APNewsBreak: Major Problems Found In Iraq Spending

RICHARD LARDNER

WASHINGTON (AP) — An independent panel investigating contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan has released a bleak assessment for how tens of billions of dollars have been spent since 2001.

In its first report to Congress obtained by The Associated Press, the Wartime Contracting Commission documents poor management, weak oversight, and a failure to learn from past mistakes as recurring themes in wartime contracting.

The report cites the case of a $30 million dining facility at a U.S. base in Iraq 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. ...