 

For a documentary about the war profiteering going on in Iraq, check out Iraq For Sale: