The $87 Billion Money Pit

[priller]

IT’S NOT easy determining why the biggest power plant in Iraq’s largest city seems to be such a low priority. Baghdad is still beset by blackouts, and so much of America’s success or failure depends on power: the economy can’t recover with-out it...Some CPA officials concede privately that the problem stems from the lack of preparation before the war. “It always comes back to the same thing: no plan,” says one CPA staffer.

<snip>

The Bush administration’s favorite statistic from Iraq is the 1,595 schools it has just finished rehabilitating. This is, after all, the human face of occupation—freshly painted walls, American know-how and generosity, all wrapped up in smiling, adorable faces. And though that number is still less than a fifth of Iraq’s 10,000 schools, it seems like amazingly fast work. The problem: many of the “rehabilitated” schools don’t look ready for the morning bell...What’s the problem? A lack of accountability, it seems. One Iraqi construction engineer who worked on school projects says it’s not that Iraqi firms are corrupt and incompetent. To meet the U.S. deadline for fast refurbishment, the occupation authority set a short time frame, then Bechtel hired contractors, who in turn hired subcontractors and even sub-subcontractors. But few U.S. officials seemed to follow up with oversight. As one USAID official admits, “Saddam had better accountability” in his economic affairs, as brutal as he was, than the CPA does.

<snip>

...contractors in Iraq complain that the CPA’s staff consists largely of political appointees who don’t understand the process. “CPA is run by a bunch of political hacks and incompetents who have no idea what they’re doing,” said a project manager for a firm working on a major USAID contract. “Every time we turn around there’s a new order coming from CPA, ‘Do it this way—no, do it that way instead.’ It’s just unbelievable.” Privately, some CPA officials admit the staff is less than the best the United States has to offer. Right now, “we’re not talking A-team, even B-team. We’re talking C-team,” says one official with the CPA. The Bush administration denies that any major changes are afoot, but all these problems have prompted a new reckoning back in Washington: Douglas Feith, Rumsfeld’s policy chief and a key official involved in postwar planning, is no longer sitting in on reconstruction meetings, NEWSWEEK has learned, and the White House has wrested oversight from the Pentagon.

--------------
Very interesting and informative article on the FUBAR that is Iraq.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/985304.asp?0cv=CA01

[priller]

1. Another little tidbit about where our tax dollars are going

After describing a typical day for a contractor in Iraq, the article says:

Much of what companies are charging is for hazardous duty (at major engineering companies, that means 45 percent extra, taking engineers up to nearly $900 for a 10-hour day). Air freight is expensive because of the high insurance premiums. Land freight has to contend with highway robbery on a massive scale; no major highway can be considered safe. And while so far no American contractors have been attacked except when they were traveling with a military convoy, they’re hardly considered off-limits by opposition guerrillas and terrorists. While some foreign businessmen go out without escorts, most do not; normally they’ll travel with a PSD (personal security detail) of at least two and sometimes more expatriate armed guards. PSDs are staffed with “operatives” who normally bill $1,200 a day for their services. The security problem hampers accountability as well: USAID’s own inspector general refuses to send its auditors to “a combat zone,” as spokesman Rob Perkins describes Iraq.

-------------

Wow, $1200 a day! Don't you know our soldiers would love to be making that much!

[dArKeR]

2. I put an estimate at $200,000,000,000 thus far just for Iraq, not counting

Afghanistan. The future total, $500,000,000,000.

I add the planning stages for all departments.

The highten security costs from the start of the Butchering until time on Earth stops.

The actually material costs; food, equipment, travel, lost work time for other projects...

The loss. for the life time of the Wrong Death, at Bush's hands, American soldiers.

Americans talking and reading about this terrible event when they could be working.

The media resources wasted on covering this terrible Republican tragety.