1. Wasteful spending was found to the tune of 4.9 billion dollars and reported most of that has been recovered. In addition, there was 5.1 billion spent without submitting the proper documents.
2. The auditors advised government not to use Contractors to fight the war for them. There are also an immense number of subcontractors. Investigations have turned up waste on many levels as well as poor contract management and project management. Accounting was not being done properly and resulted in over-charging for work. Generally referred to as war profiteering. The House committee was warned of this in the 1990's.
3. The investigation also indicated the Iraqi sectarian violence is blamed for wasted dollars. They indicated Iraq's need to start being responsible to the reconstructive effort, however they don't know if that will occur given the corruption in Iraq and lack of funds for projects.
4. Rep. Henry Waxman of California said he could subpoena the necessary documentation to prove the mismanaged and wasted funds in Iraq. The representative said the overpricing identified by auditors has tripled since last fall. The reason government is reviewing these findings from a year ago is because Bush was going to be asking for $100 billion to send more troops to Iraq. What isn't clear about this substantial amount is that Bush has been hiring defense contractors and subcontractors who fight the war for us. When Bush says we're sending more troops in, he might be telling us he's hiring more contracted soldiers to fight the war. The decision was made to award contracts for fighting soldiers trained and directed by a contractor when it was decided the country didn't want to draft young men to fight in the Iraqi war. When the auditors were voicing concern regarding the layers of contractors upon contractors, much of the contracting also included companies to fight the war and do reconstruction. The layering was causing confusion and leading to mismanagement and poor project management of the government awarded contracts.
Halliburton Company was also cited with overcharges and undocumented costs. This is an oil-field services company and was once directed by Vice President Dick Cheney. Of the 10 Billion in "wasted funds" and "overpricing" of 2.7 billion was paid to Halliburton. Looking at the entire audit, investigators say 1 out of 6 dollars spent in the Iraq war is suspect of being mismanaged. In response to this information Rep. Waxman said, "No wonder taxpayers across the country are fed up and demanding real oversight."
The war has provided contracts for the work force to fill all kinds of employment needs. The opportunities that can be found with government contractors include a long list:
- Software jobs
- Technical jobs
- Automotive jobs
- Corporate jobs
- Logistics jobs
- Secretary jobs
- Contract jobs
- Health care jobs
- Purchasing jobs
- Consulting jobs
- Accountant jobs
- Medical jobs
Wartime Profiteering is an issue, which had to be addressed after investigations found it to be shockingly blatant.
As information is audited, the numbers to record the overpricing is not being hid. This practice is recorded. Why would contractors do these things to waste taxpayer’s money? They would do it because they can or because they could. The profiteering contractors were getting away with was not criminal if it didn't occur in the US. Contractors overseas were not limited by the same laws practiced at home in the US. The House passed a measure criminalized the fraudulent acts no matter where they occurred. This happened in October of 2007. The War Profiteering Prevention Act of 2007 criminalized:
Bid rigging
Contract fraud
Overcharging for goods and services during a time of war, military action or reconstruction effort
In the war with Iraq, the United States has outsourced its work like, no war has ever seen. $50 billion has been spent in support services for the Army. There were contractors supplying food, water, and drivers for army VIPs.
