Commentary: Iraq reconstruction fraud: Where are your tax dollars going?

Byline: Tracey Coenen

Whether you agree with the Iraq War or not, one thing is certain: There is fraud going on and your tax dollars are being spent. Of the approximately $350 billion (give or take) spent so far by the United States on the war and rebuilding effort, there have been plenty of cases of fraud, waste and abuse found. Congress is currently investigating the work done by contractors in Iraq, and it looks like the project may widen in scope in the near future. As recently as last fall, the Government Accountability Office reported to Congress that Pentagon auditors had identified approximately $3.5 billion in contractor charges as questioned or unsupported costs. However, Defense Contract Audit Agency chief William Reed recently stated that unsupported and questionable costs from Iraq reconstruction contractors exceed $10 billion. The payments were for things like delayed work, inflated expenses, substandard work, and work never done. The $10 billion figure is the result of an audit of $57 billion in Iraq contracts, making almost one out of every six dollars questionable. This new figure is almost three times the previous estimate of contractor waste and abuse. Naturally, the Pentagon has been criticized for its lack of oversight in the process of awarding and overseeing contracts. Although the Defense Contract Audit Agency can point out the fraud and mismanagement of funds, it does not have the authority to enforce any corrective actions. Reed has said that his agency identified contractor dollars that were improper or questionable, but that only 25 percent to 37 percent of those dollars were withheld from the contractors. The decision to pay the Iraq contractors rests with the military and other officials, who apparently did little to hold back funds for inappropriate items. The most common type of fraud and abuse occurring with contractors doing reconstruction in Iraq comes in the form of overcharges. Some contractors are overpricing services, billing for services never rendered, and performing and charging for goods and services that were not authorized. Duplicate charges have been submitted, and questionable or missing documentation is running rampant as well. Fighting the Fraud Congress created the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) as a temporary agency to look after American tax dollars, and this agency reports to the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense. Specifically, the agency is to...