Lost reconstruction money? Then stop counting

The Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction has blown the whistle on how US taxpayer money is being spent in Iraq with its reports on corrupt practices. The office found huge amounts of fraud perpetrated by Halliburton (amongst others), and over 14,000 weapons that were purchased and lost, presumably now in the hands of the insurgency that is killing Iraqi civilians and US soldiers.

In 2005, it issued a damning report citing "severe inefficiencies and poor management" at the body that ran Iraq before the recent elections, the Coalition Provisional Authority. This is a reflection of the complete lack of planning that went into the occupation portion of dubya's war.

So, with all this horrible news, what is being done to correct these huge problems? Why, disbanding the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, of course. The Republican Congress has snuck in a provision in their military spending budget, removing the ability of the US government from auditing how the billions and billions of dollars are being spread around. Your representatives and tax dollars at work.

Many references online, including this report from the BBC.