U.S. paid $32M for an Iraqi base never built

[unhappycamper]

U.S. paid $32M for an Iraqi base never built
By Matt Kelley - USA Today
Posted : Friday Dec 14, 2007 8:13:15 EST

The U.S. military paid a Florida company nearly $32 million to build barracks and offices for Iraqi army units even though nothing was ever built, Pentagon investigators reported.

The project had to be abandoned because the Iraqi Defense Ministry couldn’t obtain rights to the land where the headquarters was to be built, according to a report released this month by the Defense Department’s Office of Inspector General. Contracting records show the buildings would have housed one brigade and three battalions of the Iraqi military in Ramadi, a hotbed of the Sunni Muslim insurgency and capital of Anbar province.

Still, the Air Force agency overseeing the project paid contractor Ellis Environmental Group $31.9 million of the $34.2 million obligated for the project, the report said.

An Air Force spokesman, Michael Hawkins, said in an e-mail that Air Force auditors are reviewing the contract. Although the inspector general’s report said the Air Force was considering suing the contractor, Hawkins said any talk of a lawsuit was premature until the Air Force audit is complete.

Ellis Environmental Group spokesman Steve Brownstein said the work was reassigned to Ellis World Alliance Corp., a related company. Bob Smith, of Ellis World Alliance headquarters in Gainesville, Fla., said contracting rules barred any official comment.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/12/gns_iraqibase_071214/

[thepurpose]

1. Bet there is no way this money is recouped either.

[xchrom]

2. money that didn't get to new orleans. nt