http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002733.phpIn Iraq, No Room at The Inn for Auditors
By Paul Kiel - March 12, 2007, 4:04 PM
How strained are resources in Iraq? So strained that the State Department can't afford for three auditors to make a three month visit.
The State Department recently turned down a request for three congressional auditors to make a three-month stay in Baghdad, saying that having them around for that long would be "a serious challenge to mission resources."
In response, 22 Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), have called on Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice to make room. "American taxpayers are currently being asked to spend approximately $3,420 every second and $280 million per day in Iraq," reads a letter to Rice sent today. "It is imperative that GAO be given the access it needs to serve as the eyes and ears of the United States Congress...."
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In the letter sent to Sec. Rice today, the Democrats didn't buy that argument, asking instead that the State Department make room for a six-month stay for the auditors.