Here in the Boston area, the so-called Big Dig has had more than its share of mismanagement, incompetence and outright fraud. The total price for the project, which is mostly done, is about $14 billion; an amount that has been rightly called an outrage and a scandal. How much of that is due to fraud and waste?
In Iraq the overhead for graft and corruption alone is estimated at $10 billion. Money that’s been skimmed right off the top by contractors, including Dick Cheney’s cronies at Halliburton. We need more outrage.
Audit finds $10 billion in fuzzy spending
Inspectors reviewed one-sixth of $350 billion U.S. has spent on Iraq
Dan Duray, Hearst Newspapers
Friday, February 16, 2007
(02-16) 04:00 PST Washington — More than $10 billion of the money paid to military contractors for Iraq reconstruction and troop support was either excessive or unsupported by documents, including $2.7 billion for contracts held by Halliburton or one of its subsidiaries, Congress was told Thursday.
The three top auditors overseeing work in Iraq told a House committee their review of $57 billion in Iraq contracts found that Defense and State department officials condoned or allowed repeated work delays, bloated expenses and payments for shoddy work or work never done.
Continue reading Big Dig vs. Big Hole
