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January 25, 2006

War: Just Another Wasteful Government Program

In case you still don't believe that war is just another wasteful, destructive, big-government program, check out this New York Times article, understatedly entitled "Audit Describes Misuse of Funds in Iraq Projects." Referring to American "reconstruction" projects in Iraq (reconstruction that had to occur mainly because Americans had destroyed things in the first place), the author writes:

Agents from the inspector general's office found that the living and working quarters of American occupation officials were awash in shrink-wrapped stacks of $100 bills, colloquially known as bricks.

One official kept $2 million in a bathroom safe, another more than half a million dollars in an unlocked footlocker. One contractor received more than $100,000 to completely refurbish an Olympic pool but only polished the pumps; even so, local American officials certified the work as completed. More than 2,000 contracts ranging in value from a few thousand dollars to more than half a million, some $88 million in all, were examined by agents from the inspector general's office. The report says that in some cases the agents found clear indications of potential fraud and that investigations into those cases are continuing.

Furthermore, as if the loss of U.S. taxpayers' money isn't bad enough, it also turns out that Iraqis (presumably) have lost their lives as a result of the corruption:

Sometimes the consequences of such loose controls were deadly. A contract for $662,800 in civil, electrical, and mechanical work to rehabilitate the Hilla General Hospital was paid in full by an American official in June 2004 even though the work was not finished, the report says. But instead of replacing a central elevator bank, as called for in the scope of work, the contractor tinkered with an unsuccessful rehabilitation.

The report continues, narrating the observation of the inspector general's agents who visited the hospital on Sept. 18, 2004: "The hospital administrator immediately escorted us to the site of the elevators. The administrator said that just a couple days prior to our arrival the elevator crashed and killed three people."

And still the myth persists that this war and its aftermath are somehow based in conservative ideology.

Posted by Mike Tennant at January 25, 2006 01:18 PM

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Posted by: Ali_Massoud at January 28, 2006 09:50 AM

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