$1B In Military Equipment Missing In Iraq
We have given money hand over fist with disastrous results and zero accountability. And, as tax payers we have received nothing but continued lies and demands from Bush and the Pentagon for more money. Congress needs to get very serious with Bush and cut off all the money. No excuses, no compromises, no more freaking money!
Pelosi, Reid and the rest of the overpaid pandering Congress needs to learn the word NO!
Tractor trailers, tank recovery vehicles, crates of machine guns and rocket propelled grenades are just a sampling of more than $1 billion in unaccounted for military equipment and services provided to the Iraqi security forces, according to a new report issued today by the Pentagon Inspector General and obtained exclusively by the CBS News investigative unit. Auditors for the Inspector General reviewed equipment contracts totaling $643 million but could only find an audit trail for $83 million.
The report details a massive failure in government procurement revealing little accountability for the billions of dollars spent purchasing military hardware for the Iraqi security forces. For example, according to the report, the military could not account for 12,712 out of 13,508 weapons, including pistols, assault rifles, rocket propelled grenade launchers and machine guns.
The report comes on the same day that Army procurement officials will face tough questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee regarding their procurement policies. One official, Claude Bolton, assistant secretary for acquisition, logistics and technology has already announced his resignation on the heels of sharp criticism of army contracting. Bolton’s resignation is effective Jan. 2, 2008. The Army has significantly expanded its fraud investigations in recent months.
Inspector General Report (1.95 mb PDF)
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December 7th, 2007 at 8:53 am
These fools, privatize everything, no bid /cost plus contracts…then just literally bombs away ..and the PNACers are laughing all the way to the bank..as are Boeing Raytheon, and other corporations in the Military Industrial Complex. – How much longer does anyone think this can continue….anyone with a household, a checkbook , a bank account knows – you cannot just keep spending, squandering forever before the shit hits the fan. Think of all the social programs , we could fund, with the money the military industrial complex chomps up ! – and for what ???? OIL that what. And there is no need at all for this – we could be having an “apollo ” type program for alturnative fuels, Ford , a mager war profiteer too, well….old Henry once built an entire car out of HEMP…yep.
We could be helping the housing markets by building affordable housing, we could be funding student loan programs, funding health care, assisting people who have fallen on hard times. Helping our public school system, building roads. Taking better care of the elderly and disabled…Instead what is this Over reaching Empire doing ? Its hemorraging billions BILLIONS a day.
Not in my name. They lied, they continue to lie, they politicized the DOJ – what the hell is it gonna take, before the people at large see through this – and the Congress finally does its job which is to impeach…At this rate, I may end up casting my vote for the only candidate that offers big time change. that is Kucinich. We may not be ready for a U turn , but we sure as hell need one.