ANOTHER GIANT DEMERIT FOR BUSH

As MSNBC would say, 'there's more.'  This article, and in the very
conservative Ap, ends with, "...critical time for Iraq,"--see my
highlighting in red below.  I would add, a critical time for the November
mid-term elections.

Audit: U.S. can't account for $8.7 billion in Iraqi cash
Oil funds were 'vulnerable to inappropriate uses and undetected loss'
 
Nabil Al-jurani / AP file

Iraqis work at the Rumaila oil refinery, near Basra. An audit has found that
the Pentagon "could not provide documentation to substantiate how it spent
$2.6 billion" in Iraqi oil money.

by SINAN SALAHEDDIN, TAREK EL-TABLAWY

BAGHDAD - The U.S. Defense Department is unable to properly account for over
95 percent of $9.1 billion in Iraqi oil money tapped by the U.S. for
rebuilding the war ravaged nation, according to an audit released Tuesday.

The report by the U.S. Special Investigator for Iraq Reconstruction offers a
compelling look at continued laxness in how such funds are being spent in a
country where people complain basic services like electricity and clean
water are sharply lacking seven years after the U.S.-led invasion that
toppled Saddam Hussein.

The audit found that shoddy record keeping by the Defense Department left
the Pentagon unable to fully account for $8.7 billion it withdrew between
2004 and 2007 from a special fund set up by the U.N. Security Council. Of
that amount, Pentagon "could not provide documentation to substantiate how
it spent $2.6 billion."

The funds are separate from the $53 billion allocated by Congress for
rebuilding Iraq. 

The report comes at a critical time for Iraq.



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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