Time for a little history lesson:
Up above is Harry Truman. In 1941, the United States was just about to enter World War II. It was at that point that Sen. Truman began an investigation into reports of corruption, waste, and mismanagement. The Truman Committe was put together to hold public hearings to make sure money was going where it was supposed to. He ended up saving about 15 billion dollars for taxpayers and also saved lives by "rooting out contractors using inferior materials and producing shoddy equipment".
Why do I bring this up?
Currently, there have been so many mishaps with the reconstruction of Iraq that it is about time that a Truman Committee was brought together to monitor all the money being put into the reconstruction. Listing out the corruption, we have: 9 billion dollars unaccounted for, more than 70 investigations into criminal cases that involve U.S. funded projects, billing disputes with Halliburton, one single accountant in charge of 20 million dollars in Iraqi oil money, and there's also a study showing that 30 percent of reconstruction money is lost. If you are so adamant about being successful in Iraq, you would logically think that this loss of money only is slowing reconstruction and would want to work to end the corruption.
Rep. Jim Leach, R-Iowa and Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. and Larry Craig, R-Idaho have introduced legislation to a get a Truman Committee in place for tracking all of the money involved in the reconstruction. Accountability is critical. Truman was an extraordinary individual. Right now, waste, fraud, ineptitude, cronyism, secret no-bid contracts, and profiteering have been going on under a "cloak of patriotism". One wonders if things could possibly shape up. Congress must be the government watchdog and do what's right. For the future of Iraq, let's hope this legislation passes.
(Source: Arianna Huffington, columnist for South Bend Tribune)
