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Inspector General's report
This bridge across the Tigris River was destroyed by U.S. and allied warplanes in 2003. Rebuilding it proved problematic -- and extremely expensive.
After U.S. and allied warplanes destroyed a key bridge carrying 15 oil and gas pipelines in northern Iraq during the 2003 conflict there, officials in Washington and Baghdad made its postwar reconstruction a top priority. But instead of spending two months to rebuild the span over the Tigris River at an estimated cost of $5 million, they decided for security reasons to bury the pipelines beneath it, at an estimated cost more than five times greater.
What ultimately happened there tells the story — in a microcosm — of a substantial chunk of the massive nine-year U.S. effort to reconstruct Iraq, the second-largest such endeavor in history (only the U.S. investment in Afghanistan has been larger).
Studies conducted before the digging of the new pipelines started showed that the soil was too sandy, but neither the Army Corps of Engineers overseeing the effort nor the main contractor at the site, Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR), heeded the warning. As a result, “tens of millions of dollars (were) wasted on churning sand” without making any headway, as Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart W. Bowen Jr., described it in his recently published final report on the U.S. occupation.
By the time the digging effort was halted, and the old bridge and piping repaired — more than three years later — the bill had reached more than $100 million. “Because of the nature of the original contract, the government was unable to recover any of the money wasted on this project,” Bowen said. More than $1.5 billion in oil revenues may have been lost as a result of the delays. KBR did not respond to a request for comment.
The episode is emblematic of the contracting abuses and mismanagement that wasted at least $8 billion of the $60 billion spent by Washington on Iraq’s postwar recovery, under the guidance of what Bowen describes in his report as “adhocracy” largely controlled by the U.S. military — a structure that never “coalesced into a coherent whole” and often failed to achieve its aims.
March 19, 2003: NBC Nightly News special "Final Hours" before the Iraq War. NBC's Tom Brokaw, Brian Williams, Jim Miklaszewski, Chip Reid and Campbell Brown and ITV's Neil Connery report.
With the U.S. military now gone from Iraq, and with the 10th anniversary of the invasion, Bowen’s retrospective summary of his audits offers useful insights into how well the U.S. government managed its occupation and the legacy it left behind. The mostly downbeat tone is set early, when the report summarizes final interviews Bowen conducted with 44 top U.S. and Iraq officials, who addressed the simple question of whether the decade-long project left Iraq in better shape.
Most of the Americans he spoke to -- including appointees of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama -- were rueful, noting multiple miscalculations, poor planning, disorganization in Washington, and inadequate consultation with Iraqis. James Jeffrey, the U.S. ambassador in Iraq from 2010 to 2012, told Bowen that “the U.S. reconstruction money used to build up Iraq was not effective. ... We didn’t get much in return.”
Related: Iraq, 10 years on: Did invasion bring 'hope and progress' to millions as Bush vowed?
Only retired Army Gen. David Petraeus, who commanded U.S. forces in Iraq before shifting to Afghanistan and then briefly directing the CIA, was ebullient, claiming the effort had brought “colossal benefits to Iraq.”
Virtually every senior Iraqi, in sharp contrast, said the decade-long U.S. occupation was beset by huge misspending and waste, and had accomplished little. The biggest footprint Americans left behind, most of these Iraqi officials said, was more corruption and widespread money laundering. Such a huge investment “could have brought great change in Iraq,” Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said, but the gains were often “lost.”
Billions here, billions there
The bill for Iraq is hard to divide into neat categories, but in rough terms: Washington spent more than $15 billion to try and improve Iraq’s power and water supply, revive its schools and repair its roads and housing; it spent another $9 billion on health care, law enforcement, and humanitarian assistance; it spent $20 billion training and re-equipping Iraqi security forces; it spent roughly $8 billion to enhance the rule of law and battle narcotics; and it spent $5 billion helping to prop up the economy.
Bowen’s interviews with influential Iraqis reveal, however, that they don’t seem to have noticed all this investment or don’t seem grateful. One reason might be that households — as recently as 2011 — still got an average of only 7.6 hours of electricity a day, and a sixth of Iraq’s citizens lacked access to potable drinking water for more than two hours a day.
March 19, 2003: President George W. Bush addresses the nation from the Oval Office announces the that war against Iraq has begun.
Both U.S. and Iraqi officials complained to Bowen that not enough was done during the occupation to stem corruption. An Iraqi government watchdog agency, the Board of Supreme Audit, noted last year that $800 million in profits from illicit activities was being transferred out of Iraq each week, effectively stripping $40 billion annually from the economy, according to Bowen’s report.
There are exceptions to the tales of fraud and waste. A State Department-funded childhood vaccination program helped cut the national infant mortality rate by nearly three-quarters. The Baghdad rail station was repaired on time and under budget. And telecommunications repairs have enabled mobile phone use to climb from 80,000 to 23 million subscribers.
But U.S. dreams of fostering a thriving, Western-style economy in the Middle East have not been realized. Almost all of Iraq’s gains have come from oil production, which is now roughly a third greater than it was in 2003. The oil industry is not a big employer, however, and “Iraq is still far from having a vibrant, market-based private sector,” Bowen reports.
Moreover, its military still “lacks critical capabilities in logistics, intelligence,” and repair, Bowen’s report states. It cannot defend its airspace or its coastline, and is weak in counterterrorism.
Parceling blame
Bowen’s report indirectly assigns blame for mismanaging the endeavor to the Bush White House, which had the authority to force U.S. government agencies to coordinate their work but failed to exercise it. Instead, he points out, no single office was assigned to lead the effort, making "stovepiping" — a myriad of narrowly focused efforts — “the apt descriptor,” the report said.
But the largest responsibility for the failures lies generally at the Pentagon and particularly in the Army, according to the report. The Defense Department “held decisive sway over $45 billion (87 percent) of the roughly $52 billion allocated to the major rebuilding funds that supported Iraq’s reconstruction.”
March 20, 2003: On a special edition of TODAY, NBC's Katie Couric, Matt Lauer, Jim Miklaszewski and Kerry Sanders report on the first day of the Iraq War.
The agencies formally charged with dispensing foreign aid — the State Department and the Agency for International Development — played only a minor role in these accounting shortfalls, because they spent less than a fifth of the reconstruction funds. “State’s role in managing the reconstruction … ebbed and flowed in cycles driven by the personalities involved, with State frequently on the losing end of arguments,” Bowen reports.
It was the Pentagon that failed to plan “for a lengthy occupation or a large relief and reconstruction program,” Bowen noted, under the tutelage of a defense secretary — Donald Rumsfeld — who famously said, “If you think we’re going to spend a billion dollars of our money over there, you are sadly mistaken.”
Rumsfeld, the secretary of defense from 2001 to 2006, defended the war itself in a 2011 memoir, saying that its central element -- Saddam Hussein's removal -- made the Middle East a safer region. But he blamed other officials for many of the problems, saying that military officials did not request more troops and that civilian managers of the occupation stoked Iraqi nationalism by not giving local citizens enough power.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff, in a report last June on "lessons learned" in Iraq, acknowledged that "operations during the first half of the decade were often marked by numerous missteps and challenges as the U.S. government and military applied a strategy and force suited for a different threat and environment." But it said the military adapted its work and had more success in the second half of the decade.
March 20, 1993: NBC News Special on the first coalition casualties and the first day of the war in Iraq reported by Tom Brokaw, Dennis Murphy and David Bloom.
Other defense officials have acknowledged that a substantial chunk of the Pentagon’s spending in Iraq went to repair the looting and other damage done by Iraqis in the immediate period after the war ended, when U.S. troops were not tasked with keeping order. They also have confirmed that billions of dollars were diverted from civil reconstruction to security efforts after the military abuses at Abu Ghraib prison helped stoke widespread hostility to the U.S. occupation.
It was the Pentagon that opened a contracting office in Baghdad that Bowen said was chronically understaffed — despite the Defense Department's peak presence in Iraq of more than 170,000 personnel. The office nonetheless shoveled money out the door at such a high rate and with so little accountability that by 2005, the U.S. embassy there was incapable of matching “projects with the contracts that funded them,” according to Bowen’s report.
Average U.S. expenditures for Iraqi reconstruction in 2005, for example, were more than $25 million a day. When Bowen’s auditors went looking for documents supporting billions of dollars of fund transfers to the Iraqi government in that period, they discovered the paperwork was “largely missing.”
Pentagon-funded fuel purchases were particularly problematic: When Bowen’s office asked to see a log book documenting $1.3 billion in fuel purchases by the Coalition Provisional Authority, “the log book could not be found.” Defense officials also could not produce documents supporting their expenditure of over $100 million in cash found in a vault at the Republican Palace, the gilded Hussein mansion that became a headquarters of the occupation.
The pain of the burning and the screams of his family are the memories Ali Abbas carries from the Iraq War. Then, as a 12-year-old boy injured by the U.S. missile that killed his family, Ali's plight moved the world. ITV's Paul Davies reports.
In the crisis atmosphere pervading the reconstruction effort for most of the decade, Pentagon contracts were often open-ended, with vague demands and no precise deadlines. Although the contracts had provisions allowing their conversion to fixed-price awards after some of the work was completed, “the government failed to exercise these options,” Bowen’s report said.
A special system of urgent payments by military commanders — created to tamp down the Iraqi insurgency and known as the Commander’s Emergency Response Program — dispensed $4 billion without any formal oversight. Military officials say it worked well, at least at the outset, but no Defense Department office assembled a comprehensive picture of how the money was spent. As a result, Bowen calls the claims of success “suspect.”
Overcharging
Weak oversight predictably led to rampant overcharging. A firm based in Dubai managed to keep around $4 billion in Pentagon construction contracts, for example, despite routinely marking up the price of switches and plumbing parts between 3,000 and 12,000 percent, according to an audit Bowen conducted in 2011. Kellogg Brown and Root was among a handful of large contractors that kept winning U.S. funds, despite repeated claims by the Pentagon and others of overcharging by the firm and its subcontractors. The firm has said it conducted its work with “integrity, transparency, accountability, and discipline.”
Some military officers and civilian defense officials participated in the looting. A probe by Bowen’s office of the American official overseeing early reconstruction in Hilla, for example, yielded evidence of widespread bribes, bid-rigging, money laundering, kickbacks and illegal gifts in a scheme that included four colonels, who all got prison terms. An Army major who was the main contracting official at a base in Kuwait oversaw fraud in the purchase of bottled water and warehouse construction that involved 21 others.
This week marks the 10th anniversary of the start of the Iraq War. ITV's John Irvine in Baghdad assesses a country that remains gripped by the violence of its sectarian divide.
Perhaps Bowen’s most depressing conclusion is that the U.S. government is no better prepared for reconstruction work in other countries than it was in 2002. No single government office has responsibility for such operations, he notes, and no tracking system has been established to help oversee related contracting.
Bowen recommends that the Obama administration create a new U.S. office for “contingency operations,” and even includes draft legislation on it in his report. But in an austere fiscal climate, and with Obama’s team set against future military occupations, hopes for reform appear scant.
Clearly a number of lawmakers "have signed on to this solution," said Bowen's deputy Glenn D. Furbish, a top auditor in SIGIR for the past eight years. "Hopefully, we will not get into these things again ... [and] I hope people pay attention to what he has to say ... But it is questionable whether these [reforms] are going to go forward. Given the current political environment, I am not particularly optimistic."
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Leave a Comment:
So what did they think would happen. Bring the troops home and let them try and fix it. And quit giving them my tax money.
The Iraqi didn't receive any of the hundreds of billions of American taxpayer money; the main beneficiaries are the American military industrial complex and contractors. The story is the same during the Vietnam War, where Cam Ranh Bay shipyard was gold-plated by contractors in the name of fighting communism. Today, the new 'ism' is terrorism after the fall of the USSR made communism obsolete and impotent excuse for waging new wars.
War profiteers love war, regardless of the hundreds of Iraqi civilian death or the tens of thousands of young American men and women who come home in body bags. When hundreds of billions of dollar in military spending is at stake, dead children, women, and men are merely collateral damages.
And the American people are so stupid that they can't see the war mongers have peg them as fools and cannon foddars.
If they did that Mary, the Dick Cheneys of the world would have one less hole to stick it to us in!
I would just like to know what Haliburton and all their little spin-off companies screwed us out of. I'd just about bet that they got a least 50% of the total amount spent.
So what is different now? You think because "your guy" is in charge things are different, well they are not. The real problem lies with the fact that free media is no longer free and controlled by only a few with their own agenda. The TRUE PATRIOTS who spoke out against these war crimes were silenced by those who were committing them, while the media stood on the sidelines cheering them on.
So Bush wasted a hundred million dollars rebuilding that bridge. Obama wasted more than that on Solyndra alone.........
And people worry about people that are on assistance they have the sheep right where they want them against each other
engbers, That bridge was only one f@ckup. There were many more. Schools that have yet to have a class taught in them. eight billion is a lot more than Solyndra. About Solyndra, before you blame Obama, try to find out how much lobby money was paid to congress to shut it down, from big oil and coal, and also from Chinese solar companies that now have a near monopoly on the solar industry.
You think reconstruction waste money, you should have been around for the war! Anyway we finally got Iraq closer to the American way of life.
When Republicans were in charge under Bush43, they were happy to pour our money into the hands of defence and rebuilding contractors. Now that they're not in charge, they want to appear fiscally responsible, but only in other areas. Note that they still want to give defence contractors $500 Billion more in the New Ryan budget.
Everyones missing the saddest point. Those we send into harms way. We eliminated the draft, and the people are not as concerned with where we send our finest to fight! The economy assures we don't have a problem getting volunteers. Even college graduates can't find decent jobs. So they have a choice of living at home until God knows when, or enlisting if they can't afford to further their education, or have contacts to obtain employment. We have created a lower class citizen to be used like disposable diapers in the military. Fill them up with all the crap they can hold, then throw them away.
If those in office really respected, and admired those who serve in the military. Why are organizations like Wounded Warrior's necessary?
wonder if bush is gon'a go over there...and tell them mission accomplished...i really hope he does...
Hey h engbers Solyndra was a Bush idea you idiot. Try to do a little research before making a stupid comment:
For starters, this story has bipartisan roots. President George W. Bush signed the bill launching the Energy Department’s loan program in 2005, and his administration selected Solyndra from 143 applicants for the first loan. The deal almost closed during Bush’s last month in Washington, but the department’s career staff delayed it, saying the loan “appears to have merit” but wasn’t quite ready. Bush aides had given so many assurances to Solyndra’s CEO that they apologized.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/quit-outrage-solyndra-article-1.1154467#ixzz2NzRKhyKp
Do you really want to compare how much was wasted on the Iraq war vs some alternative energy loans? At least these loans were spent in the US and no once was killed.
$Trillions vs $Millions.
Hummmmmm .... Nothing New .... Take from the middle class and poor ...and give to the rich so some "pennies" might "trickle" down to keep them appeased .. What's wrong with that? lol
And in this case, a lot of the "trickle" went to foreign interest .... you gotta love the way we piss away a few billion here and there ... lol
When can we see some prosecution of the utter incompetence of key US officials that got us into this mess? The massive fraud, loss of US respect, loss of taxpayer money, etc. is downright treasonous, and should be prosecuted as such.
This sht is just ridiculous. People are so hung up on political sides that they don't even care that we've made no progress at all in years. All they care about is where the blame is shifted and whose side stays in power.
America has become a country of dumb sheep that keep electing incompetent buffoons to do nothing. As long as they have big D or an R by their name then that's all that seems to matter.
Kids take note- don't be a lame bunch of Americans like your parents.
Bush & Chaney should be prosecuted for war crimes.
So We go there destroy their country because some Moron says they have WMD's and people are whining, where's that cry for more responsibility, I know there was a lot of waste that's the whole point, People making their friend's more RICH, but that whole thing is on Mr.Bush, so if you are a Republican don't cry about it, your Commander and Chief created that whole mess now We all have to live with it ...
All going perfectly to plan....SUCKERS!!
Kellogg, Brown & Root is a wholly-owned division of, you guessed it, Halliburton. The company ran by Dick Cheney....
And they're famous for screwing up; they've been kicked off numerous projects here in the states for time/cost overruns and substandard work. Their political connections is what has kept them in business, pure and simple. Cheney and his cronies made billions off the Iraq war, most of it tax-free.
8 BILLION DOLLARS?
Pffffftttt, are you kidding me?
In FY 2011, the federal government reported $115 BILLION in improper payments. This is only an estimate; the total amount of improper payments is unknown. Our own government doesn't know how much it actually overspends.
Washington spends $25 BILLION annually maintaining unused or vacant federal properties.
Examples from multiple Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports of wasteful duplication include 342 economic development programs; 130 programs serving the disabled; 130 programs serving at-risk youth; 90 early childhood development programs; 75 programs funding international education, cultural, and training exchange activities; and 72 safe water programs. This report identifies more than $100 BILLION to $200 BILLION in annual government spending on 1,500 different programs that are wasteful, duplicative, or inefficient.
A recent study by the Institute of Medicine shows health care fraud is estimated to cost taxpayers more than $750 BILLION annually. The committee calculated that about 30 percent of health spending was wasted on unnecessary services, excessive administrative costs, fraud, and other problems.
Government auditors spent five years examining all federal programs and found that 22 percent of them–costing taxpayers a total of $123 BILLION annually–fail to show any positive impact on the populations they serve.
This last one should outrage even the most rabid Big-Government worshipper. Almost ¼ of all government social programs DO NOTHING to help the people they’re expected to serve! Why is this allowed to continue?
Because our government has become TOO BIG TO BE EFFICIENT!
Notice that each one of these is an ANNUAL loss of this much money. this is not only unsustainable, it's criminal!
This is what happens when we allow our government to become everything for everybody. This mentality has never worked in the past and will never work now.
I can go on but I think most intelligent Americans can understand the severity of our criminal governments waste, fraud, abuse and corruption (WFAC) problem.
Of course the complicit lamestream media will never run a 5,000 word report on this, they’re too busy pandering to the useless miscreants we have wasting our hard earned money. The media prefers to write 5,000 word articles about Mitt Romneys criminal activities in high school cutting some hair off another students head.
OHHHH THE HUMANITY!!!!!!!
If you just add up the 5 examples we lose $1.163 TRILLION EVERY YEAR!
Now, assuming that there is an overlap of half of all this WFAC we still lose over $580 BILLION ANNUALLY!!! Over 10 years this is $5.8 TRILLION DOLLARS OF WASTE, FRAUD, ABUSE AND CORRUPTION!
Is the $8 BILLION wasted in Iraq important? Of course it is, but it pales in comparison to what our criminal government mismanages EVERY YEAR!
Of course our incompetent governments solution to this massive WFAC is to demand we pay more in taxes. Regardless if you are rich, middle class or poor, NO ONE should have to pay another penny more to our government until it truly becomes responsible, accountable and efficient.
How prescient were these words?
Happy anniversary, everyone!!!
Not very because government programs and agencies end all the time. Also, cut and pastes from the cooky Heritage Foundation won't hold much weight with many of us. Save those for your Facebook friends.
This isn't about what "party" screwed AMERICANS! It's about the Government in general allowing this to continue without disregard for our hard earned tax dollars! This is exactly what the government wants us to do is fight over who started what and point fingers like little kids on the play ground while they vote their huge pay raises, tax dollars to Iraq, Afganistan and every other nation EXCEPT US the U.S.A.
Wake up and quit fighting amongst ourselves and start showing some balls to the political FAT CATS that are allowing our dollars to be sent away while they get rich here on a daily basis! It is every single one of them! They have the best of the best retirement system, medical, dental, hospitalization, etc. and why? WE ALLOW IT! All because we are to busy fighting ourselves over who did what instead of fighting all of them at once! We need a stand and we need it now before we lose the WHOLE COUNTRY! WAKE UP!
If you don't think that warmongers Bush and Cheney got some of those billions in their pockets you are sorely mistaken....they both should be in prison for life.
Jeffor
Here are the links to those examples.
http://oversight.house.gov/hearing/solutions-needed-improper-payments-total-115-billion-in-federal-misspending/
http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/ftpdocs/120xx/doc12085/03-10-reducingthedeficit.pdf
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2009/10/50-examples-of-government-waste#_edn3
http://www.gao.gov/assets/590/588818.pdf
http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/omb/expectmore/index.html
I threw the Heritage link in for you just so you don’t feel so insignificant. I’m sure with your vast knowledge of governments efficiency you can find the links to those that are investigating this example, right?
When you realize our own government tells our own government how much WFAC it has and nothing is done must make you Libbies feel good. You never contribute to Americas prosperity, so why should you care? You just take and never contribute.
So, Jeffor, show me the vast links that you have that can prove our “government programs and agencies end all the time”. Now remember, when our government ends one program and replaces it with one or more others, this is NOT considered an improvement.
Try to keep up Spanky!
KBR and other military no-bid contractors raped the American government while Darth Cheney was saying "deficits don't matter". The real "takers" in the USA are the companies who the government subcontracts to perform duties that used to be done by the military or states (prisons and for profit education corporations).
Our government is no longer "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America" but rather "We the corporations and wealthy, in order to form a more perfect plutocracy, establish justice for those with money, insure domestic tranquility to protect our money, provide for common defense by using our serfs (middle, working and poor class) as canon fodder, promote out OWN welfare,...."
Until our elected officials are no longer dependent on money for campaigns from corporations, unions, wealthy private citizens and special interest groups then you better get used to this BS.
As the leaders of this world are on an eternal path to find oil, they fail to recognize the destruction of this once beautiful world.
OF course the US over spent much in Iraq---but then again both Cheney and Bushie are Oilmen and acted irresponsively to all Americans in their ever search to control more oil.
Why does this country feel and believe that it has the right to destroy and rebuild another when we cannot even take care of our own. And now politicians with an oil mongers hand in their pocket---wish to destroy North America as well in their eternal path toward finding more oil.
Do our leaders not acknowledge the damage of their ways. This eternal search for more oil is going to kill this world much sooner than later! BTW: Fracking has already taken much needed water away from Farmers in the Rockies and the West, while it also takes non-flamable water away from Firefighters risking their lives to save another.
Yes the process of Fracking does cause the nearby water and tap water to inflame by a simple match, so why on this earth must fracking take over areas suffering from drought while also taking the irrigation water away from farmers.
Thus as leaders of this only world continue to search and destroy in the name of an oil corp they fail to recongize the destruction of thier ways. Iraq and this article are just an example of such destructions!
Curious WHY are both Bush and Cheney immune to being prosecuted for War Crimes?
How many billions of dollars are wasted by giving it to other countries in the form of "foreign aid"?
Iraq was a fraudulent war, from a fraudulent President and Vice President. The main reason we are in debt right now is because of two completely unfunded wars! Waste and abuse were common place from the start. Haliburton and all of the clones of it, bilked us all, endangered soldiers and civilians, and are still reaping giant rewards from the military! I believe Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice should be tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Their crime? Killing innocent civilians for no reason! Sending troops into combat without proper equipment! Lying to everyone about the reasons for it! What a waste.
This is WHY our country is ruined. This is WHY Bush NOT Obama is blamed!!! This waste, fraud and abuse DID AFTERALL happen in the Bush era!!! Republicans don't mind overspending as long the cash is going to there RICH buddies!!!
One Billion of that money was dumped by aeroplane by GWB orders over Iraq in the streets, $100.00 dollar bills than "gone missing", What the hell - its just money !!!
Some are saying that missing Billion is on Georgies Ranch !!!
Hmmm, I don't know what you Libbies are so apoplectic about.
Recently, Humpty-Dumpty Hillary dismissed the four American's murdered in Bneghazi by saying, "What difference, at this point, does it make?!"
She doesn't care about what happened. She's more concerned about gay marriage.
How pathetic is that.
Only a first class jerk would compare Bengazi to what happened in Iraq or 9/11, both Bush f -ups.
On Sept 10 Donald Rumsfeld announced that 2.3 trillion dollars went missing from The Pentago. The next day, the Pentagon was hit by one of the alleged palnes hi jacked on 9/11, in precisely the same area as the records. Wow, what a coincidence.
The Defense Dept Comptroller, was Dov Zakheim, an Israeli/American Jew. The 2.3 trillion is probably residing somewhere in Israel. No investigation was ever launched and no one suffered so much as slap on the wrist. Here is a list of the Zionist that worked in the Pentagon, under Bush.
Chairman
Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board - Richard Perle
Deputy
Defense Secretary (Former) - Paul Wolfowitz
Under
Secretary of Defense - Douglas Feith
National
Security Council Advisor - Elliott Abrams
Under
Secretary for Arms Control - David Wurmser
Pentagon’s
Defense Policy Board - Eliot Cohen
National
Security Study Group - Edward Luttwak
Pentagon’s
Defense Policy Board - Kenneth Adelman
Defense
Intelligence Agency Analyst (Former) - Lawrence (Larry) Franklin ( the AIPAC
spy)
National
Security Council Advisor - Robert Satloff
Gosh, Mary. From your post, one might almost assume you think the Iraqi people did something to deserve the destruction of their infrastructure and economy.
Solyndra, Solyndra, Solyndra...
Of course, Bush had nothing to do with that, did he?
The DOE loan program that funded Solyndra was actually started by President Bush in 2005. It was intended to provide government support for "innovative technologies."
Bush Admin. Advanced 16 Projects, Including Solyndra, Out Of 143 Submissions. The Department of Energy's Loan Guarantee Program was created by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and expanded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. At a congressional hearing, Jonathan Silver, the Executive Director of Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office, testified that the Bush administration's DOE [Department of Energy] selected Solyndra from 143 submissions to move forward in the process:
SILVER: The 2006 solicitation resulted in 143 submissions. The loan program staff and others at the department reviewed those for eligibility, which is a thinner review than the full due diligence, and recommended 16 applications to file a full application. A dozen did so. Solyndra was one of those. And the department conducted due diligence on all of those 11.
But don't let any facts confuse you! This is obviously ALL Obama's fault.
I don't need a link. I've had a pulse for the last 40 years. Not to mention that I was in the military and have worked for the government. I know first had as I've parted from my computer screen from time to time.
Jeffor
ROTFLMAO!!!!!
Had a pulse, been in the military, worked for the government,,,,blah, blah, blah. Lots of words, no substance.
Of course you limp-wristed Libbies don't need a link because you can NEVER prove anything. It's all based on your convoluted emotions. Or, you get it handed to you by the DNC, Organizing for Barrack Hussein or Debbie Whatsername Slutz.
You know they NEVER end a program, that's why we have over 1,100 social programs and 25% are useless. But you Libbies want more and more incompetent government because you are incapable of existing independently. You're probably one of those that haven't saved any money all your "productive" life and now expect the successful to work harder and give you more.
You're an embarrassment and should be ashamed.
I ask for a simple link after I debunk your cutesy little comment and all you have is hyperbole and bulls**t!
Come on Jeffy, you can do better than that. Get me some links from your “cooky” Huff-N-Puff Post, Mother Jones, Rolling Stone or whatever trash media you can come up with. I’m sure they have lots of typical delusional Liberal/Progressive propaganda that has indoctrinated you.
Go away Spanky, you're out of your league. Go back to momma's basement, you're too uninformed to be in this discussion.
Liberals, so easy.
Well so much for the patriotic American companies.
Are you surprised? You shouldn't
So let the next shoe drop. What about Afghanistan.
Then the other inevitable war that you will be fighting for AIPAC and Israel in Iran.
Well its nice to know after many soldiers died their and billions of dollars was spent their that Iraq is still a (*^&-up *&(&hole. Thanks Bush, your legacy keeps living on. :)
Why doesn't Obama bring them home then? 5 years in office and if Obama and others think it's not doing any good in general, why are we still there? Blaming the past changes nothing in the future.
Are you serious? You right wingers are hilarious. Bush starts a war based on lies that miserbaly fails and you try to blame the guy elected years after the war was started? Are you kidding me? Then you actually made this stupid comment: "Blaming the past changes nothing in the future" You have obviously never heard "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it" Wow dude, pull your head out of the hole you have it stuffed in...
Hello!!!! He did....Pay attention!!
well, for starters Nobama the Clown waited more than long enough to bring the troops home when he got into "power", well, after he got done on his world tour of campaign/photo ops...lol
Good to see Gitmo was closed right after he was elected as promised...
wonderful as well to see the employment/economy were always and still are on his "next to do list" as well... actually the economy his so screwed by this tool, look forward to hundreds of thousands of lay offs and closings this year, thanks to yours truly Nobama the Clown, lol.
This can go on for days how fearless leader is doing such a bang up job, but that isn't the point to this article is it?
2nd, you don't let the Army Corps of Engineers make a decision on anything. even tho im ex army myself, they are a bunch of idiots when left to make a right choice for the better....
Come on...every one knows this is Obama's fault!!! He needs to man-up and take responsibility for this war he stated 10 yrs ago!!!
It is not Bushs' fault, obama has been there 4.3 yrs he could have done something by now. This is just a plain case on how the government can suck the money and life out of all its sheep. Year after year, president after president.
It is
Obama fault for start the war in the first place. He and his vice president
wanted to enrich their coffers by giving money to KBR. It is his fault that all
that money was spent to enrich a few rich men here in the states. Now we have
Bush working hard to stem the problem and bring our troops home. Our president Bush
would be doing more but those Democrats won’t let him. I get all my news from
the only non-biased news in the US Fox News. It is total owned by Americans for
Americans. ;)
This Country really got screwed over by the Bush family !!!
8 billion? still a drop in the bucket compared to what obama - the turd has wasted, squandered and diverted to cronies - seems like Bush was a bargin by comparison
8 billion is only the money considered wasted, not the trillions spent on a useless war. How is that search for the weapons of mass destruction coming?
"WASTING" money on the american people ......ARE you @!$%#IN' CRAZY? dumb fux news @ it's best!!!!!!!!
BESIDES,WHERE'S THE @!$%#IN' WEAPONS ? HONKIES,bologna smellin'......IDIOTS!!!!
not, You seem to think 8 billion was all that Bush pissed away, that was only a drop in the bucket of even the money wasted in Iraq, not even mentioning the other wasteful spending. Every member of Bush's staff, cabinet, and all the "defense contractors" were major donors or school chums of Bush or Cheney. Government contracts that are awarded to private companies must be offered for competitive bids and awarded according to that. Not in Iraq. The work was billed on a cost plus basis, so any screwups weren't billed to the company, but paid for by the American taxpayer, and there were thousands of them. Halliburton should not have been eligible to bid for any of the work there because they were still paying the Vice President at the time.
Try adding some facts to your idealogical lies. I mean hey I can make any statement I want as well, all right wingers pick thier nose and eat it! It must be true I just typed it in an online comment section right PC/NOT?
I think its time for an investigation on GWB and his buddy Dick !!!
pc/not
So you still love Bush and Cheney. I don't think you are keeping up with current events. Bush is the worst president we have ever had.
Until this one. Now we are doomed as a country and it's because of fools like you who have no concept of what made this country great and now diminished.
Doomed, I say, DOOMED! As you said below, blah f*ing blah, blah, blah.
I'm pretty certain that people like Richard above, have done their fair share of contributing to this country's demise. Ignorance enables thieves and liars
@Snailguy
Hey snail move a little slow? Jimmy Carter is and will be the worst and the only one that came close to him is Obummer. Why do you think Jimmy is happy Obummer won again? Because he knows if Obummer was elected again he may have a chance to pass the torch you may say.
Obummer will be the worst none leadership
prezdictator in history..I agree, bush is the worst ever, but O'bomber is trying awfully hard to unseat him. We have had a miserable run of corporate stooges serving as hood ornaments since LBJ. JFK didn't get a full shot, no pun intended, so that makes Eisenhower the last good president we've had. More than a half-century ago. And we wonder why this country has gone into the crapper?
hate to disagree, but O'dummer is the worst...
"My next top priority is unemployment/economy"... heard that for 3 1/2 yrs... that speech went from there to "its all the republican's fault"....
so much for the speech 90 days after he was elected "from this point on, I take full responsibility"....
I have YET to this very DAY.... see Nobama the sheep herd'n Clown take any responsibility, for any role he has played while clinging to presidency as the dictator in chief... the prince of cant.
he's the one who created loopholes even larger to help get his donations set for this past election, meantime... just blame bush, just blame republicans, just blame white people (yes, he has in his own minority way tried driving a racial wedge in American's).
Blame everyone but the guy in the mirror, and do little as possible... cause after all... it will eventually "fix its self" right?
some people will believe anything they want to hear as long as it isn't the blinding truth... but when all that is taken from you, just sit and pout, blame it on some one else...lol... yup, the good ol' entitlement crowd motto.
Bush has been out of office for over 4 yrs now, when will you people learn to put the REAL BLAME where it belongs?
@ Richard 296850 - You are absolutely right and it is a shame that most folks cant see that.
... the numbers for Bush's last three months. Between October and November, 597,000 jobs were lost; between November and December, 681,000 were lost; and between December and January, 741,000 were lost.
Feb 1, 2013 - the economy has added private sector jobs for 35 straight months. During this span, 6.1 million private sector jobs have been created.
DJIA Dec 1, 2008 8149
DJIA Mar 19, 2013 14426
Dec. 29, 2008 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. corporate earnings fell for a sixth-straight quarter, the longest streak in at least 20 years, as consumer spending on automobiles, homes and retailers collapsed.
Jul 31, 2012 (Bloomberg) -- Profits for companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index have grown for 10 straight quarters, helping to power the index to a more than twofold increase since March 2009.
Given the above, you must explain to me how Bush made this country great. Looks like exactly the opposite to me.
Also given the above, you must explain how Obama has doomed and diminished this country. Looks like exactly the opposite to me.
What kind of Bizzaro world do Republicans live in?
that war wasn't a total waste,, we made a lot of no bid contractors richer with our tax dollars,,,,
Agreed - 8 billion is a small price to pay to keep the defense contractors rolling in it. I try and be the first each year to send in my tax payment to cover their use of the federal budget as a personal ATM machine. Happy to subsidize your yachts, boys! Meanwhile, does anybody know of any lower priced daycare centers in my area, have any HungryMan coupons to spare, or know of a different way for me to get to work? The bridge I usually drive on just failed its inspection.
Also remember that there are American workers that had jobs during this that kept their families feed.
plutocracy, that is one of the many reasons the infrastructure stimulus would have benefited us all it was a win win therefore the GOP needed to kill it. Drive quickly over the bridge!
Lasertroll, trickle down economics yet again? A dollar of tax money spent and the workers see less than 1 cent works for you. Is it truly any wonder your party is going the way of the other extinct parties.
@ Ex
Lasertroll, trickle down economics yet again? A dollar of tax money spent and the workers see less than 1 cent works for you. Is it truly any wonder your party is going the way of the other extinct parties.
Tell me how you got this from this:
Also remember that there are American workers that had jobs during this that kept their families feed.
And my party? witch one is that? I bet you get it wrong. I don't think you know what party stands for what by just reading your comment on my post..
Ever since we've had a military, they have run their own mess facilities, and like Napoleon said, An Army marches on it's stomach. Our armed forces have always been able to feed it's troops. Then Bush decided to outsource this to Kellogg, Brown and Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton. They started getting complaints of spoiled food, tainted water, getting basically sandwiches and water instead of hot meals. But KBR sure never missed a check.
@ John
Just went to research your facts found nothing on food for military under Bush you have link or again more lies without facts to back it?
Time for you to run again...
If you can find it, google kbr, and look up Kellogg, Brown, and Root on Wikipedia. Scroll down to Political connections and corruption, 4th paragraph. I don't make claims I can't back up. It's not a big mention, but it is there.
LOL Wikipedia
That is your source? Now you just made my day I don't know if I will ever stop laughing..
Not too bright huh laser? Can't say i'm that surprised. Here, I did what you are too incompetent to. And it took me about 30 seconds.
http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-04-05/news/31291884_1_kbr-jessica-lynch-story-flesh-eating
http://civiliancontractors.wordpress.com/tag/military-mess-halls/
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2012/04/ap-kbr-knew-iraq-toxin-presence-complaint-040412/
http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-13389.html
Lazertroll, I suppose yours is Drudge? If you have one besides your imagination.
Anything that the military touches will always have waste and cost over runs, remember Ike's warning about the military industrial complex!
The current low information residents of the USSA think that history began in 2008. They don't have a clue who Ike was.
Or what valuable insight he shared.
Is the author trying to intimate that the government isn't an efficient provider of resources and services? Are you kidding me? When did this happen? I hope they do a better job handling health care than they have done in this ONE area. Probably an anomaly.
Richard, way to conflate two issues! Do you paint with that inordinately large brush often? It sure must save you some work!
And yet Richard most likely hit it on the head.
Dick Cheney got rich from this war. I can see why the wealthy don't want their tax rate to go up. They would have to give back some of the winfall they got from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
I'm sure no democrats made money over this. Only the GOP. All the dems in the Country told their advisers to scrub their 401K's of any funds that made money off the war.
@ Tired
Do you have a link to show how much he made off this war? Or are you just doing the Dem thing and lie?
troll, do a little of the work yourself. You ain't my wife or my kid.
@ john
I did found nothing should I look it up on your source Wiki LMFAO....
Still incompetent I see. Still not surprised.
http://www.businesspundit.com/the-25-most-vicious-iraq-war-profiteers/
http://digitaljournal.com/article/259529
http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-250_162-575356.html
Troll, the amount Cheney made, or even if he made any from the war,doesn't change the fact that he and Bush awarded a very profitable contract, illegally, to a company the Vice President had close ties to, and was still receiving money from. These payments were called "deferred retirement", but, no matter what they were called, Halliburton had no business even being allowed to bid on the work, due to the close relationship with administration officials.
pc/not is a stellar example of what is wrong with our country today. It's not President Obama, or his policies... it's 8 long years of Bush/Cheney and people like pc who were dumb enough to subscribe to the belief that republicons have American's best interest at stake; whenever it's quite the contrary. They have themselves and their crony elitist friends and masters "welfare" at the heart of the matter. Fools like pc/not just enabled them to do their bidding, under the guise of patriotism.
blah, f'ing blah, blah, blah.
Simple minded B word.
"... But it is questionable whether these [reforms] are going to go forward. Given the current political environment, I am not particularly optimistic." That last sentence of the article, means to me, that it's business as usual in Washington D.C. .
When does Obama's responsibility begin? That is a subjective view of waste over ten years that is only 1/10 of a percent of how much Obama has increased the debt in just over 4 years.
Colorado, And what percent of Obama's debt right off the top was putting the two wars on the books that Bush left off. If you deduct that from Obama's debt, and add it to Bush's where it belongs, it looks a little different.
I'm appalled that people on MSNBC are saying the war was a "mistake"...it was a straight-out lie by our "leaders" for reasons of their own.
Those 4,500 Americans and unknown numbers of Iranians and others were killed by the administration LYING about evidence of weapons that they never had because the weapons never existed.
The former leaders of the US government who were responsible for this are mass murderers and should be in prison - I think Guantanamo would be appropriate.
Well folks, there you have it....another facet of the Bush/Cheney legacy. And to think that a year or so ago Sean Hannity gave Bush, the perpetrator of this and many other debacles, a B+ for his performance as president while giving Obama, the guy who got us out of Iraq, orchestrated the killing of Bin Laden (the real bad guy), and got Bush's economic catastrophe under control, an F for his performance.....Can't wait for the mid-terms!!
Steve - anyone can make stuff better for a spell with printed money until the law of economics takes over and we are in hyper-inflation. Heck they may even shut down the banks and tell you they are taking 10% of what you have.
Take a class or two in your life will you?
steve-crediting obama for the exit of iraq? 2010 was already set up as our timetable to leave...by guess who? bush,so now obama is a hero for following a previous presidents timetable? he didn't do anything sooner when he could have.
Steve to add to dtrx the team that killed Bin Laden was also set up by Bush.
Kind of funny how you want to point fingers at Bush for Obummers faults but when Bush set things in place and worked you want to give Obummer the credit..
Get a clue Obummer is a failure did nothing the 1st 4 year but this Obummercare and even now the Dems know they made a mistake to support it...
Steve, all of this missing money is on Obama's watch not Bush. It seems like since Obama has been in office there is a lot of money being wasted and unaccounted for. I would like to know where all the money he gave to the "green" companies went, they all went bankrupt, what did they do with the money?
@ plantlady
what did they do with the money?
I can give you that answer the ceo walked away with 51 million and executives get quarterly bonuses worth up to $60,000 apiece ...
troll, take a look at the banks that bankrupted the country and add up the bonuses the executives got for failing at their jobs. Bush bailed them out. in 2008, before the election, Bush bailed AIG out to the tune of 85 billion dollars. Nobody said sh!t about that, but you jump all over Obama for 22 billion. Unless they've changed math, 85 is more than 22. by the way, the lion's share of that 85 billion went to bonuses and golden parachutes.
John, nobody said @!$%# about the bank bailouts???? Really??
Sounds like you're having selective memory issues.
John, the banking problems are due to Barney Frank's legislation and his boyfriend's operations at Fannie Mae, anyway.
My My john how you forget Bush 85 Billion but Obummer's was not 22 billion but you can add that to Obummers 80 billion to the auto industries and don't forget that AIG has paid every dime back and with interest. Where Obummer's 80 billion bail out cost American tax payers oh look at that 22 billion the same you say was less than Bush bail out. So if you take your 22 billion add it to the 80 billion that's 102 billion and that my friend is more then the 85 billion that was paid back.
I guess you only want to post lies....
And look GM post profits tell me this how can they post profits but screw the American people out of 22 billion?
I will wait for answer like the other post I am waiting for your answer.
Or you going to run and hide from the truth again?
Oh and should I tell you the Obummer and feds have put 3 trillion dollars in the stock market starting in Jan 2011 and still putting in 84 billion a month?
I believe that 3 trillion out does the Bush buy how much?
And how much has the dept gone up under Obummer? you do the math you are so good at it.
vet and Colon, I was following the topic, troll bitched about CEOs taking huge bonuses. I just showed another example. The banking problems are from deregulation. They also had a lot to do with the housing crisis. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac contributed, but they had lots of help from the White House. If you'd go someplace besides Fox, and Drudge, you might get something besides talking points.
Yea, Obama bailed out the auto industry, and saved a lot of jobs. Obama bad. Bush bailed out venture capitalists, allowed huge bonuses for executives who destroyed our economy, Bush good. No wonder we are fading into the sunset.
@John
AIG paid back with interest BUSH
GM bail out cost taxpayers 22 Billion Obummer..
Respond to the post not make up more lies..
And please show me the post where I " troll bitched about CEOs taking huge bonuses"
I Believe it was you : #11.6
troll, take a look at the banks that bankrupted the country and add up the bonuses the executives got for failing at their jobs. Bush bailed them out. in 2008, before the election, Bush bailed AIG out to the tune of 85 billion dollars. Nobody said sh!t about that, but you jump all over Obama for 22 billion. Unless they've changed math, 85 is more than 22. by the way, the lion's share of that 85 billion went to bonuses and golden parachutes.
My my John forget to take meds today?
Obummer saved a lot of jobs did he LMFAO. I have about 20,000 that will tell you you are wrong. He may have saved GM but you don't tell everyone about the 120 companies that work with the auto industries that did not get anything..
America is fading because you are still in the dark and think anything Obummer did worked..
I was responding to you in 11.5 about CEO walked away with 51 million.
Every bit of evidence points to Saudi Arabia for the 9/11 attacks, there was that "presentation" to the UN that all the evidence was proven to be false, based mainly on a student essay downloaded from the internet.
Will anyone ever be held accountable? There seems to be very little accounting for the human cost.
Only the US government officials would be stupid enough to pay to destroy another country and then pay to rebuild it. There's absolutely no hope for any of us as long as there's a "Washington, DC". The ironic thing is that they are not only going to ruin this country for us, but for them to. The seem to forget we're all in this together. I can't wait to see who'll rush in to help us in our "hour of need".
I'm sure no democrats made money over this. Only the GOP. All the dems in the Country told their advisers to scrub their 401K's of any funds that made money off the war.
Waste and Fraud? wasn't there a story about a Pallet full of cash disappearing? Yes a Pallet Full of Cash disappeared off a US base.
here's 40 billion .. they aren't sure of where it went either.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/45046452/The_40_Billion_Iraqi_Money_Trail
If I had that much money Id eat lobsters and crabs and fancy cheese everyday and just go on vacations for the rest of my life. I wouldn't know where it got spended cause theres so much there it wouldnt matter. Then after I got done going to every country in the world for vacation Id buy a island and a boat and build a huge mansion. But I get seasick so the boat would only be to get my exotic cars to the roads cause I wouldnt have any roads on my island.
When will the media and liberals quit using Bush as an excuse! This is the 5th year under Obama in Iraq and Afghanistan! All this was masterminded by terrorists, Bin Laden and it's working very well
No, Bin Laden only got us into Afghanistan. The great war leader
Bush got us into Iraq. There was never a connection between Saddam and Bin
Laden.
@ Tim
no connection? My how we are so blind. Here read this and get educated.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/1999/feb/06/julianborger
Also notice the date....
That explains a lot. You bash me for using Wiki, and you cite The Guardian? Now I see.
If you're talking about talks between bin Laden and Saddam. You're half right. There was a meeting in Sudan in 1994 between an Iraqi agent and bin Laden, in which bin Laden requested permission to put training camps in Iraq. He was turned down cold.
it is so nice to watch democracy in action. I wonder how many US politicians got rich on the US taxpayers money?
Get over it folks...there hasn't been one President or one administration that hasn't wasted money; lots of it; this is old recycled junk from MSN. If you don't like it, call, write, text, or elect other Senators or Representatives. Do something besides gripe on these posts.
Find everyone in our government who perpetrated the fraud and waste and arrest them.
MSN is worthless...recycled garbage.
i love how this rag had to add in "the republican palace",keeps the sheep thinking it is only a republican problem, I would think a liberated iraq would have a deomcratic palace but that doesn't fit the "hate republican" agenda. the democrats AND republicans are to blame,period. BOTH made money on this fiascoe but the media will play it off as those EVIL REPUBLICANS,what BS, only a fool would believe that.
Sequestration must be having a just dreadful impact on the amount of money the government can waste in Iraq these days. Just Dreadful!!!!
No question we wasted a lot more over there than what has been reported. In fact, Halliburton/Brown & Root probably overcharged the US givt by more than that. Would be very interesting to know how much Cheney got out of all the unbid contracts awarded to them.
What we need to do is go in there and take oil from them until the total cost of the war to the USA has been repaid. Pay them $1.00/barrel and use that to drive gasoline prices down for American Citizens.
Many solidiers were forced to use, with payments, Haliburton contractors, to do their laundry, eat , etc. Only a handful of shadow politicians, V.P. and his hand selected staff, really benifitted from the death of our youth. Cheney ($6,000,000,000,000.00 man) is the only winner in this travesty.
Only?
Cheney 6 trillion dollar man wow did not see him on the Forbes list....
$8 billion, obama will waste that on his vacations while pretending to be a leader. Or give it to Soros for kickbacks for buying his election.
If what you had to say actually had any validity, which it doesn't, it would actually only serve to example what a drop in the bucket the cost of Obama's holidays would be compared to the gross levels of fraud which took place.
But really, what did anyone expect given Cheney, a lifetime war monger and war profiteer himself, was behind the running of the show.
Watch the movie Zietgiest. It explains a lot about our fraudulant wars,and the profitiers.
Bush/cheney and some politicians lied to the country/world to benifit themselves while putting our military in harms way. Wow. No jail time for them.