Iraq War - Money Not Well Spent

No big surprise here - we've got contracts going to friends of the administration and firms Cheney used to run. We've got American taxpayer money targeted for this war secured as tightly as water in a sieve. So you won't be surprised to read two stories from today's WaPo business section that discuss the Blackwater contracts and missing armaments. When Robert O'Harrow, Jr. of the Post filed a FOIA request on a Blackwater contract, he got this in return. No, don't adjust your screen, most of those pages are blank. Apparently Blackwater folk recommended a few redactions in the documents. And of course, what private industry wants, this government accedes to - because we wouldn't want the public bothered with knowing what Blackwater is really doing. And again, unsurprisingly, this sort of response is the standard, not the exception these days.

Who can blame them - whenever the public does learn what is going on, it's never good news. For instance, the Post reported today that Pentagon auditors have admitted that they can't find a whole lot of equipment that was being used to train and equip Iraqi security forces "because of inadequate paperwork and a lack of oversight personnel." So what has gone missing? Well nothing of any import or danger to our troops. Just a few millions of dollars worth of rocket-propelled grenades, armored vehicles and ammunition and supplies.

Just how poor is that "inadequate paperwork?" Well, for instance, the command can't prove that received 12,712 of 13,508 weapons purchased because nobody noted the serial numbers or provided paperwork to track them. So that's a few pistols, assault riffles, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and machine guns that are out there . . . somewhere. Hopefully in the hands of our troops or our friends, but we don't know. And apparently command doesn't care!