Waste and abuse of funds for Iraq reconstruction
An audit by the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, Stuart Bowen Jr., shows significant waste, abuse, and fraud of funds. The Iraq war and reconstruction is estimated to have cost $300 billion so far.
Among the questionable items:
- $43.8 million was paid to DynCorp International to construct a residential police training camp that has been empty for months. The camp includes an Olympic-size swimming pool and 20 VIP trailers, at a cost of about $4.2 million. The trailers and pool were never authorized by the U.S.
- $36.4 million spent for weapons, body armor, armored vehicles, and communications equipment that is nowhere to be found
- $18 million billed by DynCorp that doesn’t have supporting documentation
The State Department says new controls are in place to identify instances of waste and abuse. Already, the new review process flagged a $1.1 million invoice from DynCorp that used the wrong billing rate.
There are currently 78 active criminal cases open with the office of the special inspector.
