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U.N. Audit: U.S. Should Repay Iraq $208.5M
Behold the historically unsurpassed audacity and chutzpah of this action - the UN, and Iraqis, lecture the US on corruptionU.N. auditing board has recommended that the United States reimburse Iraq up to $208.5 million for contracting work carried out by KBR, a subsidiary of Halliburton, in the last two years. The International Advisory and Monitoring Board of the Development Fund for Iraq said in a report that the work, paid for with Iraqi oil proceeds, was either overpriced or done poorly by the Virginia-based company. Presumably, the tens of BILLIONS of dollars of UN-laundered oil-for-food funds were spent more carefully .... on palaces, military articles, and bribes to UN officials and friends of fascism in France, Russia, etc. Compiled from an array of Pentagon, United States government and private auditors, the report did not specify how or what work has been done poorly. Note: this is a continuing theme - incredibly powerful allegations, no evidence Halliburton said its subsidiary had cooperated with the auditing process and that questions raised had to do with documentation rather than the costs incurred by the company. It pointed to findings by the Pentagon's Defense Contract Audit Agency. "Many of DCAA's questions have been about the quality of supporting documentation for costs that KBR clearly incurred," Halliburton spokeswoman Cathy Mann said in an e-mailed statement. "Therefore, it would be completely wrong to say or imply that any of these costs that were incurred at the client's direction for its benefit are 'overcharges.'" The report said because the audits were continuing, it was premature to specify how much of the $208,491,382 must ultimately be paid back. In other words, both the UN announcement AND this article are outrageous distortions -- no one has actually documented a problem OR directed that there be payback for said problem. SOP for slandering the US/Halliburton/military - first the innuendo, later the silence or page 11 retraction. But the board said that once its analysis was completed, it "recommends that amounts disbursed to contractors that cannot be supported as fair be reimbursed expeditiously." Mann said KBR continues to work with its client, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, regarding the settlement of government audits of fuel costs and other disputed issues. "As these negotiations continue, KBR will confirm the total of all outcomes once complete. No timeline has been set for resolution of these issues," she said. In Washington, U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman of California, one of the leading Democratic Ex-squeeze me, you f##kwit -- what "egregious overcharges"? Waxman has been making unsupported allegations, and twisting audit reports, for years now. "For more than a year, administration officials concealed Halliburton's overcharges from international auditors responsible for monitoring the use of Iraqi funds. WTF? Specifics, please.The Bush administration repeatedly gave Halliburton special treatment and allowed the company to gouge both U.S. taxpayers and the Iraqi people." Specifics, please? You've had years and produced nothing that passes either a laugh test or a serious review, STFU already Kubba said Iraqis have been complaining for months about projects that should have cost $5,000, such as painting schools, that ended up costing $100,000. "Having too many middlemen doing contracts to too many subcontractors has wasted money and resulted in little return to the Iraqi people," he said. Thanks to Allah, soon all Iraqi contracting will be in Iraqi hands, where we can expect MUCH better results and accountability .... right, Laith? He said the waste of Iraqi money would be an issue in parliamentary elections slated for Dec. 15. I get it. America liberates the country, spends thousands of lives and billions of dollars trying to rebuild it, while idiot enemy attacks impede progress and "our" Iraqis steal everything that's not nailed down .... so WE are the problem. "I'm sure once we have an elected assembly and a government for a four-year term, they'll be looking at all these issues," Kubba said. And you'll probably be out of a job, pal, since Jaafari's a weak sister who's allowed corruption -- on the Iraqi side -- to flower with little opposition. Posted by: Verlaine in Iraq 2005-11-06 |
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