Bobby Scott: “Reconstruction fraud has run rampant during the engagement of the U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. The United States…”

“Reconstruction fraud has run rampant during the engagement of the U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. The United States has devoted more than $50 billion to relief and reconstruction activities there, and at least $8.8 billion cannot be accounted for. Some of the reports of excessive profiteering are simply appalling. For example, one contractor was hired to build the Baghdad Police College, a facility to house and train more than 4,000 police recruits. After spending $72 million of U.S. taxpayer money, the contractor delivered an engineering nightmare with so many plumbing problems that auditors from the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction said that during the visit a substance dripped from the ceiling onto an assessment team member's shirt. It's not only construction. There are widely reported stories of contractors double-charging taxpayers for sodas and overcharging the government 600 percent for fuel shipments. Another report has a company running convoys of empty trucks back and forth across an insurgent-laden desert, pointlessly risking the lives of soldiers and drivers so the company could charge the taxpayer for phantom deliveries. Truckers referred to their cargo as sailboat fuel. Inspector Generals have opened hundreds of investigations into fraud and waste in Iraq and Kuwait and Afghanistan involving illegal kickbacks, bid-rigging, embezzlement and fraudulent overbilling.”