Surprise! Major problems found in war spending

By GottaLaff

Instead of Sarah Louise Palin whinin' about all those cuts in spendin', sayin' they're a "sign of weakness" and such, too, also... maybe she should take a little look-see at this:

Construction of a $30 million dining facility at a U.S. base in Iraq is scheduled to be completed Dec. 25. But the decision to build it was based on bad planning and botched paperwork.

The project is too far along to stop, making the mess hall a future monument to the waste and inefficiency plaguing the war effort, according to an independent panel investigating contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In its first report to Congress, the Wartime Contracting Commission presents a bleak assessment of how tens of billions of dollars have been spent since 2001. The 111-page report, obtained by The Associated Press, documents poor management, weak oversight, and a failure to learn from past mistakes as recurring themes in wartime contracting.

The report is coming out Wednesday. And what a report it is:

U.S. reliance on contractors has grown to "unprecedented proportions," says the bipartisan commission, established by Congress last year. More than 240,000 private sector employees are supporting military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thousands more work for the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development.

Maybe they can stand down as the Iraqis stand up.

But the government has no central data base of who all these contractors are, what services they provide, and how much they're paid. The Pentagon has failed to provide enough trained staff to watch over them, creating conditions for waste and corruption, the commission says.

Gee, there's a name for that. Lack of something... overhaul? No. Overweight? Nah. Ah! Got it! Oversight:

In Iraq, the panel worries that as U.S. troops depart in larger numbers, there will be too few government eyes on the contractors left to oversee the closing of hundreds of bases and disposal of mountains of federal property.

There are big question marks in Afghanistan, too. See that? The U.S. is capable of waste and fraud in multiple countries! That's called progress! Want an example of how the Nation of Dick's favorite thugs fared? Why, here's one now!

KBR Inc., the primary LOGCAP contractor in Iraq, has been paid nearly $32 billion since 2001. The commission says billions of dollars of that amount ended up wasted due to poorly defined work orders, inadequate oversight and contractor inefficiencies.

In one example, defense auditors challenged KBR after it billed the government for $100 million in costs for private security even though the contract prohibited the use of for-hire guards.

KBR says the commission is biased. Of course they are, dear, Laffy said sarcastically. You just keep believing that.

There is so much more. Take a look, then find a good, strong wall to pound your head on.