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US audit finds State Dept. hid cost of Iraqi projects
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US audit finds State Dept. hid cost of Iraqi projects
Mon Jul 31, 12:51 AM ET
The US State Department used an accounting shell game to hide construction cost overruns on its projects to rebuild Iraq, a US newspaper reported, citing a US government audit.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID), the State Department agency in charge of 1.4 billion dollars in reconstruction money in Iraq, hid the cost overruns by listing them as overhead or administrative costs, according to the audit written by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction and released late Friday, The New York Times said.
The audit's author is an independent office that reports to Congress, the Defense Department and the State Department.
The USAID, which administers foreign aid projects around the world, has been working on Iraq reconstruction since shortly before the US-led 2003 invasion, the newspaper noted.
The audit by the inspector general's office does not fully account for all projects financed by the agency's 1.4-billion-dollar budget for Iraq, it said.
The findings appeared in an audit of a children's hospital in Basra, but refer to the agency's wider reconstruction activities in Iraq, it said.
US and Iraqi officials reported last week that the State Department planned to drop US engineering and construction company Bechtel on the Basra hospital project, "as signs of budget and scheduling problems began to surface," the Times said.
Questioned Saturday about the audit, a State Department spokesman, Justin Higgins, was quoted as saying: "We have not yet had a chance to fully review this report, but certainly will consider it carefully, as we do all the findings of the inspector general."
Bechtel has said that because of the deteriorating security in Basra, the hospital project could not be completed as envisioned, the Times said.
But the State Department's Higgins said: "Despite the challenges, we are committed to completing this project so that sick children in Basra can receive the medical help they need. The necessary funding is now in place to ensure that will happen."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/usiraqforeignaid;_ylt=Aglxbo.VGEh3iofM0KVntRYDW7oF;_ylu=X3oDMTBhcmljNmVhBHNlYwNtcm5ld3M-
Mon Jul 31, 12:51 AM ET
The US State Department used an accounting shell game to hide construction cost overruns on its projects to rebuild Iraq, a US newspaper reported, citing a US government audit.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID), the State Department agency in charge of 1.4 billion dollars in reconstruction money in Iraq, hid the cost overruns by listing them as overhead or administrative costs, according to the audit written by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction and released late Friday, The New York Times said.
The audit's author is an independent office that reports to Congress, the Defense Department and the State Department.
The USAID, which administers foreign aid projects around the world, has been working on Iraq reconstruction since shortly before the US-led 2003 invasion, the newspaper noted.
The audit by the inspector general's office does not fully account for all projects financed by the agency's 1.4-billion-dollar budget for Iraq, it said.
The findings appeared in an audit of a children's hospital in Basra, but refer to the agency's wider reconstruction activities in Iraq, it said.
US and Iraqi officials reported last week that the State Department planned to drop US engineering and construction company Bechtel on the Basra hospital project, "as signs of budget and scheduling problems began to surface," the Times said.
Questioned Saturday about the audit, a State Department spokesman, Justin Higgins, was quoted as saying: "We have not yet had a chance to fully review this report, but certainly will consider it carefully, as we do all the findings of the inspector general."
Bechtel has said that because of the deteriorating security in Basra, the hospital project could not be completed as envisioned, the Times said.
But the State Department's Higgins said: "Despite the challenges, we are committed to completing this project so that sick children in Basra can receive the medical help they need. The necessary funding is now in place to ensure that will happen."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/usiraqforeignaid;_ylt=Aglxbo.VGEh3iofM0KVntRYDW7oF;_ylu=X3oDMTBhcmljNmVhBHNlYwNtcm5ld3M-
My whole life
was like a picture
of a sunny day
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln
was like a picture
of a sunny day
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln
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