Demand Rumsfeld Account For Missing 8.8 Billion 'Staggering Amount' Of Cash Missing

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> Demand Rumsfeld Account

> For Missing 8.8 Billion

> 'Staggering Amount' Of Cash Missing In Iraq

>

> By Emad Mekay

> InterPress

> 8-22-4

>

>

> WASHINGTON - Three U.S. senators have called on

> Defense Secretary Donald

> Rumsfeld to account for 8.8 billion dollars

> entrusted to the Coalition

> Provisional Authority (CPA) in Iraq earlier this

> year but now gone

> missing.

>

> In a letter Thursday, Senators Ron Wyden of Oregon,

> Byron L Dorgan of

> North Dakota and Tom Harkin of Iowa, all opposition

> Democrats, demanded

> a " full, written account " of the money that was

> channeled to Iraqi

> ministries and authorities by the CPA, which was the

> governing body in

> the occupied country until Jun. 30.

>

> The loss was uncovered in an audit by the CPA's

> inspector general. It

> has not yet been released publicly and was initially

> reported on the

> website of journalist and retired U.S. Army Col

> David Hackworth.

>

> The CPA was terminated at the end of July to make

> way for an interim

> Iraqi government, which is in turn scheduled to be

> replaced by an

> elected body early in 2005.

>

> " We are requesting a full, written account of the

> 8.8 billion dollars

> transferred earlier this year from the CPA to the

> Iraqi ministries,

> including the amount each ministry received and the

> way in which the

> ministry spent the money, " said the letter.

>

> The senators also requested that the Pentagon

> designate a date by which

> it will install adequate oversight and financial and

> contractual

> controls over money it spends in Iraq.

>

> They accused the CPA of transferring the " staggering

> sum of money " with

> no written rules or guidelines to ensure adequate

> control over it.

>

> They pointed to " disturbing findings " from the

> inspector general's

> report that the payrolls of some Iraqi ministries,

> then under CPA

> control, were padded with thousands of ghost

> employees. They refer to an

> example in which CPA paid the salaries of 74,000

> security guards

> although the actual number of employees could not be

> validated.

>

> The report says that in one case some 8,000 guards

> were listed on a

> payroll but only 603 real individuals could be

> counted.

>

> " Such enormous discrepancies raise very serous

> questions about potential

> fraud, waste and abuse, " added the letter.

>

> This is not the first time that U.S. financial

> conduct in Iraq has come

> under fire, specifically over funds slated for

> reconstruction after the

> U.S.-led attack in March 2003, which then went

> unaccounted for.

>

> In June, British charity Christian Aid said at least

> 20 billion dollars

> in oil revenues and other Iraqi funds intended to

> rebuild the country

> have disappeared from banks administered by the CPA.

>

>

> Watchdog groups have complained before about the

> opaque nature of the

> CPA's handling of Iraqi money and the lack of

> transparency of U.S. and

> Iraqi officials.

>

> Halliburton, a giant U.S. company that has been

> awarded 8.2 billion

> dollars worth of contracts from the Defense

> department to provide

> support services such as meals, shelter, laundry and

> Internet

> connections for U.S. soldiers in Iraq, has been

> targeted for allegedly

> overcharging for those services.

>

> " Continued failures to account for funds, such as

> the 8.8 billion

> dollars of concern here - and the refusal, so far,

> of the Pentagon to

> take corrective action are a disservice to the

> American taxpayer, the

> Iraqi people and to our men and women in uniform, "

> the senators wrote.

>

> Groups critical of the lack of transparency in the

> CPA's spending have

> been particularly angry that the authority used

> Iraqi money to pay for

> questionable contracts -- some awarded without a

> public tendering

> process -- with U.S. companies.

>

> Washington initially restricted the most lucrative

> reconstruction

> contracts in Iraq to gigantic U.S. firms that

> appeared able to reap huge

> profits, fueling accusations the Bush administration

> was seeking to

> benefit a select few U.S. companies rather than find

> the best, and

> possibly the cheapest, options to help rebuild Iraq.

>

>

> After loud complaints, the contracting process was

> officially opened to

> firms from other nations, but many of them still

> insist they are not

> competing on a level playing field with U.S.

> businesses.

>

> A Pentagon spokeswoman told IPS that the CPA

> administered the money

> transparently and that Iraqi ministries used the

> eight billion dollars

> in ways that directly " benefited the people of

> Iraq. "

>

> " The CPA provided these funds to Iraqi ministries

> from the Development

> Fund for Iraq through a transparent and open budget

> process, " said Lt

> Col Rose-Ann L Lynch of the Office of the Assistant

> Secretary of Defense

> for Public Affairs. " This is Iraqi money -- revenue

> from such sources as

> oil sales -- not U.S. funds. "

>

> The official added that the money was used to pay

> the salaries of

> hundreds of thousands of government employees,

> teachers, health workers,

> administrators and government pensioners, as well as

> to fund the Iraqi

> Defense ministry and police forces.

>

> © Copyright 2004 IPS - Inter Press Service

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