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Pentagon

Report: U.S. Has Wasted $30 Billion on Iraq, Afghanistan Contracts and Grants

Published August 29, 2011   FoxNews.com

The federal government has wasted more than $30 billion on contracts and grants in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a new report set to be released Wednesday. 

The co-chairmen of the committee producing the report previewed the results, saying "major changes in law and policy" will be needed to prevent such a large degree of waste in future conflicts. Christopher Shays, a former Connecticut congressman, and Mark Thibault, a former Pentagon official overseeing contracts, blamed poor management and a slew of other factors in a Washington Post column. 

The amount of money wasted on Iraq and Afghanistan over the past decade represents at least one in every six dollars spent. Part of the problem was contracts were doled out without "effective competition," while others were subcontracted to foreign firms not subject to U.S. laws. 

The result was a series of boondoggles. The co-chairmen cited a $40 million prison in Iraq that the country did not want and was not completed. They also cited a $300 million Kabul power plant -- which, like some other projects the co-chairmen expressed concern about, would require sustained funding and expertise that Kabul does not have the resources to provide. 

The Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan will submit its report to Congress. 

The officials noted that because the number of contractors in the war zones has roughly equaled the number of military forces, the U.S. cannot conduct major operations without them. In the future, they recommended creating a "permanent inspector general for contingency operations," as well as an official who would work in the White House budget office and participate in National Security Council meetings to make sure agencies are properly coordinating contracts. 

They also recommended "more rigorous use of risk analysis" to determine whether certain jobs should be contracted out in the first place. 

"I can't give you a sure-fire formula for success, but I can give you a formula for failure: Try to please everybody all the time."

             ~ Herbert Bayard Swope ~

 

Herbert Bayard Swope, the colorful, hard-driving American journalist who became famous as a war correspondent and editor of The New York World, was the first writer to win a Pulitzer Prize for reporting. He was born in St. Louis in 1882. He coined the phrase "cold war" as a speechwriter for statesman Bernard Baruch. In his leisure time, he was a brilliant gambler at the track, at cards, and at stocks, and threw lavish parties. He died in 1958.

Story from a Kansas State Highway Patrol officer:

 

I made a traffic stop on an elderly lady the other day for speeding

on U.S. 166 Eastbound at Mile Marker 73 just East of Sedan, KS.

I asked for her driver's license, registration, and proof of insurance.

The lady took out the required information and handed it to me.

In with the cards I was somewhat surprised (due to her advanced age)

to see she had a conceal carry permit. I looked at her and ask if

she had a weapon in her possession at this time.

 

She responded that she indeed had a .45 automatic in her glove box.

Something---body language, or the way she said it---made me want

to ask if she had any other firearms. She did admit to also having

a 9mm Glock in her center console. Now I had to ask one more

time if that was all. She responded once again that she did have

just one more, a .38 special in her purse. I then asked her what

was she so afraid of.

She looked me right in the eye and said, "Not a damm thing!"