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January 20, 2006
Mismanagement We Must Take Note Of
Not the type of story one wants to read in the morning paper:
Finding out what happened to Iraq's $37 billion in oil-financed reconstruction funds -- its stacks of plastic-wrapped hundred-dollar bills popping up all over the country like play money -- has taken investigators down many paths, including one to the Defense Ministry office of Ziyad al Qattan. ...So far, the United States has spent $226 billion to wage war in Iraq, and the reconstruction costs have proven to be another expensive challenge.
Along with the $37 billion fund, another $24 billion from U.S. taxpayers has been ordered for Iraqi reconstruction. Together with $4 billion pledged by other countries, more than $60 billion is pegged for reconstruction costs alone. The problem is U.S. and Iraqi officials aren't sure just how much money has been stolen or misspent.
...A confidential report by Iraq's Supreme Board of Audit provides a peek at accounting problems, which date back to May 2003, when the Bush administration created the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and made L. Paul Bremer Iraq's first post-Saddam leader. Mr. Bremer's office received a huge infusion of funds at that time and began spending it on rebuilding efforts at a furious pace -- in cash.
The Iraqi audit dug into Mr. al Qattan's defense ministry office to find evidence of front companies, out-of-country banks and cash payments to arms dealers before anything was delivered. Sometimes, nothing was.
Today, Iraq's Commission on Public Integrity is trying to determine how much of the CPA-distributed cash was stolen or misspent, and how much went for legitimate projects. Mr. al Qattan could probably answer some of those questions, but he's now thought to be hiding in Warsaw.
I think you get the point.
I'm not going to try and find out how much of all this is true, and what is overstated. No doubt the lefie bloggers are reacting with glee, licking their chops at the prospect of "another BushCo scandal."
So be it.
What I am reminded of is the Truman Committee of World War II.
Some people seem to be under the impression that everything went just peachy during the Second World War, that since "we were all in it together" there was minimal corruption and mismanagement.
Au Contraire
Think about it, the government ramped up from spending a tiny amount on our military to spending billions. Do you really think that we could keep the unscrupulous out of the process?
I don't have time this morning do do a lot of research, but consider this description of how Truman saw the situation:
It became clear to Truman that while much of the country was sacrificing and patriotically doing all that it could for the war effort, special interests-- whether it be labor or big business-- was taking advantage of the country’s vulnerability and need. Compounding the problem was the inefficiency of government and the employment for $1 a year of yes men from big business that were nothing more than corporate pawns.
After reciting several tales of corruption and mismanagement, the account concludes that
It is hard to fathom that such things could have happened in the United States during WWII. Movies and pundits have us marvel at the WWII generation’s sacrifices. We conjure up images of soldiers dying for our country on foreign shores and belt-tightening deprivations on the homefront. Meanwhile aluminum prices were being manipulated! What affect did manipulating aluminum prices have on the war? Did it prevent proper and rapid armament? Did it prolong the war? President Truman noted that the squeeze on aluminum initially led to the manufacture of comparably inferior airplanes and armaments. These are only a few of the painful questions we must ask ourselves about the effect special interests had on WWII. It is sad and sick, but do it we must; it is part of the Truman Committee’s legacy left to us--it serves to show the sharp contrast of sacrifice versus greed and exploitation.
No I am not excusing mismanagement of funds meant to help Iraq. What I am saying is let's not have some people pretending that this is unique in American history, or some particular fault of Republicans or the Bush Administration.
Posted by Tom at January 20, 2006 8:30 AM
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