While You Were Sleeping . . .

Lest we forget with all the new son financial markets, there is still a war in Iraq. And the Washington Post reported today that some $9-$13 bil in reconstruction funds were wasted or stolen.

A brave former investigator for the Iraqi Commission on Public Integrity (US equivalent to the FBI oddly enough), Salam Adhoob, who managed 200 investigators and saw 32 of his colleagues killed, testified before Congressional Democrats that many projects that were paid for by US taxpayer money were either not needed or never started even the money flowed in. Yet, neither he nor the auditors assigned to the task can account for the money. One case mentioned in the article involved a $24.4 million electricity project that only existed on paper, what Adhoob calls "ghost projects".

Abbas S. Mehdi, former Iraqi Cabinet official testified to corruption in the Iraqi government. An unnamed Iraqi-American who has been a senior adviser to both the Defense and State department told of elaborate schemes carried out by the Iraqi government and Al Qaeda to sell Iraqi oil on the black market.

So, as you contemplate $700 bil, think about what falls through the cracks: budget dust to the President, but to the average American, that is how many new schools? How much in tuition grants for university students? How many cancer treatements? How much in quality care for the elderly?